Alan Biggs says

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

.....Relax, don't do it. When you want to come.

 

[loyalblade95]

Yet not long back he feared it was 'the end'.....

Still doing his job in Amsterdam where presumably he was on holiday

 

[bornablade]

I know it's unfashionable amongst a number on here to give even an ounce of credit to any journalist associated with our local newspapers, but I quite like a lot of Alan Biggs' articles.

At least he tells it as he sees it, good or bad and is not afraid to lay blame where he feels it lies. Whether you agree with him or not is a different matter but it makes a refreshing change from some of those we've had to endure in the past who often aligned themselves with either the Manager or the Board and simply produced articles showing one or the other in the most favourable light.

A good example of this was Tony Pritchett, whose head was so far up Dave Basset's arse it's a wonder he ever managed to retrieve it.

I agree about Alan Biggs. In the late 1980's early 1990's when I was living and working in Sheffield we used to get a free newspaper each week - The Sheffield Gazette. There was a sports / football column that was always well written and thought provoking. This was Alan Biggs in his earlier years.

I remember speaking to Michael Corner (the best editor the Star has had) about the quality of this column. I'm pleased he's gone onto better things than just writing for a 'freebie'.

Must admit he doesn't always appear comfortable on television.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Bring back Peter Howard.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Alan Biggs is not bad to be fair - seems to some on here that ALL journalists are tarred with the same brush.

Biggs use to do the Personality profiles in the programmes in the 80's with what was called the "Blades Review".

It's probably fair to say that ALL journalists do have inside contacts at clubs they have been involved with and he's probably got a soft spot for us.

UTB

 

[Tezza1889]

Alan Biggs is fine and a seasoned journalist, I wouldn’t put it past the people in the know to be letting stuff slip out slowly via him..

Having seen him interview wilder many times, I wouldn’t be surprised if wilder throws him scraps on the sly either...

 

[Sothall_Blade]

I’ve nothing against Biggs usually but the reason for “this column” (a horrible expression) suddenly raising hopes that Wilder will stay is because CW won’t want to uproot his family and start again with a new squad of players.

There appears to be no “in the know” scoop or actual information about any new developments at all. Just the sort of hopeful speculation you might read on here only we’re not being paid to find out what’s really happening and report on it.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

What Chris said next will SHOCK you!!

You won't believe what Chris Wilder looks like now :-o

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

You wouldn't BELEIVE what Chris Wilder looks like now...................

Ah fuck!

 

[Bert]

You won't believe what Chris Wilder looks like now :-o

Ten things Chris Wilder doesn't want you to know.

Just answer this simple survey

 

[The Crab]

You won't believe what Chris Wilder looks like now :-o

 

[Booker4]

I know it's unfashionable amongst a number on here to give even an ounce of credit to any journalist associated with our local newspapers, but I quite like a lot of Alan Biggs' articles.

At least he tells it as he sees it, good or bad and is not afraid to lay blame where he feels it lies. Whether you agree with him or not is a different matter but it makes a refreshing change from some of those we've had to endure in the past who often aligned themselves with either the Manager or the Board and simply produced articles showing one or the other in the most favourable light.

A good example of this was Tony Pritchett, whose head was so far up Dave Basset's arse it's a wonder he ever managed to retrieve it.

Don't agree with the last bit mate but overall a decent post. Pritchett was a quality reporter too - not that you said he wasn't.

 

[Pinchy]

He’s a fucking numpty. His smugness is matched only by his mediocrity.

He wrote a book, you know. The autobiography of that notable football figure Lee Bullen. Lee Bullen? Lee Fucking Bullen. Top players and managers across the land must be flocking for his services.

His commentary for RS on the Crewe v Doncaster game a couple of seasons ago was the worst I’ve ever heard by a very long way. It was as though they’d asked a bloke in the crowd to do it at the last minute. Truly, horrifically awful.

His literary standards, I’m afraid, leave a good deal to be desired. A couple of hours tuition from me on style and grammar, at a reasonable fee, would do him no harm at all.

Like many a hack, he’s become so ludicrously consumed by self-importance, he’s persuaded himself that he IS the story. It’s not a good read, Biggsy.

All in all, he’s a little bit shite.

 

[Dkc]

Don't agree with the last bit mate but overall a decent post. Pritchett was a quality reporter too - not that you said he wasn't.

Back in the old days reporters used to have to write and file a full match report for the Green Un with about 5.00 pm deadline, they used to have to write up it as the match went on and then file it. Before the Internet it was dictated down the phone.

Pretty sure Pritchett used to write full match reports

 

[stringer]

Back in the old days reporters used to have to write and file a full match report for the Green Un with about 5.00 pm deadline, they used to have to write up it as the match went on and then file it. Before the Internet it was dictated down the phone.

Yep, filed a chunk at a time. More difficult than it perhaps sounds

 

[Dkc]

.

His commentary for RS on the Crewe v Doncaster game a couple of seasons ago was the worst I’ve ever heard by a very long way. It was as though they’d asked a bloke in the crowd to do it at the last minute. Truly, horrifically awful.

Hemmingway never came across well on live radio

 

[Dkc]

Yep, filed a chunk at a time. More difficult than it perhaps sounds

Those match reports in the Green Un must have been way over 1000 words. I seem to remember they were over two pages, with pics

There generally weren't TV pictures and no highlights on the internet so a newspaper match report was important, the only way of knowing details of what happened at the game. Radio Sheffield only had one match commentary each weekend.

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

His literary standards, I’m afraid, leave a good deal to be desired. A couple of hours tuition from me on style and grammar, at a reasonable fee, would do him no harm at all.

What would be a “reasonable fee” for pointing out the omission of an apostrophe? A couple of hours’ tuition wouldn’t go amiss elsewhere, apparently.

 

[HuddersfieldBlade]

Isn’t Alan Biggs one of the sources of Alan Partridge?

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Back in the old days reporters used to have to write and file a full match report for the Green Un with about 5.00 pm deadline, they used to have to write up it as the match went on and then file it. Before the Internet it was dictated down the phone.

Pretty sure Pritchett used to write full match reports

I think I was at a match at the Lane shortly after it Pritchett had retired and he was being given a special award for his services. They announced what the award was for, Pritchett stepped forward to receive the award to polite applause coupled with audible booing. I think Gary Sinclair found it absolutely hilarious.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

I don’t think football journalists should be judged on scoops, if the club want things kept quiet they’d be daft to burn bridges.

My problem is they all just seem to be journalists that report on football and offer no real insight into the actual game.

I’ve watched the match and various highlights, I don’t need what I’ve just seen described to me, I want someone to point out things I’d not noticed or don’t have the football knowledge to see myself.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I don’t think football journalists should be judged on scoops, if the club want things kept quiet they’d be daft to burn bridges.

My problem is they all just seem to be journalists that report on football and offer no real insight into the actual game.

I’ve watched the match and various highlights, I don’t need what I’ve just seen described to me, I want someone to point out things I’d not noticed or don’t have the football knowledge to see myself.

Some good points there actually.

Sometimes it's not about the content, but the way the content is presented. I used to look forward to hearing Stewart Hall's summary of a matches on the radio, back in the day. His wonderful use of words, the descriptions he used, the way he re-told a story we all knew, but in a very different style to anyone else. I found it very entertaining.

In terms of "insights", well...it's always good to hear different views on the game, but I think real insights are very rare tbh. A lot of "insights" provided by football journalists are not insights at all - in fact they are quite the opposite, they are myths and partial truths. For example, when the journo reports..."team X have not beaten team Y at home for 63 years", as if to suggest that there is some hoodoo, or voodoo, hanging over this fixture, when in fact, team X have not played team Y at home for 63 years. The game today is awash with meaningless statistics and these provide a rich source for journalists to create "news" articles out of nothing. Go on the BBC Football website as an example and look at the pre-match analyses and you'll see something like...

"team X have not lost a game this season in which they have scored first"
"team Y have not won a game this season in which they have gone a goal behind"

Conclusion? If team X score first they'll beat team Y. Statistical relevance of that? Zero!

I don't blame journo's for taking nonsense statistics like this and making articles out of them. After all, the average football fan hasn't got a clue about statistics or how they work, or about "probability". So, it's easy pickings really - a journo can look up any old meaningless stat and create some stories out of them.

Good journalism, to me, is the following:

1. Timely
2. Accurate
3. Factual
4. Objective
5. Not "sensationalist"
6. Informed comment
7. Thought-provoking
8. Well-researched
9. Forward looking (i.e not just about "the story" itself, but about the consequences of what's reported).
10. Interesting

Not every snippet of news can be all these things I suppose. But it's not a bad list of things to aim for.

 

[Pinchy]

I’ve watched the match and various highlights, I don’t need what I’ve just seen described to me, I want someone to point out things I’d not noticed or don’t have the football knowledge to see myself.

In that case you need an ex-pro, not a reporter. Journalists don’t have the ‘football knowledge’ you’re seeking. Many begin to think they have and put themselves on pedestals they have no right to occupy. Biggs has something of that about him, so do the RS numpties, but Alan “I’m a Premiership commentator” Green is by far the worst.

Alan Hansen was the best in my view. A great footballer who read the game like a latter-day Beckenbauer, and did the same when he became a pundit. He was several classes above the idiots they use now.

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

Alan Hansen was the best in my view. A great footballer who read the game like a latter-day Beckenbauer, and did the same when he became a pundit. He was several classes above the idiots they use now.

I believe the most relevant two words here are “Robbie” and “Savage”. Though see also “David” and “Prutton”.

Yes to Hansen. It’s a shame he packed it in. He always looks like he’s just smelled something sour, but I think Souness is a cut above, too.

I’ve also (cough) recently come around to that Kelly Kates one. But that’s a different story.

Edit: looks like I’ve got a thing for the Scot-Scouse interface. Any psychiatrists on here?

 

[stringer]

In that case you need an ex-pro, not a reporter. Journalists don’t have the ‘football knowledge’ you’re seeking.

Wow, a double sweeping statement. Not every pro/ex pro has a concrete understanding of football (honestly, I’ve met a few who haven’t got a clue) and to say every journalist doesn’t have football knowledge is a bit of a generalisation, too

 

[Large Mendonca]

I believe the most relevant two words here are “Robbie” and “Savage”. Though see also “David” and “Prutton”.

Yes to Hansen. It’s a shame he packed it in. He always looks like he’s just smelled something sour, but I think Souness is a cut above, too.

I’ve also (cough) recently come around to that Kelly Kates one. But that’s a different story.

Edit: looks like I’ve got a thing for the Scot-Scouse interface. Any psychiatrists on here?

Robbie Savage is absymal, how the hell he's paid for any kind of football punditry is beyond me

Don't think David Prutton is bad to be fair..............

 

[Bartleby]

Alan Hansen was the best in my view. A great footballer who read the game like a latter-day Beckenbauer, and did the same when he became a pundit. He was several classes above the idiots they use now.

He was very good, I especially liked his "you'll never win anything with kids" prediction. Bang on.

 

[derfblade.3]

Going a bit off topic.....The commentary of the cup final was crap. Steve Wilson was , let's say, uninspiring. Yes it was a bit like a training game but try and get a little bit excited man. Not a patch on old Motty.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

In that case you need an ex-pro, not a reporter. Journalists don’t have the ‘football knowledge’ you’re seeking. Many begin to think they have and put themselves on pedestals they have no right to occupy. Biggs has something of that about him, so do the RS numpties, but Alan “I’m a Premiership commentator” Green is by far the worst.

Alan Hansen was the best in my view. A great footballer who read the game like a latter-day Beckenbauer, and did the same when he became a pundit. He was several classes above the idiots they use now.

Yeah I liked listening to Hansen. I’m sure there’s people out there that aren’t ex-pro that understand football well

 

[vorpal blade]

What I most deplore among football commentators, especially the ex-players is the way they blatantly lie about fouls. They will show a supposed foul in ultra-slow motion and brazenly say something like - 'he got a touch' or 'he clipped him' or 'he drew the foul' - when you have just seen, with your own eyes, that nothing of the sort actually happened. This occurred yesterday - a Chelsea player, deliberately tripped himself up in the Manchester penalty area and the comment from Shearer suggested that the Man Utd player had caused it to happen, I don't think he had.

This double-speak is Emperor's New Clothes like in its obviousness and yet, and yet, we start believing what they say and start not trusting the evidence of our own eyes.

The older ones amongst us will remember the pantomime that was all in wrestling and how seriously Dickie Davis etc. on World of Sport commentated on it - we knew it was bullshit .... the characters, Kendo Nagasaki, Big Daddy and all played up to the fiction trouble is, football takes itself so seriously that it is in a permanent state of self-delusion .....

Witness Mourinho's moaning that Chelsea didn't deserve to win yesterday's Cup Final ..... we all saw the match and know Chelsea were in complete control since they scored .... no-one dared call him a liar and I think José himself actually believed he was being honest .... it's got THAT bad.