‘Unsackable’ - Those were Richard Keys first words when presenting Super Sunday yesterday afternoon. He was of course referring to the new Blackburn manager, but even a four year old would have worked out that he was also referring to himself and his commentator pal Andy Gray. If you missed all the drama, Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray were recorded making sexist remarks about a female assistant referee and West Hams vice chairman. (if you haven’t heard the recording click here) Sky Sports subscribers waited with baited breath to see if either would make an on air apology over their comments but it never came. It seemed yesterday afternoon that they were in fact unsackable, but now not so much.
Both have now been suspended by Sky for tonight’s big game and have been warned any more comments like the ones they made on Saturday will not be tolerated. However it all seems a little bit forced, like they have been made to take action when they don’t really want to. You just get the feeling that the big executives have rung their good mates Richard and Andy and told them to take tonight off. That they should keep your heads down and come back next Saturday when all will be forgotten. I’ve no doubt they’ve been told that if it happens again sterner action will be taken, but all that really means is ‘turn your damn microphone off when your not on the air’
Don’t worry I wont go into a feminist rant about how disgraceful their comments were, how wrong, outdated, mean, and downright ignorant they both were. I wont go into how upset Sian Massey must have felt when she woke up yesterday morning to find out she had been judged by two middle aged men because of her gender and how Karen Brady’s blood must have boiled when they dismissed her with the use of the word ‘love.’ I wont go into that at all. I’ll over look the fact that Rodney Marsh got instantly sacked for a joke about the 2004 Tsunami, but when someone makes a highly sexist comment about a fellow professional it gets overlooked.
No I wont go into all of that, instead I’ll look at it from the perspective of a subscriber of Sky Sports, and the one thing that keeps grinding my gears is that Sky have missed a golden opportunity to get rid of the dead wood.
This could have been Sky’s opportunity to bring in some new blood. Young presenters who are in touch with what today’s viewers want, presenters who aren’t biased towards one particular club, presenters who know how to use the fancy new technology they are provided with on a Monday night. Heaven forbid maybe they could have employed a female pundit! But of course they haven’t. This is Sky Sports, the ultimate TV lads club. The majority of the people at Sky are probably more shocked that the duo left their mics on and not their comments. The person who released the recording will now doubt be instantly dismissed whilst Keys and Gray get to spend a cold Monday night indoors with a hot meal, no doubt cooked for them by their wives, and who knows that they make of it all?! The most surprising thing about all this though is that people are actually surprised by what they said. Did people think these two were with the times? We are talking about an ex footballer and a man widely rumored to be Roger Mellie off the Tele.
But what has become abundantly clear, is that Sky need to start training people up to replace Keys and Gray immediately. Of course they don’t have anyone in place at the moment because Sky didn’t see this coming, they didn’t realise what us viewers have known for years, that they are out of touch with football today. Keys said the ‘game had gone mad’ for having a female official but the only thing mad about the game is that he still has a job at Sky after 20 years of mediocre service. Everything about Sky Sports is modern and fresh, they have moved with the times with an ease that is to be admired, Sky Sports HD, Sky Sports 3D, good programming and decent studios but the only thing that is dated is the presenters and hopefully not for much longer.
Enjoy MNF tonight everyone, because next week normal service will resume with the added bonus of Jamie Redknapp. Deep joy.
No comments:
Post a Comment