If you haven't heard the news I'm here to bring you it as well as give you my opinion on the matter moving forward. So if you haven't heard here's the latest, Sky Sports News just let go their 2 most respected pundits of the beautiful game, Richard Keys and Andy Gray for sexist comments off camera about a female assistant referee before the Liverpool vs Wolverhampton match last weekend. The comments were picked up by a microphone and I'm sure if you are that eager to hear them you can go on to YouTube and find it but I won't waste my time talking much about the comments.
Andy Gray and Richard Keys are without a doubt my favorite pundits, I admire their knowledge of the game and I try to absorb as much as I can whenever I get to listen to them. And in my opinion I believe they shouldn't have been fired because of the fact the comments were off air. Now, I don't condone sexism and I'm making no excuse for Keys or Gray as this incident was wrong but the people who leaked the comments were just as wrong because surveillance is an issue that is destroying the free world. Now that's all I want to say about those comments feel free to argue against me but I'm not here to talk about that.
I'm here to talk about what should be done for the future. More specifically ESPN, yes that's right the World Wide leader in sports. Now if you have been watching ESPN at all for the past 2-3 years you've noticed how much ESPN has invested in soccer and that they have finally figured out that world soccer is a big money thing and they must find a way to get a piece of the pie. Sky Sports News is without a doubt one of their competitors world wide and now that they have sacked 2 of their best pundits, ESPN should be looking to pounce.
I watched during the World Cup Finals last June how great Richard Keys and Andy Gray were for Fox Soccer Channel and this just shows how Keys and Gray love the job and are willing to go to anybody who's willing to supply them with this pundit job. With all the pundits on ESPN, not many are soccer pundits, you can probably even count them on one hand. Now there's a good chance Keys and Gray may not even be interested but ESPN definitely should make a run at them because they have an opportunity they may never get again to expand their soccer coverage to a whole new level. Keys has said that he is very fond of his mate Andy Gray and I read between the lines and thought wow there's a good chance Gray and Keys will go to a certain network in a package deal, and what ever network steps up to the plate has a great chance to improve their quality of coverage.
Now there is a very good possibility that Keys and Gray are not interested in working in the American market full time and they may only be interested in either retirement or continuing to work but with another British network like BBC for example. However, Gray and Keys did work with Fox Soccer Channel last summer and their former Sky Sports coworkers Ian Darke and Martin Tyler have become staples with ESPN. Especially with Ian Darke who is now working full time with ESPN as a broadcaster. ESPN should make a similar run at Keys and Gray. Keys obviously would be great as a pre game or halftime show host or even hosting a weekly all soccer show that ESPN hasn't featured on any of their family of networks. Gray could work as a color commentator or he could work with Keys with a weekly show type of role.
Another good possibility is that ESPN may not even be interested with pundits who have been involved in sexism as viewers might look down at the network for that. I still say its worth it in the end because getting quality world wide respected soccer pundits will always be priceless.
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