Jimmy Hill was the chairman of Coventry City, chairman of Charlton Athletic and chairman of Fulham. He is credited with writing the words to the song Good Old Arsenal , and was the president of Corinthian Casuals.
Never needed a bouncer to get him in and out of football matches, though. Never needed much security. Not that he was always popular. Sir Alex Ferguson, in particular, thought that Hill had it in for Manchester United; Sunderland fans hated him for delaying the kick-off for Coventry versus Bristol City on the final day of the 1976-77 season. Both teams played out the last ten minutes of that game knowing a point each was enough to stay up, because Sunderland were being relegated having lost 2-0 in a match that had already finished.
Yet Hill was an equal-opportunity offender. You may think he was harsh on your team, but your rivals felt he was equally harsh on theirs. He had his flaws and his blind spots and wisdom left him later in life, but Hill’s most obvious allegiance was to football, not to one team. And his employers, in those days, went out of their way to make sure that was apparent, whoever was in the studio.
Hill gave off an air of neutrality in the studio, despite his history of angering opposition supporters
BBC
We must hope, then, that a small pang of guilt is now felt in Isleworth at the suggestion that Sky’s analysts may have to travel with bodyguards when they are at football grounds after an alleged incident involving Roy Keane and an Arsenal fan at the Emirates. Keane is said to have been the victim of an alleged assault, a poorly aimed headbutt, with his assailant now bailed.
A court will, in all likelihood, apportion blame and pass sentence if necessary. If there was violence it is inexcusable. Yet if Keane, and his colleagues, now require a security detail to go about their business, they have every right to ask their employers: why? How have they been set on a path where they are perceived, not as the valued, informed commentators that they undoubtedly are, but as fans of one side or the other?
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This has been simmering for some while. A supporter would not be allowed in the home end at the Emirates in a Manchester United shirt — or an Arsenal shirt permitted in the Stretford End — yet Keane and his cohorts are metaphorically costumed that way when they sit in the studio. During the Women’s World Cup, pundits on both channels were ever more literal in their support — actually wearing England shirts on the job. What happened to impartiality? What happened to a seat on the fence? It is not uncommon these days for one side to be referred to as “we” or “us”. And then there is shock at friction within the stadium.
The studio is a glorified press box, that’s all. Some of the inhabitants may not want to hear this because they don’t like the press and consider themselves above it but their passes are media passes just the same. And a football shirt would not be allowed in the press box; nor would celebrations. You often find them abroad. Fanboys in the foreign press section at Real Madrid used to wave imaginary cards if anyone so much as grazed Cristiano Ronaldo. Napoli’s media area is full of supposed journalists in colours, but without notebooks or laptops, who explode like ultras when their team scores.
The characterisation of pundits such as Keane and Richards puts them at risk of harm
SIMON STACPOOLE/OFFSIDE/OFFSIDE VIA GETTY IMAGES
It isn’t like that here. Obviously, the majority of football writers grew up supporting a team. Yet the job requires that allegiance to be left at the door, on collecting the ticket. And that is true of broadcasters, too. It is not the pundits who constantly remind the audience where their heart lies. The producers now do that — showing goal celebrations, agonies, ecstasies. The former West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic was mortified when, at the 2016 European Championships, ITV broadcast footage of him climbing on a table in the studio to celebrate a goal by his player Dimitri Payet for France against Albania. Bilic’s argument was that this was a private moment, and he wouldn’t have done it had he known the camera was on him.
Ian Wright quit his television job in 2008, accusing the BBC of using him like “a comedy jester”. Yet now he is back and his bosses mine his exuberant nature more than ever. And it looks good on social media. Gets hits. Makes these great figures appear no different to the humble fan. Yet some don’t want fans in the press box. They certainly don’t want a Manchester United fan in the West Stand at the Emirates. And Keane, for obvious reasons, is still as recognisable over there as if he were in full kit, calling out Patrick Vieira in the tunnel.
That will be the excuse. That Keane will always be a bogeyman at Arsenal and is never going to be anything but a target there. Yet he’s always been a Manchester United icon and he hasn’t needed protection before. All of those guys in the studio: Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Micah Richards, Alan Shearer, Wright, Gary Lineker — we all know who they want to win.
Yet it is interesting that this confrontation only happened on entering an age when old acquaintances are not so much forgotten, as highlighted and monetised. And, really, a fan should be able to cheer on his team from wherever he likes in the ground. What a small-minded generation it is that cannot accept that a football lover can support any one of a thousand clubs. Yet we know this isn’t the case now. If you can’t make it next Saturday, you can no longer gift your season ticket to your friend who is a fan of the opposition, because he’ll be thumped, or ejected, and you’ll be banned. All for just supporting a team. Yet that’s the way it is. So playing up fan status and then leaving a famous individual to walk through the crowd — the only surprise is this hasn’t happened sooner.
England’s awfully perfect preparation?
There is a superstition in horse racing about the best turned-out runner. Don’t back it. Whatever looks sharpest in the paddock, whatever gets the rosette for the most immaculately groomed, is to be avoided. There are no great statistical studies here, no established correlations, but anyone who goes racing has a friend who is instinctively wary of a handsome horse. In football, a good pre-season carries similar foreboding. The team that impresses before the competition begins is invariably doomed to failure. Of the past ten winners of the Community Shield, only one has gone on to take the title.
England were humbled by Fiji last month — but could the defeat be a sign of impending glory?
CLIVE MASON/GETTY IMAGES
So utilising these two irrefutable pieces of sporting logic, can there be any doubt that England are going to win the Rugby World Cup? Let’s face it, preparations could not have gone worse. Injuries, suspensions, the first defeat to a “Tier Two” side. Short of arriving in Le Touquet to find the hotel double booked and the travel agent’s credit card maxed out, it is hard to imagine what further disaster could have befallen Steve Borthwick’s squad. So it’s on a plate. England have the most straightforward pool and a likely meeting with their fellow strugglers Wales or Australia before the semi-finals. On the other side of the draw South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland and France will be contesting two places. Everything about England’s journey to here suggests abject failure. What could possibly go wrong?
United have no excuse for Antony silence after Greenwood case
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On January 30, 2022, when Manchester United awoke to accusations against Mason Greenwood, complete with audio and photographic footage, there really was no playbook for an event of this kind. There have been serious accusations against footballers in the past, of course, but none that have entered the public domain so graphically. Manchester United’s suspension of Greenwood preceded his arrest on suspicion of attempted rape and assault, and the club was initially praised for its decisive action.
So, as dismal as it may sound, there is now a procedure for such instances. United do have a process for when a player is accused of violence. So why the silence around Antony? He has been accused of assaulting his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin on several occasions, with Greater Manchester Police and São Paulo Civil Police now investigating. Cavallin claims she received treatment from a doctor at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Manchester after one attack.
United declined to comment on the Antony allegations
MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES
Antony denies the allegations, as Greenwood did. Yet, in Greenwood’s case, that did not stop United deciding he had no future at Old Trafford and structuring a loan move to Getafe in Spain. On Antony, though, they have said nothing — even though Cavallin’s initial reports of threats, violence and bodily injury date back to June.
Many have been critical of what they perceive as inertia and indecision from United around Greenwood but it was a complicated case — with much of its complexity still protected by law — and mistakes were made. It does mean, however, that precedents have been set and maps drawn across the terrain. A playbook exists. What has happened to it? Brazil have withdrawn Antony from their international squad for matches against Bolivia and Peru this month. The longer United remain frozen, the more it will be presumed the club is making up its responses as it goes along. And there is no excuse for that now.
