Former Manchester United star Paul Parker has claimed that Sky Sports viewers are ‘fed up’ of watching Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, claiming the broadcaster is ‘alienating’ its viewers. Neville and Carragher recently found themselves on the receiving end of criticism from Rio Ferdinand following Arsenal‘s 5-1 win over Manchester City earlier this month, as the pair of pundits questioned Myles Lewis-Skelly for mimicking Erling Haaland‘s ‘zen’ celebration as he put the Gunners 3-1 up.
Ferdinand said that football fans ought to « let the kids come out and express themselves » while also branding old team-mate Neville in particular as tasteless, given his own previous in-game celebrations. And now, Parker – who also played with Neville and appeared for the Red Devils between 1991 and 1996 – has claimed that football fans are growing tired of Carragher and Neville on Sky Sports, citing how the presenters « wear their allegiances on their sleeves » instead of being unbiased.
Speaking to MyBettingSites, Parker said: « In the past, as a pundit or commentator, you had to be as neutral as possible. If you had grievances with a club or an individual, you kept them to yourself and just did your job.
« Now, pundits openly wear their allegiances on their sleeves. Whether as a commentator, co-commentator, or analyst, they make it clear who they support. People are fed up with it. They’re fed up with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. They’re bored. Fans want to watch the game and listen to analysis from someone who has played at the highest level, someone who understands the realities of professional football. »
Elsewhere, Parker also claimed that fans of the beautiful game want to see fresh persepctives emerging through the country’s biggest broadcasters, adding: « People don’t want someone constantly dissecting every issue at a club. They just want clear, unbiased analysis. Fans are complaining.
« Sky is alienating its audience. Viewers respect Jamie for the number of games he played and Gary for the titles he won. But while Gary can talk about winning trophies, Jamie can’t. We need impartial pundits.
« The system needs to change. We need to bring in different voices – referees, fresh faces in the studio, players who have recently retired. It’s becoming tedious. Instead of the same people saying the same things on different platforms, we should give new perspectives a chance. »
It comes after Carragher found himself on the receiving end of flack for his analysis during Liverpool‘s 2-1 win over Wolves on Sunday. Diogo Jota was awarded a penalty during the game when he was seemingly brought down by Emmanuel Agbadou midway through the second half, however, VAR overturned Simon Hooper’s decision after finding no argument there was a foul.
Carragher was heard explaining that he saw a slight touch, seemingly defending the Portuguese forward’s actions of going to ground. But many social media users saw it differently, claiming that the pundit should have called out Jota for ‘diving’.
One person wrote on X: « Jamie Charragher doesn’t even try to hide his bias… that’s the most obvious dive when watched back and he’s saying ‘Jota has been clever there’. Let that have been any other team and he’d saying how disgraceful the player is. » Meanwhile, a second questioned: « Why isn’t Jamie Carragher calling that dive out instead of saying there’s not much in it?! Clear as day he dived, no contact at all and neither commentator calling it out. »
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