Bye Bye Andy, You Won’t Be Missed

Some people in the public eye never learn do they?

Ron Atkinson lost his job for making a racist remark off air and even Gordon Brown wasn’t immune to the curse of the forgotten microphone switch prior to losing the election last May.

Now Andy Gray has been hit by the curse after his comments regarding female assistant referee Sian Massey prior to Saturday’s game between Liverpool and Wolves. It looked like he’d got away with saying that someone had better explain the offside rule to the official, but new footage emerged of him making a comment to a female crew member Charlotte Jackson. You can view it here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9373280.stm

Following this new footage, Gray has been sacked by Sky.

I’ve never liked Andy Gray and think he is the biggest waste of space on television. His love affair with the top four teams (City excluded) and his obvious dislike for any team that tries to infiltrate them (City included) makes him one of the most despised pundits this country has and now he can add sexism to his list.

That might be a bit strong a word, but that’s what it boils down to and that’s what it is. Gray is living in the 70’s by suggesting an official does not know the offside rule, even if it is tongue in cheek, and I bet he feels a little stupid considering Sian got a crucial decision absolutely spot on when some male assistant refs would have missed it.

Women have just as much of a place in football as men and if Sian can make calls like she did on Saturday then there is definitely a place for her and others like her.

What there isn’t a place for is the kind of stupid, senseless comments from an ageing idiot whose only place on this earth needs to be back on the scrap heap where Sky found him.

Let’s be clear on this; Gray’s comments were not just banter or a bit of harmless fun. These are comments said when these two fools thought no-one could hear them and the new footage shows Saturday’s incident was not a one-off.

So goodbye Andy Gray, get off our screens and back into the abyss where you belong. You won’t be missed son.