It is very easy to get upset with television pundits when they criticise your management of a club. You think ‘he isn’t in my position so he doesn’t know what’s really going on.’
Gary Neville is paid to voice his opinion on Sky Sports as he did when calling Arsene Wenger “arrogant” this week over his transfer policy at Arsenal. Until you have managed a club, it is very difficult to put yourself in that position. Yes, you may have played the game but managing a club is totally different. Decision-making is vital — get it wrong and you might only last a year. It is about survival. Top players like Neville, Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry won’t have encountered that too often as players.
But I’ve also worked in TV and to survive there, you have to give an opinion. Managers and pundits may come at it from different angles but really the goal is the same… survival.
