Stanley Collymore, where do you start with a man like this?

A footballer who didn’t quite hit the peak his ability suggested he should reach? A man caught up in a seedy dogging scandal? A human being that has allegedly made two threats on lives of two ex partners? A bully who when arguing with Vanilla Ice on a low budget reality show for channel five said ‘If you want to fucking get it on, we’ll go round the fucking back, get our mics off and I’ll cave your fucking head in.’

Stan Collymore isn’t my cup of tea, to say the least.

On these merits he probably doesn’t deserve a media career, even if he believes the drivel that comes out of his mouth like ‘Everybody thinks I underachieved as a footballer. I didn’t underachieve. I overachieved. I had a great career.’

You didn’t overachieve Mr Collymore; you won nothing of note, only represented England three times and never spent more than three seasons at one club. You gave up at thirty years of age after walking out Real Oviedo. That isn’t the successful resume.

Yes Collymore had skill and tremendous footballing qualities but the fact is he squandered them. But alas doesn’t mean he’s a bad pundit. George Best squandered more than Stan (he also won more) and he had a decent career in the media.

Should his past violent indiscretions mean he should be given a full body swerve from companies such as BT Sport and Talksport? Possibly not. I wouldn’t hire Andy Gray or Alan Brazil, but they manage to get jobs in these places too. But be warned media companies, women in football are here to stay and they are powerful fans that have an ever growing voice. They may end up forcing your hands when employing sexist, unsavoury characters such as these.

My main gripe with Stan Collymore is his way of actually being a pundit and his use of social media.

I don’t follow Stan (I also avoid listening to Talksport) but yesterday during the Rangers/Ally McCoist saga retweets hit my Twitter feed…

Now say what you want about Ally McCoist as a football manager but he is a man of principle and dignity. Collymore wetting himself over a comment, McCoist made in 2012, is embarrassing and disrespectful. Plus the soundbite actually answered a question that directly asked Ally if he’d walk away in 2012, something Stan wouldn’t have known about as he probably knows just as much about Scottish football as he knows what it feels like to score for his country (nothing).

Now I thought back and was curious as to why Collymore would have an issue with McCoist that would result in that bizarre/disrespectful tweet. Then I remembered, it was in a Scottish bar in Paris where Collymore hit Ulrika Jonsson after she appeared on Ally’s tv show and the former Scotland striker was in another room in the same bar.

So I tweeted…

Now I wasn’t the only one to remember this incident after his boastful tweet and like so many others I was blocked by Stan Collymore on Twitter. I consider it a highlight in my Twitter career. I was was bothered as I never wanted to follow the arrogant bully.

But then BT Sport and their main TV personality Jake Humphrey tweeted that they were delighted to have Stan on their broadcast later on that night to discuss Rangers and Liverpool.

That made me reconsider my BT Sport and telephone subscription (I’m still thinking it over).

Why on earth am I paying to watch a notorious bully who goads football fans on twitter and on the radio and then runs away from them when they answer back with facts. My tweet to Stan wasn’t racist or abusive, many of the people who tweeted him yesterday weren’t abusive either. That incident happened in Paris.

He knows hee haw about the goings on at Ibrox, for crying out loud he even suggested Ally McCoist take a break and then get a role on the Rangers board. He also made a baseless comment that John W Henry had come close to sacking Brendan Rodgers. All that from a ‘source’ or maybe just Stan’s head? The source would have to be extremely high up in the Liverpool board if they have that kind of relationship with Henry and they deserve to be sacked if they have spouted anything to any broadcaster.

Now here is the point, Stan Collymore lives off of stories and goading fans. Why as a paying BT subscriber do I wish to watch that provocative style, especially when he can’t back up his claims or listen to criticism?

If BT Sport’s a channel that doesn’t listen to it’s fee paying audience and overlooks us (how many Scottish journos do they have to cover Celtic Europa games in the studio? Zero) then I am out. Social Media is a huge tool BT Sport, maybe you should listen to the dissenting voices from time to time and you’ll actually have a better station! Don’t just look and RT the good stuff, complacency can kill you in media.

As for Stan? Well I hope you can crawl back under your rock and I don’t need to hear about you until you once again balls up and fail at something else.

Posted on December 13th, 2014 by scott
Filed under: Article