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'Robots!' - Ryan Giggs Attacks English Football Culture In Punditry Debut

Conor Neville
By Conor Neville
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Alex Ferguson used to lament that the pundits who passed judgement on his team were all Liverpool men. The retired greats who won everything in sight in the 1980s.

Nowadays, it's Manchester United men from the 90s and 2000s who are swallowing up the big jobs in punditry.

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ITV have drafted Ryan Giggs in to replace Slaven Bilic.

As a player, Giggsy was never a quotable interviewee. As an advertising man, he was never assured with the autocue. He steered well clear of media whoredom - often being compared favourably to David Beckham in that respect.

Happily, as a pundit, he seems to have let the shackles off his mouth.

 I don't think you can question their character. There's a whole bigger problem with the English national team. And the whole culture has to change if you want a successful team.

It starts from 14, 15, 16, that whole wash-bag culture. I read a piece from Jamie Carragher and what he said is 100% true. I didn't want to be famous, I wanted to be successful. Players now are rewarded before they even do anything. So, they've got the nice cars, the nice watches.

For a national team to be successful, I think the best players have to play in their age group. Now, that's a big question mark in England because the Premier League is so big. They (clubs) have so much power. How can they release their best players for a summer tournament at U19s, U20s? But I think if the English team want to be successful, they have to do that.

His finest moment arrived when he accused the players of being incapable of improvising or thinking for themselves on the pitch.

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Robots. Just robots. Told what to do. And there's no problem solving on the pitch. That switch there, should have been full-back to full-back. The full-back should have said 'the right winger for Iceland has just come in, you pick him up'. Instead, the winger has to run back twenty yards. That wouldn't happen in a club, or a decent club, or a well-drilled club. That's just simple coaching to me.

Read more: How The World Would Look If Eamon Dunphy Had Been Put In Charge Of Irish Football

 

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