Sky Sports Presenters

PAULWATSON

What are the chances that the two boys have been taught a lesson.

Perhaps Graysy and Keys have contract talks coming up. Stuff like this gets said all the time, and suddently this is released by an offended "sound man".

Some chance, they've "stitched up".

Brain Stroking

They've gotten off lightly. Richard Keys comes across very poorly

joebucks

Matt Cooper mentioned it on the last word. He asked Mark Lawro if it had anything to do with Andy Gray pressing charges against News International over phone tapping..Sky Sports and News Int both owned by Rupert Murdoch. Lawro dismissed this notion as nonsense..Is Matt Cooper the new Jim Corr?

steelcityblues

How come they have been caught out before saying dodgy stuff off camera and kept their jobs?

Don't think this theory holds much weight.

stoneill

They have gotten of very lightly - sexist remarks like that in a workplace would be severely disciplined, as it is an affront to personal dignity, it could be seen as bullying as there were two perpertrators and it's demeaning to a professional as it was unfounded remark calling their skill and ability to perform their job into question.
If it had been in any other industry they could be facing discipline up to and including termination of employment.

Dempo1

****ing delighted that smug arrogant bollox Keyes finally got what was coming. He's an opinionated git and if there was ever a reason not to watch sky sports, its him. Gray is just an amusing buffoon.

Its interesting to see there are suggestions in the press that it was colleagues of both these clowns who set them up by releasing the offending commentary, apparently even their own colleagues can't stand them and just on Newstalk even the venerable Dunphy described Keyes as a "Nasty bit of work"

Says it all really, seems to me Sky have little option but to get rid of these clowns, Gray is on €2m a year? WTF!

outandabout

Of course Gray and Keys were saying what thousands of viewers watching the match were saying in their local pub or their homes.

Unluckily for them, they are paid to be professional and balanced in their views.

It will be interesting to see how far the station will go with their disciplinary action.

For the record, I'm a soccer fan who only partially knows the offside rule but I'd expect a match official to know all the rules.

Gray and Keys were questioning her ability to officiate and in a different forum she could have grounds for legal action.

IamtheWalrus

It's not the first time keys has been a cheeky prick offline. Him and Andy Gray are a pair of pompous gits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7gCYAtmYSI

PAULWATSON

outandabout wrote: »

Unluckily for them, they are paid to be professional and balanced in their views.

.

we are debating a conspiracy theory here. What did theey say on air to offend anyone?

Gray and Keys have been set up, it is assumed that you can trust those working around the studio. That is always the case, unless someone is after you.

citytillidie

stoneill wrote: »

They have gotten of very lightly - sexist remarks like that in a workplace would be severely disciplined, as it is an affront to personal dignity, it could be seen as bullying as there were two perpertrators and it's demeaning to a professional as it was unfounded remark calling their skill and ability to perform their job into question.
If it had been in any other industry they could be facing discipline up to and including termination of employment.

But they dont have the same employers one is employed by the FA while the others are employed by Sky so its not a co worker situation.

It could be seen as builders whistling at passing woman.

What they said is wrong and should never have been said, but I say it was being said by lots of people when they seen her come out for the match on Saturday, and maybe even the fans behind her during the game.

I wish she had not accepted the apology and taken legal action against them.

Brain Stroking

Watching Sky News right now and Kay Burley is having a right go at Andy Gray. This audio was leaked as it wasnt on air. Considering all i hear Andy Gray doing on the audio is agreeing with Keys (who keeps his job?).
Smells fishy. Sky wanted Gray gone. Probably had too big a contract to pay off so they sack him for what looks like gross misconduct. No payoff and Sky get in the clear.
Would not surprise me if Sky advised Keys to ring the lineswoman to apologise in order to make Andy Gray seem less like the guilty party.
I think there is a very good chance that Gray has been shafted here.

The Recliner

Andy Gray has been sacked now

Apparantly it is for an incident that happened off air in December

he must have been on his final warning about his behaviour

Though him suing the News of the World probably didn't help either

mp3kid

Brain Stroking wrote: »

Would not surprise me if Sky advised Keys to ring the lineswoman to apologise in order to make Andy Gray seem less like the guilty party.

He called her yesterday.

outandabout

Whatever happens it's a big blow for Sky's credibility. It could also hurt them if some of their advertisers/sponsors take offence, although that's not likely to happen.

steelcityblues

After the second leaked video emerging, I think I will revisit what I posted yesterday. Also, after reading about his allegations against NOTW, the timing of this seems dubious.

Think his bosses at SKY all knew too well about his sometimes sexist opinions, and with the appointment of the female assistant to Saturday's early kick off, it became the 'perfect' time to catch him out.

profitius

joebucks wrote: »

Matt Cooper mentioned it on the last word. He asked Mark Lawro if it had anything to do with Andy Gray pressing charges against News International over phone tapping..Sky Sports and News Int both owned by Rupert Murdoch. Lawro dismissed this notion as nonsense..Is Matt Cooper the new Jim Corr?

I bet Cooper is right.

RGDATA!

profitius wrote: »

I bet Cooper is right.

definitely worth considering, but I don't know if I fully buy it.
considering how quickly these clips came out, someone was obviously hoarding evidence against the two boys in the event they needed to be jettisoned. Having worked in that business I personally find it more likely that it was colleagues pissed off with the duo for a while, rather than "higher ups" acting at Murdoch's behest.

mickdw

Someone was obviously waiting in the long grass. If it was just a youtube clip or something, I would say a co worker however, the timing of all this & the way it has been reported on sky news makes me feel it was a high level plot to get rid of them.

fergus o brien

my own personal thoughts are that this issue has been blown out of all proportion . ive been on this earth 42 years now and worked in warehouses and can say that i have heard many comments made by women (about men in general or workwise) that were every bit as (if not more) sexist as anything ive ever heard a man say .

i had a personal conversation one time (standing in a corner near a cold drink machine ) and there was a joke mentioned (i dont remember who made the joke me or my mate or what the joke was about) but i think it was along the lines of a paddy irishman /paddy english man joke ,hours later i was called in to the managers office to explain my self (at first i didnt know what he was talking about) then he mentioned a certain thing was said and i recalled the joke between my self and my mate .

i said there was a joke between me and another i told him the joke (which he felt was fairly non offenceive ) but he had to act on a complaint (by the way the complaint was not the joke but the use of the word paddy ) my manager told me i couldnt use the word paddy in work i would have to use the word irish man.

i was supervisor in the warehouse and on another occasion i was reported to the manager for calling someone a racist (and apparently the person who claimed this had about 7 witnessees who were present when i made this comment ) the manager called me to explain my self (i had no idea what he was talking about) the person who complained gave the time of the incident and the names of those who he said witnessed me make this comment. in short the person who complained i called them racist said he approached me (with the 7 people present ) complaining about having to train in new staff who were from poland . i simply said i know its a pain having to train someone new especially on a very busy day but its something we all had to do at some stage ,and i said we just have to try and get on and work together as best we can and i felt sure we would all be friends (as was the case ) however from that statment this guy decided i was calling him a racist.

for the record not one of the 7 people who were male /female and irish/polish took any offence or thought that i had insinuated a person was racist or otherwise .

were gray and keys wrong to make such comments (yes they were ) and yes it seems other comments were made at other times ,should they have been punished i believe so but being fired was i believe an over reaction .if we are all honest as men or women we will say yes we have made a comment or told a joke which could be viewed as sexist but yes it was said as a joke (at a party or in a pub or in the work canteen) and not meant to offend . and most reasonable people would accept a joke or funny comment as exactly what it was meant to be humour .

profitius

The lunatic PC brigade have taken over. You can't say anything against anyone with the exception of White hetrosexual males.

Brown Bomber

profitius wrote: »

The lunatic PC brigade have taken over. You can't say anything against anyone with the exception of White hetrosexual males.

And Catholics.

One thing which crossed my mind is that Richard Keys and Andy Gray were both ex-BSB presenters before the Sky "merger." It's a complete shot in the dark but it's possible that they may have had some conditions in their contracts that Sky couldn't change, why not kick up a fuss to get rid of them... then again why wait 20 years if that were the case?

Brown Bomber

Anyone remember Baddiel and Skinner doing hairy hands on Fantast Football league?

humanji

profitius wrote: »

The lunatic PC brigade have taken over. You can't say anything against anyone with the exception of White hetrosexual males.

In fairness, it's not a case of PC gone wild. It's two twats who've treated people like sh*t for years getting their comeuppance.

Claiming this was a harmless joke is bull. They were claiming that the lineswoman was incapable of doing her job. They were not joking about that at all. By having people like that presenting on their channel, the Sky bosses will be alienating a large group of viewers. It's simply bad business to let them go unpunished. And considering the type of person Grey is, you can be damn sure he'd do it again, so terminating his contract makes sense.

He was a hated figure by the people who worked for him and it's hardly surprising that someone would have filmed one of his rants. I'm really just surprised many more haven't been put on Youtube.