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Death announced of racing broadcaster John McCririck

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    #32
    IAMAMORON
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,078 ✭✭✭IAMAMORON


    tipptom wrote: »
    I have been involved in racing all my life and rode in Ireland and England and know a lot of trainers and jockeys up and down both countrys and all people involved in racing and hardly any of them had any time for him as a commentator.

    Some viewed him as a bit of a clown that he put across and some just plainly disliked him and his views and would try to avoid him like the plague.


    That's my experience of what people think of him within racing, what's yours to say its plain wrong?

    This is the biggest problem in racing. " the people in the know ". Especially the Brits, but your all well up to it down the Premier county, it's gas what a couple of hundred acres of gallop and a string of 50 horses will do to your personality.

    The fact remains he was a great character who stood for the punter and stood up to the cliques, that is why they didn't like him.

    In the meantime we are left with Mick Fitzgerald and Brian Gleeson. Mother of Christ.


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    #33
    Morgans
    Registered Users Posts: 4,353 ✭✭✭Morgans


    tipptom wrote: »
    I have been involved in racing all my life and rode in Ireland and England and know a lot of trainers and jockeys up and down both countrys and all people involved in racing and hardly any of them had any time for him as a commentator.

    Some viewed him as a bit of a clown that he put across and some just plainly disliked him and his views and would try to avoid him like the plague.


    That's my experience of what people think of him within racing, what's yours to say its plain wrong?

    As I intimated, best of luck to you and your exploits and history in the racing industry and if you didn't come across anyone you liked our respected him, well and good. I couldn't and am not remotely interested in stating you are wrong. However, to say no one in Britain or Ireland respected him as s racing commentator is wrong. From then, the awards he won then, the work he did behind the scenes for greatwood, IJF, and those repeating how much he was respected today.

    Then again Barney Curleys interview was hilarious.


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    #34
    Imhof Tank
    Registered Users Posts: 2,122 ✭✭✭Imhof Tank


    He was so refreshing in the early days of Channel 4 racing with his "steamers" and the tic tac routine - Burlington Bertie, One Hundred to Thirty! Levels you Devils! Earhole! While at the time on the BBC they had Jimmy Lindley and John Hamner to lull you to sleep.

    The race riding advice was 100% tongue in cheek and no badness in it, all except certain jockeys could see that.

    His act was a throw back to the days of the turf's colourful characters before the racing media was taken over by the likes of Ed Chamberlain with his cheap salesman routine and fake pc-ness.

    He basically created the clown character with the bizarre outfits, carved out a niche for himself in the game, and got nearly 40 years at the very top of his industry out of it. Salut Big Mac!


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    #35
    The Tetrarch
    Registered Users Posts: 2,092 ✭✭✭The Tetrarch


    McCririck was the white Prince Monolulu. Crowds gathered around him, and occasionally riled him.
    Now we have presenters in the social stable reading out what people wrote on twitter. How very boring.


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    #36
    BumperD
    Registered Users Posts: 5,681 ✭✭✭BumperD


    He was very knowledgeable. The Sunday forum on ATR demonstrated that. Don’t recall ever hearing an anti Irish line from him so not sure what all that is about, maybe it’s dated. I remember seeing him on tv a year or two ago and all the weight lost which was not a good sign.


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    #37
    Bullwall
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭Bullwall


    Like all of us , he was a product of his time and place . I think he did some good for racing and some good in his personal life .That's how we all should be judged .
    RIP John


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    #38
    daheff
    Registered Users Posts: 5,839 ✭✭✭daheff


    convert wrote: »
    Ok, guys, let's keep this respectful. Ever hear of don't speak ill of the dead?

    Dont get me wrong. I'm sorry to hear of his passing, but ignoring his ignorant side because he has passed isnt right either. That also made up part of his character & who hes was.


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    #39
    IAMAMORON
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,078 ✭✭✭IAMAMORON


    Guy is a legend , I am so happy that he pissed off so many stuck up in the know assholes. Especially the VETS , doping up fillies. Scumbags.

    The booby knew, I would say Jenny is shattered now, he will be sadly missed.



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    #40
    android1
    Registered Users Posts: 100 ✭✭android1


    He was a huge presence on the racing scene. He wasn't a balanced, nice, reasonable or fair man.


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    #41
    supremenovice
    Registered Users Posts: 976 ✭✭✭supremenovice


    I grew up watching Channel 4 racing reluctantly because of my aul lad.
    The Morning Line was a staple every Saturday morning. Anyway, as I became old enough to bet myself, I became interested in racing too and I guess I always just accepted McCririck for his faults and all, kind of like your gruff, ignorant uncle whos always at family events but you actually get on alright with and have a bit of banter with cause you get used to him and he's not going anywhere. Whenever I was watching racing with a non-racing fan, particularly a girl, they'd always be disgusted with his hairy face and gaudy jewelry and mannerisms, but I had looked past it at that stage. I never doubted his professionalism in fairness with his stats well prepared and always fighting the corner of the punters.
    I actually was disappointed he got booted off Channel 4 too, I really liked the old guard team of Tommo and Francome et al.
    RIP


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    #42
    Panrich
    Registered Users Posts: 3,776 ✭✭✭Panrich


    Definitely a one-off. He was past his sell by date though when he was let go from channel 4.

    Used to see him a fair bit around tracks in the UK in the mid to late 80s. I made an occasional stab at hello but never got any encouragement.


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    #43
    The Tetrarch
    Registered Users Posts: 2,092 ✭✭✭The Tetrarch


    John McCririck's obituary in The Guardian was written by Julian Wilson, who died in 2014.


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    #44
    Odyssey 2005
    Registered Users Posts: 21,065 ✭✭✭✭Odyssey 2005


    RIP John McCrirrick
    Funeral service will be from the house at 10/1
    Followed by burial at his local graveyard at 5/2
    Refreshments at the local working men’s club at 5/4


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    #45
    Gael23
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭Gael23


    Odyssey 2005 wrote: »
    RIP John McCrirrick
    Funeral service will be from the house at 10/1
    Followed by burial at his local graveyard at 5/2
    Refreshments at the local working men’s club at 5/4

    5/1 he will be cremated and strewn all over cheltenham racecourse


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    #46
    Bullwall
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭Bullwall


    Gael23 wrote: »
    5/1 he will be cremated and strewn all over cheltenham racecourse
    Apparently the old Alexandra Park racecourse is the site , if the wife can find it .


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    #47
    PhuckHugh22
    Registered Users Posts: 471 ✭✭PhuckHugh22


    Alistair Down is some wordsmith. This is a cracking piece whether one likes the man or not.

    https://www.racingpost.com/news/john-mccririck-1940-2019/flamboyant-and-fearless-but-above-all-a-passionate-defender-of-the-punter/389293?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=RP%20-%20News&utm_content=John%20McCririck&utm_term=Null


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    #48
    BumperD
    Registered Users Posts: 5,681 ✭✭✭BumperD


    PhuckHugh22 wrote: »
    Alistair Down is some wordsmith. This is a cracking piece whether one likes the man or not.

    https://www.racingpost.com/news/john-mccririck-1940-2019/flamboyant-and-fearless-but-above-all-a-passionate-defender-of-the-punter/389293?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=RP%20-%20News&utm_content=John%20McCririck&utm_term=Null

    Best writer by a street. Huge amount of support and positive messages for John. One piece I read mentioned how shy and private he was compared to the loud bashful persona on front of the camera, which was simply part of his act. Really miss characters like this. Looking at the old C4 lineup in the above article compared to where we are today with social stable stuff etc ugh


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    #49
    Aidric
    Registered Users Posts: 13,589 ✭✭✭✭Aidric


    PhuckHugh22 wrote: »
    Alistair Down is some wordsmith. This is a cracking piece whether one likes the man or not.

    https://www.racingpost.com/news/john-mccririck-1940-2019/flamboyant-and-fearless-but-above-all-a-passionate-defender-of-the-punter/389293?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=RP%20-%20News&utm_content=John%20McCririck&utm_term=Null

    Down is a cut above the rest and a beautiful writer to boot. This piece humanizes McCririck in a way that someone not close to him could never have managed. I take issue with his assertion that McCririck was a punters champion. He was in the pocket of the bookies like most in the racing industry.


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    #50
    Kid Charlemagne
    Registered Users Posts: 268 ✭✭Kid Charlemagne


    Aidric wrote: »
    I take issue with his assertion that McCririck was a punters champion. He was in the pocket of the bookies like most in the racing industry.

    Can you elaborate?


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    #51
    Kid Charlemagne
    Registered Users Posts: 268 ✭✭Kid Charlemagne


    Imhof Tank wrote: »
    the likes of Ed Chamberlain with his cheap salesman routine and fake pc-ness.

    Couldnt have put it better.

    Chappers the only one with any personality. Kevin Blake at least knows what hes on about. The rest are nauseating.


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    #52
    Earendil
    Registered Users Posts: 809 ✭✭✭Earendil


    Kid Charlemagne wrote: »
    Couldnt have put it better.

    Chappers the only one with any personality. Kevin Blake at least knows what hes on about. The rest are nauseating.

    Take it back!

    Francesca can sit on my lap and have a bottle of my Moretti anytime. And I mean one of the 660ML ones...:pac:


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    #53
    Mysterypunter
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭Mysterypunter


    BumperD wrote: »
    He was very knowledgeable. The Sunday forum on ATR demonstrated that. Don’t recall ever hearing an anti Irish line from him so not sure what all that is about, maybe it’s dated. I remember seeing him on tv a year or two ago and all the weight lost which was not a good sign.

    Wasn't anti Irish, just fancied some English horses against them, and had a verbal altercation with loudmouth know all Ted Walsh, It was on the morning line, Ted the expert was tipping up Danoli, finished third.


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    #54
    yaboya1
    Registered Users Posts: 4,610 ✭✭✭yaboya1


    Earendil wrote: »
    Take it back!

    Francesca can sit on my lap and have a bottle of my Moretti anytime. And I mean one of the 660ML ones...:pac:

    Where are you getting 660ml morettis?


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    #55
    CH3OH
    Registered Users Posts: 7,272 ✭✭✭CH3OH


    yaboya1 wrote: »
    Where are you getting 660ml morettis?

    In case it is urgent,
    https://shop.supervalu.ie/shopping/wine-beer-spirits-lager-birra-moretti-bottle-660-millilitre-/p-1451592001


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    #56
    tryfix
    Registered Users Posts: 2,702 ✭✭✭tryfix


    Mysterypunter wrote: »
    Wasn't anti Irish, just fancied some English horses against them, and had a verbal altercation with loudmouth know all Ted Walsh, It was on the morning line, Ted the expert was tipping up Danoli, finished third.


    Really...
    RACING pundit and Tory supporter John McCririck has revelled in Ireland's economic woes, saying "Ireland at last is getting its comeuppance."

    Irish people are a step behind other races when it comes to work and as a general rule, the Irish "prefer to be looked after a bit more," McCririck said in an interview with George Hook on Newstalk 106-108fm.

    He also said that the Irish are living in the past and that "down in Dublin, there's a lot of anti-British feeling over in Ireland".

    McCririck said of Ireland, "For about 20 years, you've had Europe pumping money in, wherever you go in Ireland there are these placards up [saying] 'This was built by the European Union'... "

    "Of course, WE were paying for it! Germany, France and Britain were paying all this money in to the Irish."

    And of the work ethic of the Irish, McCririck argued that, "Irish people are sort of a pace behind the frenetic speed that we have over here and in other European countries. As a general rule, the Irish prefer to be looked after a bit more."

    https://m.herald.ie/news/racing-and-ranting-it-has-to-be-mad-pundit-mccririck-27945360.html



    He was higly entertaining, but also a quintessential little englander, well not so little which is funny considering his views on the speed that others move at.

    Also, the irony of the Tweed wearing Brexiteer talking about others living in the past.


    Having a laugh by being offensive in an interview was kind of his act, but I can't recall any warmth ever coming from John towards any of the legions of Irish characters involved in the sport he loved so much.


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    #57
    tipptom
    Registered Users Posts: 4,219 ✭✭✭tipptom


    tryfix wrote: »
    Really...



    https://m.herald.ie/news/racing-and-ranting-it-has-to-be-mad-pundit-mccririck-27945360.html



    He was higly entertaining, but also a quintessential little englander, well not so little which is funny considering his views on the speed that others move at.

    Also, the irony of the Tweed wearing Brexiteer talking about others living in the past.


    Having a laugh by being offensive in an interview was kind of his act, but I can't recall any warmth ever coming from John towards any of the legions of Irish characters involved in the sport he loved so much.

    Its like quotations from Punch magazine 150 years ago alonside a cartoon of an ape dressed as an Irishman.

    Like I said people involved in racing ignored him and was especially disliked by racing stable staff, jockeys and trainers who would have nothing to do with him as regards interviews.

    Was in one or other bookies pockets or whatever big business would throw money at him or in racing and detested working class people or any jockey or trainer who worked their way up from the bottom and preferred racing run by trainers and officials from the aristocracy.
    Punters pal mehole.


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    #58
    Brock Turnpike
    Registered Users Posts: 3,744 ✭✭✭Brock Turnpike


    tipptom wrote: »
    tryfix wrote: »
    Really...



    https://m.herald.ie/news/racing-and-ranting-it-has-to-be-mad-pundit-mccririck-27945360.html



    He was higly entertaining, but also a quintessential little englander, well not so little which is funny considering his views on the speed that others move at.

    Also, the irony of the Tweed wearing Brexiteer talking about others living in the past.


    Having a laugh by being offensive in an interview was kind of his act, but I can't recall any warmth ever coming from John towards any of the legions of Irish characters involved in the sport he loved so much.

    Its like quotations from Punch magazine 150 years ago alonside a cartoon of an ape dressed as an Irishman.

    Like I said people involved in racing ignored him and was especially disliked by racing stable staff, jockeys and trainers who would have nothing to do with him as regards interviews.

    Was in one or other bookies pockets or whatever big business would throw money at him or in racing and detested working class people or any jockey or trainer who worked their way up from the bottom and preferred racing run by trainers and officials from the aristocracy.
    Punters pal mehole.

    Tell us what you really think, Tom


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    #59
    PhuckHugh22
    Registered Users Posts: 471 ✭✭PhuckHugh22


    Do I believe random Tom from the internet who claims to be a representative for a bunch of trainers jockeys and stable staff.. Or Alistair Down, Lee Mottershead and the numerous other journalists and racing people who have spoken nothing but good words about the man.

    A tough call if there ever was one.


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    #60
    BumperD
    Registered Users Posts: 5,681 ✭✭✭BumperD


    tryfix wrote: »
    Really...



    https://m.herald.ie/news/racing-and-ranting-it-has-to-be-mad-pundit-mccririck-27945360.html



    He was higly entertaining, but also a quintessential little englander, well not so little which is funny considering his views on the speed that others move at.

    Also, the irony of the Tweed wearing Brexiteer talking about others living in the past.


    Having a laugh by being offensive in an interview was kind of his act, but I can't recall any warmth ever coming from John towards any of the legions of Irish characters involved in the sport he loved so much.

    Irish lazy and fat in 2010? Probably accurate after the gorging of the tiger years. I was expecting something offensive, he was simply stating facts in 2010


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    #61
    tipptom
    Registered Users Posts: 4,219 ✭✭✭tipptom


    PhuckHugh22 wrote: »
    Do I believe random Tom from the internet who claims to be a representative for a bunch of trainers jockeys and stable staff.. Or Alistair Down, Lee Mottershead and the numerous other journalists and racing people who have spoken nothing but good words about the man.

    A tough call if there ever was one.

    Yeah,well ive worked in racing in a lot of spheres starting of in RACE and go on to be apprentice jockey on the Curragh serving my time with one of the biggest stables in Ireland and on to England after serving my time with stints in America,Australia and Hong Kong among others and worked and ridden for the very top trainers and small trainers in my career and ridden against and friends with a lot of the top jockeys of that era to this day.
    I have built up a successful business in Ireland supplying a service to racing stables and know a lot of trainers from my time as a jockey to the new younger trainers and know most of the current riders from when they started out through another form of racing and have some one very close to me riding every day on the flat.

    Id venture I would have more of an ear to the ground than some troll lurking for tips on an internet site but Id nevertheless like to hear your credentials that may give an insight on what trainers and jockeys thought of McCrirrick in your view?

    What Lee Mottershead or Alister Down have written about McCrirrick has absolutely no relevance to what I have stated but you already know that.

    One thing I know for sure is when the likes of people of the calibre of Alister Downe go to their final resting place you will have every trainer and jockey willing to give a quote about what a decent and fabulous and honourable journalist he was and I can second that because I have met him in my professional life and socialised with him on occasions in down time where he could be trusted without question.

    BTW,stop trying to flame saying I claim to be a representative of for trainers and stable staff and show me where I have stated that?
    And I don't care if you believe me or not because the likes of you mean nothing to me and you can take that to the bank,PHUCK HUGH.


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