A Pundits League Table

It's an easy job being a football journalist or pundit. You can use action replays to spot when referees make errors, you can use hindsight to pinpoint managerial mistakes and you can take the moral high ground with the escapades of players thirty years your junior. There's nobody around to call you to account.

I'm not going to pretend that me and my little blog are going to be the ones to rein in bad football punditry. But this is my review of the top three and the bottom three Premier League football pundits.

1. Gary Neville

Eloquent and insightful, Neville is by far the best of the ex-player pundits. He is the best there is at giving fans a player's perspective. His analysis of diving, for example, has really contributed to my understanding of the game. Although he's respected more than liked by the average fan, he's one of the few football players who you could actually imagine enjoying having a beer with.

2. Tim Vickery

Prominent at this year's World Cup, Vickery is by far the best football pundit on the BBC. I like his confidence and his deep knowledge of the game. It's a pity they don't use him more often. Vickery never played football professionally (he is a journalist) but I think that actually helps him understand the game in a broader perspective.

3. Gabriel Marcotti

Clearly a highly intelligent man, articulate and clearly very passionate about the game. Marcotti works for cable channel ESPN, since the BBC didn't seem to want him. He talks about football in a cerebral, grown-up way. A thinking-man's football pundit.

And the three worst.... (Honorable mentions to Alan Shearer, the world's most boring man, and Peter Schmeichel)

3. Rio Ferdinand 

A wonderful football player, graceful and dignified he is more likeable

than many other players. He's won six Premier Leagues and the Champions League. However, he obviously isn't the brightest star in the night sky to put it kindly. Asking him to be a pundit is not fair, either on us or on him. Let him enjoy his retirement in peace, when the time comes.

2. Phil Neville

Barbara Slater, the head of BBC sport, seems to think that only ex-players can work as football pundits. She could not be more wrong, the majority of players don't have the personality or the communication skills to carry it off. A prime example of this is Phil Neville, completely overshadowed by his brother, he is a rubbish pundit. The decision to allow him to commentate on the England vs Italy match at the World Cup with no previous experience (the BBC received 445 complaints about how boring he was) was idiotic, something only the BBC could do. We deserve better.

1. Phil McNulty

Prescient, insightful, interesting......none of these words can be applied to the BBC's chief football journalist Phil McNulty. His continuous use of cliches grates, as does his boring, generic style.

 There is something faintly ridiculous about his columns too. a great example of this is the predictions he makes at the start of the season. Last year he hailed the fantastic business Spurs had done in the transfer window predicting them to finish in the top four. Of course, he got it badly wrong. And every single year since Thierry Henry left Arsenal he's been predicting them to finish outside the top four, he hasn't been right yet.