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Mooney
You may have noticed I don’t often do match reviews/reports/reflections on away games – I don’t get to many and to be honest I don’t listen to the radio commentary much either when we’re playing – generally out of frustration because we’re losing. I caught the last thirty minutes of the live comms from BRMB today, and I thought I’d write something about it as there has been a lot of talk online.
I will say straight off I’m not going to slate Tom Ross. Tom’s a decent bloke, a bluenose like the rest of us and when he commentates on a game it’s more from the heart than the head – which has it’s good and its bad points. I’ll freely admit that if you’re trying to work out what’s happening tactically it can be hard; there are moments when you get heart failure thinking that Blues have scored only to then hear we’ve put it wide. On the other hand, I defy anybody to watch a youtube clip of the Carling Cup final – particularly the Martins goal with the TR commentary overlaid and not have a lump in your throat. It clearly meant as much to him as it did to us in the stadium, and for those fans who for whatever reason weren’t able to be there it hopefully helped them feel a part of it all.
The brunt of my criticism (and most people’s online, it has to be said) is reserved for Tommy Mooney. For those who don’t listen to “The Goalzone”, Tommy provides the “colour commentary” – the pundit who gives the benefit of his professional experience to explain and comment on play. As I say, I only caught the last thirty minutes – and I only switched it on because of the stick Mooney was taking online.
It was horrible. You know when you’re at the ground and you find out that the seat next to you has been sold to a moaning so and so? The kind of person who moans about a player incessantly all game no matter how well the play? It was like that. Now, having not seen the game I can’t really tell you if the player in question (Jean Beausejour) played that well or not; and yes, constructive criticism is a good thing – however, this was just bile. It seemed like pure vitriol against the Chilean winger.
It has to be said that maybe the outcry was because Beausejour is a well-liked player (from what I can tell) – would people have felt the same about what Mooney was saying if the target for criticism had been Keith Fahey or Jonathan Spector for instance? And herein lies the crux – if fans are out of order for picking on a boo-boy then a commentator, someone who is paid to watch the game and give their opinions surely must be a bit more professional about things? If it’s wrong for fans to moan at Fahey no matter what he does (and that’s something I believe), then surely it’s wrong for a commentator to single out a player and slate them in such a way? It’s not the first time either – I heard people saying Mooney slated N’Daw massively for his performance against Brugge at home, saying he was a disgrace to the shirt – which to me is incredible because I was at that game and I thought N’Daw did well.
I have no doubt that Mooney will say that he’s just calling it how he sees it; that whilst his opinion may be strong he’s paid to make a professional judgement and that’s what he’s done. That’s fair enough, I guess, but I don’t agree with it – I think that as a broadcaster he has to have a bit more responsibility than laying into a player and saying that he’d be happy if he was sold in January – particularly bearing in mind that player has played pretty well this season. As a broadcaster his opinions are going to be picked up by a lot of people and he has to provide balance – much as I have had to with this article.
Tags: Jean Beausejour, Tom Ross, Tommy Mooney
36 Responses to “Mooney”
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I went to the Blackpool game. Beausejour didn’t play well, he seems to be in a run of bad form lately. I’m not a big fan of his, unlike most Blues fans, but he doesn’t deserve the public slating Mooney gave him. Maybe Mooney is trying to be controversial so he can make his name in the media. I heard what he said about N’Daw after the Brugge home game. He said it was the worst ever performance from a player in a Blues shirt. Absolute rubbish! I think Mooney needs to learn the difference between being controversial to stir things up and talking garbage.
Yeah, I listened to this on the radio, and I thought it went a bit over the top. Saying it was the worst performance ever seems a bit harsh. He’s usually pretty on the ball, but today, you’re right, he seemed like the sort of person who will just endlessly slate a player no matter what they do.
Did he really say that about N’Daw? I was at that game, so didn’t hear, but I was well impressed with him that night.
Couldn’t agree more.
When a player does something daft we’ll all moan, but most of us will also applaud when he does something well.
Mooney came across today as the bitching, moaning knob that occasionally sits behind you – nothing Beausejour could do was right for him. Ross would say that JB had slotted a perfect ball through for someone to run onto, and Mooney would immediately say he should have taken the player on. Stuff like that was happening all through the second half.
Whether Mooney is jealous of Beausejour and N’Daw because he was only ever a journeyman footballer, or whether there’s another, darker reason I don’t know, but when he’s behind a microphone he needs to start switching his brain on.
against braga, yes, n’daw was like a non league player. He made a massive improvement vs brugge and i thought he played better than fahey that night, my only moan that night was his marking in the box which was 50/50.
to today and beausejour, mooney needs to take on board that he has played nearly every game along with burke and at some point the two of them will have a bad game as they both probably need a rest.
any blame could be on chris for not having redmond on the bench to give either of them a rest after 70 mins or so.
The blame could also be on Chris Hughton for picking the awful Wade ‘Fred’ Elliot. That man has the pace of his lumbering, fat butcher who lends his name so easily to a nickname for Wade and Beau’s link up play relies on a central attacking midfielder and two strikers – yet Hughton decided to plump for the old 4-5-1 formation with Methuselah taking the place of Zigic. Pointless.
beausejour was poor today.defenders push him inside as he,s no right foot.slowed a lot of attacks down.to be fair he hasn,t been great last few games but so what?prior to these games he,s been fine.fahey played well today.i won,t get vocal about j.b as our players need lifting not shafting.im sick to the back teeth of the fahey baiters so i ai,nt going vocal about anyone else.second half today i thought bpool could have killed us off so a draw was a great result in the end.the boys stuck at it again.when we went 2.2 c.h put woods on so we had king,zig and woods on…amazing.i give the lads credit for having a strong spirit.moronic booing of baz furg peed me off .
Mooney also moaned about Zigic against Burnley when he got Man of the Match. His opinions are just utter garbage (that is being kind) From what I can tell his opinions seem to be in direct conflict with almost every other journalist when it comes to assessing players performances. In fact it seems to me that if Mooney thinks you’ve had an awful game you’ve probably done quite well. Whether this is just to garner his own publicity or he just know absolutely nothing about football I am not sure.
Good point today. IMO, KRO
sorry mate disagree, Mooney has every right to have ago. He’s done more in his little toe nail for Blues than any so called Blogger. the only reason you caught the last 30 mins is there was a link put out on the internet at around that time. Mooney is a radio pundit, he’s entitled to an opinon, same as you are of him, getover yourself. some of the people that have answered you don’t even know that Tommy Mooney played for Blues. pathetic
I needed a link on the internet to listen to him on my radio? Blimey.
pathetic is surely someone jumping to a conclusion calling people pathetic because they don’t agree with a pov from a pretty ‘piss poor’ ex player. could just be that this fact hasn’t been mentioned because he made little impact on the club as a whole….. and that despite having played for us in the past he could be full of shit………..
Went to the match today. Beausejour is infuriating. He is the most skillful player on the pitch and has the ability to marmalise Championship defenders. Lately he is getting mired too deep and becomes a liability. Today, Blackpool played with the intention of giving Blues no time on the ball and they chased down everything. This clearly frustrated Beausejour. Zigic, infuriatingly missed yet another headed sitter, but made up for it with the goal 2 minutes later. Personally, the booing of Ferguson didnt bother me and as for Mooney, well I dont listen to the TR show anyways as with all the babbling going on during play I cant tell whats going on half the time and get fed up of TR’s exaggeration of events. Cant beat being there!!
MarkyBlue it was 4-4-1-1 and if you concentrated hard enough you might have seen that Elliott did well and played some good balls through and linked up play
Beausejour had a shocker. On the first half display we deserved a draw. All in all a great day out and thanks to all the BCFC North West supporters club fans in Wetherspoons before the game
Jasper
I caught bits of the commentary, namely mooneys comment about the Jan selling of beaudejour. thought the comment was disgusting, I get the feeling that mooney is going to get a stiff word.
I had the misfortune to witness, at very close quarters, Tommy Mooney’s disgusting behaviour toward loyal Blues fans after the play-off Final in Cardiff. The bloke should never be allowed anywhere near St Andrews again.
I was also at the game, Jean was awful he was not up for the game and like others have said as not been for a few matches!! the problem yesterday i felt was the midfield….. 5 men and they could not gain control, i like Fahey and Spector but they are defensive!!
The other critism…. am i the only one?? the goalie….. Myhill is awful has cost us many points and why the hell does he keep throwing the ball out at players who struggle to pass!!!! miffed with him!!!
As for Tom Ross and BRMB i hate listening to him, he has not got a clue how to call a game, we have a free kick one moment then the other team have a corner, i always pray when i cant get to games that 95.6 have blues on!!! Mooney is calling it how it is and i agree, he does moan but like the rest of us he is a football fan!!
Shocking 2nd half yesterday but i am please with the point, and Hughton is doing a fantastic job but what impresses me the most are the fans, the travel was sensational as always, the atmosphere was awesome even if the weather wasn’t!!! KRO
What did Mooney do after the play-off final?
Not sure what Mooney brings to the table(other than his often miserable assessment)It could be worse though,it could be Collymore doing his “punditry” with his claret & blue glasses on,i love Ross,s OTT style though.
Didn’t see the match either but it seems you may be right about Zigic heading ability, but a cracking goal from him, and, I for one , would hate to see him go. I to rate Beausejour, and from reports, he has played well,this season, and indicates he wants to stay, lets hope that is not the precursor to his departure.
One last thing ‘ Come on Maribor’,on Wednesday.
You are all moaning about what happens on the radio, why dont you all get your arses down the games and it wouldn’t matter whats said on the radio. the team is doing well considering what happening behind the scenes kro
For some people, it’s not an option – particularly with regards to away games. I’ve made thirteen games this season (seventeen including friendlies), and yes, I’d like to have gone to more but it’s not as simple as that, is it?
It’s not just the slating of Beausejour that’s the problem. From what I could gather from the commentary he had a poor game (No doubt Hughton thought so too as he subbed him off) but the unprofessionalism in the way he makes his point.
“He’s a complete joke”
“He can just do one in January”
“He’s got less strength than a packet of crisps” are just a few that come to mind
He started on ZIgic too when he came on, until the lad scored then he was forced to eat his words.
BRMB need to get rid of him as it’s ruining the only way most Blues fans get to follow away games this season
So people are telling me that you can get 35 thousand blues fans at wembley, but only get crowds of 18 thousand at St Andrews. So 17 thousand people can’t make it up the road, but can get to wembley! Don’t think so . And people wonder why no one is rushing to buy us.
Daniel, I am afraid that’s simply naive and shortsighted.
Many Blues fans live a long way from St Andrews and for me and my Dad its a 400 mile round trip, which is not feasible on most weekdays due to work commitments and some of the Away games are even further away as we live in the South West. Add tp that the cost of this travel.
These days not everyone lives up the road. I would agree if it was the 1950s but we are in 2011 and fans live all over the country, indeed the world!!!
I do agree it would be great to fill the ground week in week out but a combination of a lack of consistently entertaining football in past years, a desire to be part of history for BCFC at Wembley (for the Carling Cup) and travel limitations for everyone except the hardcore stop us all being there all the time.
So the 17 thousand that made it to wembley all live a 400 mile round trip? And as for the lack of consistently entertaining football, I was always under the impression you supported your team no matter what and not just because of the desire to be part of history. I understand that it’s not so easy for some but find it hard to take when people pick and choose when they want to support their team. But I’m sure we’ll see you all when playing in Europe! Kro
The thing is Daniel, why are you slating your fellow fans. what people are trying to say is that, for the fans that cant make it week in week out, if you know that your team is making a final at wembley, you make sure that you plan and book the day off work, you can’t do this with every home game, you can’t book it off all the time. And plus some people earn more money than others, some peolple have to save a few quid here and there because they have other comitments, i.e Mortgage, bills, kids, car, that sort of thing. so when we cant get to the games, the only other option is to Listen to it on the radio, hence the reason were are ( or Were ) Discusing Tommy Mooney.
KRO
Yeah I heard this and what a disgrace… Him and Tom Ross were openly pointing the finger at fans for singling out Fahey’s mistakes rather than other players but then Tommy Moaney is allowed to freely launch into such a personal tirade (crusade) against Beausejour. It smacks of double standards and I am shocked that Tom Ross for not pulling him up for it.
Is it any wonder fans freely abuse players when the mdeia promote this as ok
These are examples of Mooney quotes
About N’daw
“The first half a dozen times he touched the ball he gave it away 12 times”
N’daw actually made 44 passes in the first half of which 4 missed the mark.
before Burnley
” This is vital for Blues as they have 4 games out of the next two all away”
Mooney is a looney and best ignored
I am amazed that the word commentator and Tom Ross are used in the same sentence. If WM are broadcasting a live Blues away game,I would not consider listening to BRMB. Sure, Tom Ross is a Bluenose,but a football commentator he aint !
@skareggae72
http://www.smallheathalliance.com/read.php?1,752159,752394#msg-752394
I have not heard the commentaries that have been referred to which indicate that Mooney has been making derogatory comments about the likes of Beasejour and N’Daw but whereas fans have a right to have a pop at players given they pay hard cash to watch games that does not give the right for the likes of Mooney who gets paid for his opinions to think he can. Mooney played 34 games for Blues scoring 13 goals not at the top level and spent most of his Blues career out on loan to lower league clubs so he is hardly a legend who anyone should take notice of. If its true what has been said then he should be sacked immediately. Even Gary Neville on SKY has realised that you can’t watch games with tinted glasses so I can only assume that Mooney has been badly advised or thinks he is better than he was! Beusejour is a mixture of magic and mistakes and that hasn’t just surfaced. He has been like it from day one but he is without doubt a match winner on day one. N’Daw we all know started badly but got better in two vital performances in Europe and I suspect he will be sent on his way in January but his contribution of a handful of games will be remembered in my book with far more affection than Tommy Mooney!
I think even the most fervent Tom Ross fan would admit his commentating skills are not the best but in fairness to him he would be the first to admit that. The reason he keeps himself as main commentator is that each time he finds someone who is actually good at the job, he loses them to another channel or in the case of Ian Crocker, to Sky Sports. At least Tom knows he will not be leaving the Tom Ross show in the near future. I am a ST holder so attend all home games but none away due to various reasons. I am as shocked as most others with Mooney’s comments and he seems to be controversial for the sake of it. IMO Jon McCarthy was by far the best of the ‘colour’ commentators but he seems to have vanished without trace and I haven’t heard any explanation why from Tom Ross but I could well have missed it. None of the others who have filled the breach, and I can think of: Paul Devlin; Ian Atkins; Darren Carter and Ian Clarkson, have displayed the need to be controversial so it does seem a particular trait of Mooney’s. As for preferring to listen to WM: good luck! Blues are way down the pecking order for this station which seems to concentrate on Wolves and Villa these days with the Baggies and Blues the poor relations. If you’re lucky you might pick the odd game up on DAB but this is not always the case. Not matter what we think of Tom Ross, BRMB, Capitol Gold and associated stations provide by far and away the best coverage of West Midlands football (Walsall excluded) with up to five matches being covered on the same day. As many people have said it is not always possible for everyone to attend matches and a least Ross provides us with the opportunity to hear all Blues matches live should we so desire, although unfortunately listening to Tommy Mooney’s dubious views are part of the package.
tom ross has FANS???????!!!!!!….
If you look at his Goalzone facebook page Hammy you’ll see he has quite a few. Hard to believe I know, but true :)
Martin I have a go at my own fans because all they do is moan about things .The shit up the road their fans have jobs and have to save money but they still average 35 thousand.the fact of the matter is most blues fans can only be bothered when we are doing well.
It would be totally wrong to suggest that Mooney, James Nursey and Mc Judas be set adrift on a leaky raft and then sunk by naval gunfire, so I won’t!
I think mooney as a pundit is crap what happened to john mc carthy he was much better than mooney will ever be at least mc carthy spoke sense and not the rubbish that mooney talks!! Mooney is about as good at punditry as he was a player crap at both !