Giles: Sky duo were already on way out

REPUBLIC of Ireland legend John Giles believes Sky Sports were looking to replace Andy Gray and Richard Keys before the sexism row that erupted last week and says comments made about assistant referee Sian Massey were simply an excuse for the broadcaster.

“My take is that Sky wanted to get rid of him (Gray),” Giles said. “After all, it was from inside the leak came. Afterwards, to compound matters, they leaked more stuff that Gray had said and even went back to last year and stuff he had said before Christmas to the female presenter Charlotte Jackson. If what he did or said back then was so unacceptable, why did they not fire him there and then?”

Giles insists Gray and Keys were “foolish” to make the comments they did about Massey before the clash of Liverpool and Wolves had even kicked off last weekend.

“Their mistake was to make comments that were offensive towards Massey before the game. They should have waited until afterwards and given the girl a chance. If they thought she made errors, then treat her no differently to a male linesman and be critical. But she was excellent and got all the important decisions right. How many male referees and linesmen get it wrong every week? She deserved a chance and to dismiss her out of hand because she was female was foolish and ill advised.”

Giles feels that Gray and Keys’ time may have been up regardless.

“Maybe they (Sky) felt that after 20 years, they were getting stale and wanted to give the show a fresh image. If rumours are to be believed, there will not be too many tears shed at their departure. I suspect politics were involved,” he added.

Did Giles rate the pair as good analysts?

“In a word — no. I think Sky’s coverage of games is top class and, visually, they have brought coverage to new levels; however, their pundits are not very good, though people might say the same about us on RTÉ!”

- John Giles was speaking at the launch of the Kerry ‘Walk of Dreams’. For more information visit www.johngilesfoundation.com