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There are times when it can be difficult to remember what life was like without the internet. It dominates our lives on a daily basis.
Similarly, can anyone remember a time when we didn’t have a daily dose — and sometimes several, across various platforms — of Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd?
Barely a day goes by now without seeing Scottish football’s dynamic duo pop up somewhere.
Open a newspaper, they’ve written a column. Switch on the TV or radio, they’re doing punditry. Have a look on social media, they’ve done a podcast.
They are ubiquitous. For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t have an issue with either of them. Both can be punchy and hard-hitting when they are in the mood.
Ultimately, that’s what you want from a pundit, as long as there is substance to it all. But the sheer levels of saturation of content in which they appear does make it slightly tiresome at times.
Hearts manager Derek McInnes has come under fire from some quarters in recent weeks
Listening to Sutton’s latest musings this week, when he claimed on a podcast that Derek McInnes could be Hearts’ ‘biggest problem’ in the title run-in, it sounded like he was scraping the barrel.
Sutton made the claim that McInnes’ ‘excitable’ nature in recent weeks will become detrimental to Hearts as they seek to get over the line in the title race.
The game, of course, is all about opinions. But that was silly. In three matches against Celtic this season, McInnes has won twice and drawn once.
In three games against Rangers, he has two wins and one defeat. He’s been the driving force behind everything Hearts have done this season.
Just because he has been involved in a few skirmishes and altercations recently, to suggest he could be the club’s ‘biggest problem’ is nonsense.
Kris Boyd and Chris Sutton are never short of opinions but it has all become a bit of pantomime
In fairness, when you are appearing on 845 podcasts, TV shows and radio stations every week, it must be difficult to churn out new talking points.
Part of the problem is that so many of the broadcasters within Scottish football are in thrall to Sutton and Boyd. It’s all a pantomime, an act for the cameras.
Their Punch and Judy double act on Sky Sports every week, with Eilidh Barbour caught awkwardly in the middle as host, does Scottish football no favours other than get a few clicks on social media.
That’s the aim, of course. But in what is potentially going to be an historic season for Scottish football, our top pundits really should be doing better than resorting to hyperbolic nonsense and cheap soundbites.
