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Andy Gray joining ESPN’s team for Euros

Scottish soccer commentator Andy Gray has joined the ESPN broadcast team for the upcoming European Championships. One of the top analysts for the English Premier League, Gray joins an ESPN broadcast team that also includes Adrian Healy, Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth.

Comments

  1. Tyler’s apparently one of those doing the ‘international English feed’ (from the matches themselves) which get broadcast to places like Canada and Australia.

    Strangely, Gray is much more palatable on ESPN than Sky. But we expats have been dining on gruel here for a while. Thing is, though, FSC viewers sometimes get the Sky feed, and over the past few years have become more aware of how lacking the US commentators are.

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  2. Thank the lord we have Andy Gray during this Euro 08…..the argument this afternoon with that imposter Tommy Smyth re Podolski and Schweinstieger was riveting stuff…..Not only that the pairing between Gray and Healey is also worth listening to….Now how on earth can we get rid of Julie Foudy,…Graeme Souness is available let’s get him over and watching football on ESPN will forever be a dream……

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  3. THANK GOD ESPN has hired Andy Gray!!!!!!!! What a sight for sore eyes and ears! Finally decent commentary, knowledge and history of the game. Well done.

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  4. Is it true that Harkes/Dellacamera refeered to Alex Ferguson as Alex “Ferdinand” during coverage of the England-U.S. friendly?

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  5. I can’t stand Andy Gray. He reminds me of a bitter old man and about what who on earth knows. They’d have been better off just playing background sound.

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  6. As long as Spurs aren’t playing i guess he’ll be unbiased, but for some reason he has something against the yids.

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  7. Good move. And I’m glad he wouldn’t join for dollars or peanuts, both of which have about equal value right now.

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  8. I actually like Max Bretos, sure he’s no Martin Tyler or John Motson but nobody is. Max has his own style which I like and he doesn’t try and copy someone else’s style (unlike Adrain Healey who tries too hard to sound like Derek Rae and I must say Mr Healey is terrible!). Max also has a very good knowledge of the game and although he may change his voice when pronouncing foreign players he’s only doing it the right way the name sounds in their respective countries. But certainly Martin Tyler would have been teh icing on the cake had ESPN got him with his side kick. I still have no idea why Tommy Smyth still has a job there because he has no idea about the game and no history playing or coaching the game.

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  9. So does anyone know how Max Bretos has a job? Is there really nobody else on the planet willing to call games? When I was watching the Toulon tournament there were at least six times every half where I would be watching the game and listening to Max, and it was like, WTF?

    As far as Europosers go, these guys are not hired because they are British or have accents. They are hired because they are very good and experienced announcers who call games very well.

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  10. I read somewhere (maybe from Ives, but it was a few weeks back and I don’t remember) that Martin Tyler decided to go with Aussie TV rather than US…guess their deal was a bit better. As for the contingent of foreign accents…it does not bother me. As long as the commentary is good, why should anyone care what accent they have…

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  11. By he, I mean Jermaine Jones. The only way I could be more excited about Andy Gray was if Martin Tyler and Bob Ley joined ESPN’s full US on-air production team.

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  12. This would have been even better if they could have got Martin Tyler too (which was rumored), I’ll take this though as it exhibits ESPN’s commitment to putting together a high profile and high quality production of the Euros…

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  13. off topic: did you guys see jermaine jones was left off the german roster for the euros? COME ON BRAH WE HAVE ROOM FOR YOU!

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  14. Finally someone who knows soccer…i would much rather hear him than dave o’brian or marcello balboa, they are sooo annoying.

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  15. FINALLY ESPN GETS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS! I ACTUALLY FEEL SORRY FOR HIM HAVING TO WORK WITH TOMMY SMYTH AND ADRIAN HEALEY

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  16. I can’t understand why they don’t hire Ray Hudson and make him the Dick Vitale of MLS and international soccer.

    It’s so obvious.

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  17. seth- who do you want instead? seriously? one of those fox soccer hacks? the dope that calls the mls games? really…what’s a better alternative? there aren’t any good ones really. dellacamera (sp?) might be the only option (i dont like him but i guess i can see why people do)…but finding an american who isn’t a blowhard who thinks he knows everything (wynalda), a guy who knows the game well but is excruciatingly boring (harkes) is a tough thing to do.

    and i agree w/ eric…rae and andy gray would be AWESOME.

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  18. Seth, i think you are misguided here. I think they are getting very qualified and skilled announcers for the matches. I am sure they are also assuming thier hispanic audience will be watching on ESPN deportes or univision/telefutura

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  19. More British voices… Soon ESPN will be even more Anglophilic than Fox Soccer. I guess that’s what it takes to stroke the Europoseur contingent that sadly still predominates the US soccer community.

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