This Is Where Honesty Gets You

I found this report depressing for more than one reason :

James dropped by BBC Wales

First of all, I feel that James has been singled out because he has busted the myth of "we all want other local teams to do well". This comes up more often when English clubs are playing in the Champions league, but in this case, James has expressed the views of I would guess 99% of Swansea fans. The last thing they want in the world is Cardiff winning the cup. He hasn't said "I hate Cardiff" or "Cardiff are all wankers", all he said is, once again :

"To see Cardiff in the final would be hard to take for Swansea fans. So, to be brutally honest, I think I'm behind Barnsley on this one."

And more to the point IMO he didn't even say it in his capacity as a BBC commentator. He said it in a newspaper column. He was being honest, he said it as politely as he could, and the vast majority of people who get off their arses and actually watch football at the gate know exactly what he means and feel exactly the same way.

However, Auntie Beeb and all the people watching who think that John Motson is the country's leading football expert can't have their cosy little world disrupted like this. And the worst thing of all is they're complete hypocrites. You've got Gary Lineker mumbling his way through "and Scotland miss out again for another year, commiserations to them" while trying not to laugh, or Alan Green trying to commentate on a Liverpool win without creaming his pants, but as long as they don't actually say anything they really mean, there's no problem.

As ever, the correct role model to follow is Jeff Stelling. He supports Hartlepool, makes no secret of it, but is able to work this into his presentation without being unprofessional because he's any good. Because he's clever, witty and a genuine fan, and those of us who prefer to see the world as it is rather than have "everything's great and we all love each other" spoon fed to us the whole time can respect that.