No more pundits acting like fans, please

Manchester City have just qualified for the Champions League final by thrashing Real Madrid 4-0, and the BT Sport pundits are running through the goals.

Amid lovely interplay and individual brilliance, City also benefit from what is initially considered an Eder Militao own goal (it was later credited to Manuel Akanji). Therefore, when that clip is played, the analysis is left to former England defender Joleon Lescott, explaining how the Real Madrid centre-back should have dealt with it.

There’s not that much to say, in fairness. Militao is basically just unsighted, it hits him and goes in. But Lescott does the job manfully, and ends with the standard, “… and unfortunately it goes into the net.”

At that point, presenter Jake Humphrey bursts out laughing: “Unfortunately he did it?! Unfortunately?!” Humphrey is in stitches at the idea Lescott, a former Manchester City player, would think an own goal in favour of City is unfortunate.

That incident sums up the current confusion in football punditry. Lescott took the old-school approach, believing he was employed as a former centre-back — and current England Under-21 assistant — to explain the thought process of a player. But what broadcasters increasingly want is a former player from a particular club who can replicate the emotions of their fans. It doesn’t matter that Lescott wasn’t a City fan growing up, that he played for two other clubs more than he played for City, or that he left City before any of the current players joined.

By the final, Lescott understood the drill. Brought in several times throughout the game, Lescott was “more nervous than I expected” in the first half. On 82 minutes he confirmed he was “nervous, more nervous than I should be, more nervous than when I played.” On 90 minutes, commentator Darren Fletcher told him there were “people all around the UK wondering if you’re OK,” which was patently untrue. A couple of minutes after full-time, Fletcher told him to “Get yourself down there! You can’t sit up here any longer! You’ve got to be with the players of your former club!” It was never explained why.

Let’s be clear what this column is about. This is not about bias. This is not about that time there was a controversial refereeing incident involving Manchester United and Gary Neville’s interpretation was different to yours. This is not about the time when Jamie Carragher was asked which of two players were better, and he chose the Liverpool player. This is about how pundits’ entire job, having largely remained the same for decades, has transformed entirely over the past few years, away from a default position of neutrality and towards a default position of fandom.

Sometimes, you sense pundits are forced…