I was going to do a blog about Take Me Out, but I will leave that for tomorrow, because a far more exciting story has broken, and that is about female official-gate! It turns out, footballing dinosaurs Andy Grey and Richard Keys are …shock horror…footballing dinosaurs!

The gist of the story goes something like this (from the Guardian):

Keys and Gray commented on Massey's appointment for the game between Wolves and Liverpool on Saturday, when they believed their microphones were switched off. They concurred that female officials "don't know the offside rule", with Keys adding: "I can guarantee you there'll be a big one today. [Liverpool manager] Kenny [Dalglish] will go potty…. Keys also went on to remark on comments made by Brady in the Sun on Saturday morning about the level of sexism in football by saying: "See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love."

You can relish the sexism by following the below link:

So I suppose the first thing to discuss is, have they done anything wrong? My response to that is, categorically, yes!  If they had made similar comments based on race, there would be a huge outcry, and so they should do the same with these two. I think the more female officials we have, the more likely we are to see fewer outbursts from the likes of Rooney et al. In my mind, there is something very undignified about a pampered millionaire, surrounding, shoving and swearing in the face of a woman with millions of people watching. I reckon it could be good for the game.

This incident gives us an opportunity to get rid of two relics. Unfortunately, I fear they will get a slap on the wrist and it will all be brushed under the carpet. I am sure people will say it was said off mike and in private. So was what Carol Thatcher said. So was what Ron Atkinson said. Does that make it ok? This isn't a case of thought police coming in and telling people what to think, but holding people account for what they have actually said. I wonder if Sky News will play this story on loop like they did Gordon Brown's off mike cock up? I am guessing, as it is their own staff, they won't.

Sky have successfully dumbed down the sport. We have to listen to tripe like the below from Jamie Redknapp.

"He's literally left his marker for dead"

Literally…for DEAD. Really Jaime? Is he literally dead? If so, offside isn’t the most pressing concern in this match, is it?

This is totally unacceptable. Even if the lineswoman had made a mistake, their comments would have been inappropriate. But she was correct! So who doesn't know the offside rule?

These guys are also obsessed with the idea that Barcelona aren’t that good, and would struggle against teams like Stoke. As if the idea of going to the potteries would terrify them. They are the apologists who leap to the defence of the tackler when footballers get their legs broken. ‘He isn’t that kind of player’, what a load of bollocks. They are best mates with archaic football managers who send their players out to ‘get stuck in,’ and tell them that ‘those foreigners don’t like it up em’ etc.

They should fire the lot, and just get the Football Weekly crew in to do the job, they are superb, funny, opinionated etc, without the boorish nonsense spouted by anachronistic boobs!

Heh heh…I said boobs…bugger, may have ruined my argument there…

- Anand