Roy Keane, Alex Scott, Micah Richards: Who is the most loved football pundit on British TV?
Football pundits, much like players, divide opinion.
It’s fair to say there is no universally-loved pundit on British TV right now.
Most of them are Marmite: you either love them or you hate them.
But which pundits are the most and least popular with football fans on social media?
Well, Bet Victor have conducted an interesting study which shows the 30 most discussed pundits on Twitter alongside the sentiment towards them.
So, in reverse order from least to most positive, here’s the list in full…
30. Sue Smith
Tweets: 207. Positive: 0%
So sorry, Sue! Please don’t blame us.
29. Garth Crooks
Tweets: 247. Positive: 10%
Garth’s Team of the Week column on the BBC Sport website always manages to raise eyebrows.
28. Jermaine Jenas
Tweets: 483. Positive: 18%
You can’t get away from Jenas these days. He even presents The One Show.
27. Michael Owen
Tweets: 5540. Positive: 24%
Has a tendency to state the obvious at times but Owen is an underrated pundit, for our money.
26. Graeme Souness
Tweets: 5068. Positive: 25%
Just don’t mention the words ‘Paul Pogba’.
25. Clinton Morrison
Tweets: 239. Positive: 29%
Is Clinton Morrison even on TV that much?
24. Steve McManaman
Tweets: 1290. Positive: 29%
His co-commentary for BT Sport on big Champions League nights tends to lead to a big reaction social media.
23. Glenn Hoddle
Tweets: 458. Positive: 34%
The former England manager has a brilliant tactical mind, but most of the tweets about him have still been negative.
22. Chris Sutton
Tweets: 3835. Positive: 37%
No real surprises here. Sutton is a bit of a wind-up merchant but can be entertaining at times.
21. Paul Merson
Tweets: 1633. Positive: 37%
Has a tendency to make mistakes live on air but that’s part of his charm, right?
20. Martin Keown
Tweets: 1653. Positive: 38%
Keown is fine as a pundit. Nothing more, nothing less.
19. Jamie Redknapp
Tweets: 982. Positive: 38%
Now part of the furniture at Sky Sports, Redknapp is a friendly face who surely deserves a bit more respect from fans?
18. Roy Keane
Tweets: 8381. Positive: 39%
Keane is absolute box office. Whenever he’s on punditry duty, he inevitably creates headlines. It’s easy to see why some love him and others hate him.
17. Danny Murphy
Tweets: 824. Positive: 40%
Put a smile on your face every now and again, Danny!
16. Ian Wright
Tweets: 3510. Positive: 41%
More negative tweets than positive for Wrighty? The world has officially gone mad.
15. Alan Shearer
Tweets: 1040. Positive: 42%
Shearer, to be fair, has improved massively as a pundit over the past 10 years.
14. Gary Neville
Tweets: 10183. Positive: 43%
The best pundit on TV, in our eyes. It’s a shame to see Neville this low down the list.
13. Matt Le Tissier
Tweets: 855. Positive: 43%
The Premier League icon recently parted company with Sky Sports.
12. Robbie Savage
Tweets: 2581. Positive: 43%
It seems Robbie Savage’s popularity is increasing as he gets older.
11. Jamie Carragher
Tweets: 16102. Positive: 43%
According to the study, there have been more tweets about Carragher than any other pundit - and by quite some distance. There isn’t much about football that the Liverpool legend doesn’t know.
10. Lee Dixon
Tweets: 280. Positive: 44%
Dixon pops up on the odd England game and is usually fine.
9. Danny Mills
Tweets: 5248. Positive: 44%
We’re quite surprised to see so many people have been tweeting about Danny Mills.
8. Tony Pulis
Tweets: 915. Positive: 49%
Pulis recently took the Sheffield Wednesday job, so don’t expect to see him providing more punditry any time soon.
7. Alex Scott
Tweets: 2221. Positive: 52%
The online abuse directed towards Alex Scott has been well documented, but it’s great to see that most of the 2221 tweets recorded by Bet Victor’s study have been positive.
6. Owen Hargreaves
Tweets: 421. Positive: 53%
Only 421 tweets about Hargreaves but most have been positive. A little surprising?
5. Paul Scholes
Tweets: 1733. Positive: 56%
Scholsey never said a word during his 20-year career but we’ve heard plenty from the Manchester United legend since 2013.
4. Chris Kamara
Tweets: 1110. Positive: 60%
Everyone loves Kammy, right?
3. Micah Richards
Tweets: 1571. Positive: 62%
A breath of fresh air, Micah Richards has become a firm fan favourite early on.
2. Rio Ferdinand
Tweets: 5055. Positive: 65%
World-class footballer, great pundit. Rio is always excellent value on BT Sport.
1. Dion Dublin
Tweets: 67. Positive: 67%
Who’s tweeting about Dion Dublin? He’s excellent on Homes Under The Hammer, granted, but you don’t see him too often as a pundit.
Nevertheless, the former striker has come out on top of this list. He’ll be banging his Dube in delight when he sees the results.
