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The All Singing, All Dancing Kris Boyd In The Media MegaThread™


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It seems everyone is talking about his daft rants.

 

"Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser believes Kilmarnock forward Kris Boyd will regret criticising the Aberdeen trio who were selected for Scotland.

Boyd claimed Scotland interim coach Malky Mackay only called up Kenny McLean, Ryan Christie and Graeme Shinnie to help sell tickets for Thursday’s Pittodrie friendly against Holland, which finished 1-0 to the Dutch thanks to a first-half strike from Memphis Depay.

The Kilmarnock forward, capped 18 times for Scotland, was also fiercely critical of the inclusion of former Dons captain Ryan Jack, who made his international debut at right back.

Fraser, who moved from Aberdeen to the Cherries in 2013, admits the pressure will be on Boyd when the Dons travel to Kilmarnock later this month.

He said: 'I did see his comments. I think the whole squad seen (sic) them. We were eating one night, and you see him saying those words. It’s not for me to say.

'I’ve grown up with those players, I’ve came up through the ranks with them, and they deserve it as much as everyone else as well.

'I don’t know what he’s speaking about. It’s his opinion. He’s entitled to his opinion.

'Just because he says it doesn’t mean he’s right, and it doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

'You just need to get on with it. As a player, if he is going to say stuff like that, you just need to rise above it.

“I thought Jacko did very well. It’s not his position, he hasn’t played right-back this season for Rangers, and he comes in and he’s playing against a world class player like Depay and he keeps him quiet. What more can you ask for? If you ask Kris Boyd now, I bet he won’t be saying that.

'I know Aberdeen and Kilmarnock are playing in a couple of weeks’ time and he’s taken his anger out on Shinnie as well, and they’re both captains, so we’ll see how that one goes.' "

(Press & Journal)

 

 

Edited by skygod
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Kris Boyd appears to have spent months now rubbing people up the wrong way but the funny thing is, more often than not he has been right. First there was Ian Cathro. Then it was Pedro Caixinha. This week it has been his withering comments about Aberdeen’s Graeme Shinnie, whom Boyd had predicted would not get a game against Holland at Pittodrie on Thursday night. People once more scoffed at his blunt, know-all style but, sure as fate, Shinnie was nowhere to be seen in a Scotland shirt against the Dutch.

As a pundit on TV, radio and in his Sun on Sunday column the Kilmarnock striker is taking a haymaker to issues just as he has spent his career putting a size 11 boot through a ball and into opposition nets. For years this brusque Ayrshireman was no-one’s idea of a football pundit in the making but he appears to revel in the role.

“I can be pretty headstrong but I think the guy in the street can relate to me,” says Boyd. “I don’t try to be clever and use big words. I just give my straight, honest opinion, plus, I’m not really swayed by who my friends are.”

This last comment cuts right to the heart of the Boyd approach in his new role as an opinion gunslinger. The 34-year-old is scathing to the point of contempt about some fellow-pundits — and written journalists — who he sees as forever grovelling and soft-soaping to friends they might have within the game.

“I see journalists who have got friends in football, and they stick up for them constantly,” he says. “They gloss over things, in print or on air, depending on who their pals are. I totally disagree with that. Just give an opinion and give it honestly.

“I’ve seen people — paid pundits — who will stick up for the same people, even though they might have failed in job after job. When you put yourself out there, you’ve got to be honest and say what you think. There are pundits who get paid good money, who don’t really say anything. It all depends on who their pals are.”

One other thing notable about Boyd: he has shown a knack for seeing things early and calling it. He was by no means alone in this but, in the cases of Cathro and Caixinha being appointed at Hearts and Rangers, he wasn’t one of those who waited months before proclaiming: “We knew all along that this was a risk.” Instead, he called it there and then, and correctly.

“If you are a pundit, don’t wait for something to happen — give your opinion there and then as you see it,” he says. “I’ve been in the game for years and I’ve finished every single coaching badge that is going: my B licence, my A licence and my Pro licence. So I think I know about football. I feel qualified.

“I know exactly what makes football clubs and football players tick. Plus, I speak to people and I listen. I never put myself in a position where I say something, without first having carefully thought about it.

“In the case of Ian Cathro, people thought I was just attacking a young manager. But I had been on coaching courses, I had spoken to people, and I had seen how Cathro worked. I knew exactly what I was talking about.

“Predictably, the people who stuck up for Cathro were those who were either close to him, or close to people around him, or tight with Craig Levein.

“After I criticised the Cathro appointment, and got flak for it, not one person inside the football world criticised what I had said. They knew that I knew what I was talking about.”

This week Boyd caused another fuss with his comments last Monday about Shinnie. Brazenly, he announced on BBC Scotland’s Sportsound that Shinnie wouldn’t see any action against Holland on Thursday night, provoking some to take him to task. Not for the first time he was proved correct. Shinnie didn’t feature against the Dutch.

“The thing was, I was making the point in the context of Scotland players. But the job guys like Graeme Shinnie have done for Aberdeen has been fantastic. There is no getting away from that: a series of second-place finishes in the league and cup finals and the rest of it. In terms of their club, it’s not an issue, Shinnie has been fantastic, there has hardly been anyone better. All I was saying was he wasn’t — and isn’t — good enough for Scotland.”

If Boyd does ever ventures into management, he says his past experiences and current media work have taught him to be “calculating”. Managers and coaches have always had friendships with reporters but, says Boyd, there are pitfalls to be avoided and better roads to be taken.

“Good managers can be close to journalists, but they know how to use the media,” he says. “If you take Walter Smith as an example. Walter had a lot of friends in the media. He had the press eating out of the palm of his hand. He knew when it was time to get onside with them, and when it was time to cut his ties with them.

“He used the media to his advantage. He was clever about it. He knew exactly when to take the flak and when not to fight back. A lot of managers choose to fight back, but it is very obvious when a manager is not getting it right, when something is going wrong. Don’t fight fire with fire. The best managers, like Walter, take themselves out of that. There is a clever way to do it. But you need to understand football. You need to understand how it works. And Walter had that.

“Managing the media is a key thing for a football manager today. It is almost as hard and important to manage that as it is to manage your players. Social media has obviously changed everything. It has given idiots, basically, a platform on which to abuse people.

“People are chained to their screens who don’t really have any other life. For everything good that social media has offered the world, it has also thrown up many negatives.

“That has made it even more difficult to be a manager. Comments and criticisms are everywhere. That is why I think a manager has to be more calculated in what he says, otherwise he is made to look a fool.”

Amid all this the Boyd goals keep coming. Now 17 seasons at it, he rammed home another one against Hearts last week, and then goaded the Gorgie faithful who had been suggesting he was “a fat b*****d”. He says he is revived, as is Kilmarnock FC, by the arrival of Steve Clarke.

“The impact he’s had on Kilmarnock has been clear to see,” Boyd says of Clarke. “He has made everything gel. There is a purpose in everything he does.

“Look at Stevie’s cv. He has automatically gained the players’ respect. He is crystal clear in what he wants. A lot of coaches put on sessions with no clear purpose and you wonder, ‘What is he talking about?’ With Stevie Clarke there is none of that. You know exactly what he wants. I think this could be a real turning point for Kilmarnock FC.”

And what about Boyd himself … when will he retire? “I’ll never retire,” he says with a smile. “If I’m not on the pitch, I’ll either be in a dugout or a studio. I love football.”

(Graham Spiers, The Times)

 

I wish he had asked him how he squared his off-field employment with his status as a player. How would he feel if a fellow pro described him in the media as “a fat b*****d"?

Might have been more interesting than another eulogy to Walter Smith. 

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, IMO said:

Still think it is wrong that a player we currently employ is (as Fraser aludes) giving other teams ammunition to use to raise their game against us.

Needs to choose media career or football career! 

Do you really think professional players are that bothered about comments from the opposition?

 

It's complete rubbish the whole mantra about "pinning the newspaper on the dressing room door". It simply doesn't happen.

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2 minutes ago, azertyuiop said:

Do you really think professional players are that bothered about comments from the opposition?

 

It's complete rubbish the whole mantra about "pinning the newspaper on the dressing room door". It simply doesn't happen.

Agree about the pinning on the wall and using to motivate a team but I think individuals e.g. Shinnie will have a point to prove that he would not before Boyd gave his opinion

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I think it's more likely to make a player like Shinnie question his own ability rather than prove Boyd wrong.

The reality is all Boydy has to do is say to Shinnie "show me your medals" and the doubt sets in.

Boydy know's what he is doing. He isn't picking on Lee Griffiths or Brendan Rodgers. He is picking easy targets which in turn is helping us.

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See this ammunition for other players... it's nonsense! It's a footballing cliche heard over the years when the facts clearly show that it has no merit. 

He tore into Rangers and there was bed wetting on these forums that this would galvanize them to cuff us at Ibrox. They didn't.

Folk talk about the Hearts game and how the comments on Cathro ended up with us cuffed but omit the fact we had a skeleton team out that day. 

If Aberdeen win against us it will be down to them having better players... that's it. It's hardly a bold statement to make that Aberdeen will be favourite to win regardless of Boyd saying they are pish or wonderful. 

You are as likely to see a Roy of the Rovers performance from Shinnie as you are him getting sent off for a two footed lunge on Boyd after 5 minutes.

Edited by Bullitt
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His point comes across better when hes not in the heat of the moment. Other than his absolute brain slevering about Dundee Utd the other week hes had some fair points to make but he just cant articulate it well at all especially in a live setting against fsr more eloquent opposition like English and Stewart.

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3 minutes ago, diamond_geezer said:

Why would you bring up your children to support a particular team ? I would have required a cattle prod, sensory deprivation and some strong pharmaceuticals to induce the youngest geezer to support Killie . He went to the dark side and supports the Bairns instead , good luck to him . 

I think most people I know only make sure their kids dont get involved with the bigot twins. My brother always says that his kids can support who they want but he wont support them to do that if its either of those two. 

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I’ve never had an issue with Boyd’s media work. He’s giving opinions on  football related matters. Why shouldn’t he? We all do. In most instances he talks sense, particularly when referencing other pundits and the media. I totally agree with his statement about pundits and their favourites and why they continue to be selective over who they criticise. There are  plenty out there- the Ferguson brothers, Chick Young, Willie Miller and that clown on radio Scotland last week who was doing our game. He’s that important I can’t even remember his name, I thought he was going to burst into tears.

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9 hours ago, Doonhamer said:

I’ve never had an issue with Boyd’s media work. He’s giving opinions on  football related matters. Why shouldn’t he? We all do. In most instances he talks sense, particularly when referencing other pundits and the media. I totally agree with his statement about pundits and their favourites and why they continue to be selective over who they criticise. There are  plenty out there- the Ferguson brothers, Chick Young, Willie Miller and that clown on radio Scotland last week who was doing our game. He’s that important I can’t even remember his name, I thought he was going to burst into tears.

Allan Preston. His "why couldn't Hearts have signed Alan Power?" comment was odd. Simple answer really - he wasn't on their radar.

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10 hours ago, diamond_geezer said:

Why would you bring up your children to support a particular team ? I would have required a cattle prod, sensory deprivation and some strong pharmaceuticals to induce the youngest geezer to support Killie . He went to the dark side and supports the Bairns instead , good luck to him . 

At least you'll never have to worry about him slagging you when his team beat yours in a big game!

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22 hours ago, Bullitt said:

See this ammunition for other players... it's nonsense! It's a footballing cliche heard over the years when the facts clearly show that it has no merit. 

He tore into Rangers and there was bed wetting on these forums that this would galvanize them to cuff us at Ibrox. They didn't.

Folk talk about the Hearts game and how the comments on Cathro ended up with us cuffed but omit the fact we had a skeleton team out that day. 

If Aberdeen win against us it will be down to them having better players... that's it. It's hardly a bold statement to make that Aberdeen will be favourite to win regardless of Boyd saying they are pish or wonderful. 

You are as likely to see a Roy of the Rovers performance from Shinnie as you are him getting sent off for a two footed lunge on Boyd after 5 minutes.

I've read this kind of thing in many footballer's autobiogrpahies/biogrpahies over the years. I've tried harder myself in games where the opposition slagged us off. It's not nonsense.

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Chick nailing Boyd on Sportsound for trying to wear two caps and wondering what his team-mates think about him winding up opponents. 

Boyd sees it that, as long as he doesn't miss training or matches, there's no problem. Didn't answer on what his team-mates think.

Stewart and Young both wonder how SC feels about it. Boyd says that Clarke hasn't spoken to him on the subject, after a slight pause.

Asked why he hadn't given his forthright opinion on McCulloch being sacked, he said that the club hadn't allowed him to take part on that week's programme. And there, say Stewart and Young, lies the predicament in trying to do two jobs!

Asked to give his opinion now, he spluttered about McCulloch signing five or six players who had not been performing for their previous clubs and it taking time for them to get up to speed. 

 

 

 

Edited by skygod
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