Welsh football the loser in Leighton rumpus

Apr 3 2008 by Paul Abbandonato, Western Mail

LEIGHTON JAMES being suspended by BBC Wales as a result of his anti-Cardiff City comments was about as inevitable as Swansea City going up this season.

And it’s a shame, because Leighton was the best football pundit the Beeb had on their books.

I have known Leighton since my days as a cub sports reporter on the local newspaper in Newport, when he was coaching the County and not averse to giving me the odd earful for my match reports.

But I say unhesitatingly he is nowhere near as bad as Bluebirds fans make him out to be.

Yes Leighton, holds strong views about football.

Yes, he often believes he is right and you are wrong. Yes, he is downright argumentative.

But he is certainly NOT the many insulting things some Cardiff fans have called him recently.

That said, Leighton was 100 per cent flawed in making public his remarks about wanting Barnsley to beat the Bluebirds in the FA Cup this weekend.

In stating his views in a column for the local Swansea newspaper, you could argue Leighton was merely pandering to his audience (although pandering and James aren’t exactly words that go together!).

However, in the modern media age, it was naive not to expect those remarks to be given a wider audience.

They were ... then it kicked off big time.

Typical Leighton, he stoutly defended his stance on the Real Radio sports phone-in.

He argued he was only saying what the average Swans fan was thinking.

But Leighton isn’t your average Swans fan. He is also a Welsh football legend, one of the greatest players this country has produced, and as such an ambassador, in my eyes he has more of a responsibility to take a neutral stance in this intense Cardif-Swansea rivalry.

Cardiff fans argue Leighton should be backing a Welsh team in such a big game against an English side.

Swans fans argue just as vehemently this has nothing to do with Wales versus England and is simply a club rivalry issue.

Such are the emotions of Welsh sport.

As a pundit for BBC Wales, however, Leighton needed to appear fair, neutral and un-biased.

Even though his comments were not made on any of their programmes, how could the Beeb have Leighton remarking on Cardiff v Barnsley, when his anti-Bluebirds views had already been made public?

It means that because of circumstance, the Beeb have lost their best three football pundits in the space of a few years.

John Toshack, by far the best of the lot, finished with them to become manager of Wales.

Mark Aizlewood left in contentious circumstances, while Leighton is on gardening leave, it seems.

Each and every one of them would be prepared to say things, even if it upset the Welsh football applecart, and you have to respect them for having opinions and being prepared to voice them.

But there is a world of difference between criticising Welsh players, clubs, managers and officials, and actually wishing a Welsh team to lose a big Wembley semi-final.

Leighton put Beeb bosses in an impossible position and it was inevitable they acted in the way they did.

There are no winners in this case, only losers. Including Welsh football, which on mainstream TV, has lost the incisive views of a man who really knows his football.