As Rangers defeated St Mirren 4-0 in Paisley, the Gers support at home were treated to some expert commentary from Andy “when do Rangers get their penalty?” Walker.
Sky Sports are under fire for their coverage – or lack of – in the Scottish game as for the second year running they look set to fail in meeting the 48 game quota laid out in their SPFL contract.
This weekend the broadcaster failed to show the Edinburgh or Dundee derbies, to date showing 35 live top flight games with 13 left to show and only five match days to come.
Naturally, there are doubts that the broadcaster will meet the quota for the second season on the bounce, having shown only 41 of 48 games last season.
But whilst many believe that this sums up Sky Sports’ contempt for the Scottish game, for Rangers fans the insistence of using Andy Walker on their matches is a senseless drain on their coverage.
Sky Sports selling Rangers fans short with Andy Walker
Let’s be clear – Andy Walker is incapable of commentating Rangers matches with an ounce of balance and the suggestion otherwise is just plain nonsense.
During the 2-1 defeat to Celtic at Ibrox, Walker cracked wise about Rangers being awarded penalties, alluding to genuinely mental Masonic conspiracies the likes of which you find on Twitter behind Ivory Coast flags and dodgy handles.
Against St Mirren, Andy Walker appeared to be employed just to bring the tone of the entire coverage down. No wonder so many watch these games on mute.
His negative, draining and unenthusiastic coverage of Rangers is genuinely a blight on the broadcaster’s coverage of the club and it’s a continuing embarrassment that Sky Sports insist on using the ex-Celtic striker when it comes to Rangers.
Just listen to this coverage of Joe Aribo’s wonder-strike to make it 4-0 to Rangers; Andy Walker sounds like his cat has just died.
Whilst the grumbles continue about the coverage – with Rangers actually the most broadcast on Sky Sports – for Gers fans it’s not about the lack of games with the broadcaster.
It’s about the reckless and counterproductive use of commentators like Andy Walker who far from inspire in their coverage, spread conspiracies, drain supporters and offer little but constant streams of negativity.
Some claim that the SPFL and Sky Sports are not doing enough to promote the game, but what chance do you have to do that when you have these guys providing the coverage?
Meanwhile, SPFL chief Neil Doncaster revealed that change is coming in Scottish football broadcasting with RTV impacted.
