Sky's analysis is superior, says Harte

July 05, 2017

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte.
©INPHO/Presseye/Lorcan Doherty.

Quality analysis or sound bites? Mickey Harte knows the approach he prefers when it comes to gaelic football analysis on television.

Speaking at the launch of the Michaela Foundation/Fintona Pearses Golf Classic, the three time All-Ireland winning manager was asked for his opinion on the fall out from Jim Gavin's broadcast media boycott in the wake of the Diarmuid Connolly suspension saga.

"I am sure that Jim would not need me to support him," Harte - who has also had well documented run in with the national broadcaster - pointed out to The Irish Daily Star.

"He had done quite well on his own to date (laughs). He is entitled to do what he thinks he needs to do in the situation he finds himself in, and I would accept that from him or anybody.

"It is a case of do we get quality analysis, or so we get sound bites - that is the big difference.

"You need to be sure the people who are analysing our games - some people would call them celebrity analysts - be really mindful of the fact that it is not about putting someone else down to raise themselves up."

Without naming names, the Red Hands boss left no one in any doubt as to what TV station's gaelic football coverage he tunes in to.

"I am not going to deal with specific cases or broadcasters.

"What I would suggest is that there are a couple of men on another channel (Sky) that I quite like listening to and one of them is heading off to China (Jim McGuinness), and the other one is here (Peter Canavan), and they are very insightful.

"They really tell us something different, and they don't tell us what we have all seen after it has happened. They analyse the thing in specific detail and they are very good to listen to and it's not about sound bites."


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