Televised football punditry often feels like wallpaper or the music of Kenny G: you can be stuck in a room with it for hours, and it’ll fail to make even the slightest impression. Quietly, though, it is every bit as important to the UK’s footballing culture as the lads actually out there hoofing a ball around on the pitch. Unless you’re a pure-bred lower-league idealogue whose conception of football begins and ends at the turnstiles of your local ground, everybody must sometimes rely on TV to curate their football experience – not just to watch it but to frame it and explain it.
