Steven Cohen Return to TV/Radio

Discussion in 'Business and Media' started by fhmesq, Apr 4, 2012.

  1. fhmesq

    fhmesq New Member

    May 7, 2010
    The passing of Giorgio Chinaglia got me wondering about his show and a possible replacement. Steven Cohen and Kenny Hassan have been off the air for quite some time (the reasons for which have been chronicled here in detail). Two points for discussion, mainly about Steven:


    1. What does he have to do in your opinion for someone to take a chance and give him a position?
    2. If he were to issue a public apology (a legitimate one, contrite and sincere) in his goal.com article or some other public forum, and stop antagonizing Liverpool supporters, would that satisfy those with whom he's at odds and give him the chance to come back?
    I realize he isn't everyone's cup of tea, but that is largely irrelevant to this discussion.
     
  2. BakedAlaskan

    BakedAlaskan Member+

    Feb 28, 2002
    Ancho-RAGE,Alaska
    Club:
    TSV 1860 München
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've heard him rip football in this country while constantly repeating how great England and the EPL is . . . then he should try to get a job in England talking about football . . . what's that? No one in England is interested in hiring him plus living there sucks? Hmmmm maybe he can get a job in another country talking about England. I'm sure there are plenty of proper football nations just looking for a blowhard to talk shit about the home nation while talking endlessly about Chelsea.

    ******** him.

    And I don't know or care about what he said about Liverpool.

    Even an idiot like Ozzy Osbourne can give Steven Cohen some advice

    "Don't ******** over anyone on your way up, because chances are you're going to meet them on the way down"
     
  3. Schapes

    Schapes Member

    Aug 20, 2001
    I don't think any form of apology will get him back with the Liverpool lunatic fringe. Why they would care what he thought is beyond me. They should be more worried about their football club and it's direction.

    I always thought he was entertaining if nothing else. His show Fox Football Fone In was highly entertaining.

    After he left not so much. Fox Soccer would be a good place for him. The ESPN group - I don't think enough hard core fans watch ESPN. The casual fan wouldn't get him.
     
  4. saabrian

    saabrian Member

    Mar 25, 2002
    Upstate NY
    Club:
    Leicester City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    An apology wouldn't influence the fanatics and would probably be seen as caving to fanatics by people who like him.

    FSC wouldn't be good for him. They only hire tools (Barton, Costigan, Miles...). Except for Wynalda and even he's had to tone it down.
     
  5. fhmesq

    fhmesq New Member

    May 7, 2010
    I know no apology will make them happy. But it would seem to be a necessary first step before anyone will give him a chance back on air. Until that happens, no one can say "look, he apologized, that is good enough for us to give him another chance," when the inevitable backlash occurs trying to influence whoever it is that hires him.

    The talk shows are all severely lacking. FFF went off the air after he left, WSD/WFD went to crap after he and then Kenny left. He is suited for a talk show like he had with FFF or WSD/WFD, not as a studio analyst, but you're right about the guys FSC hires. They (Costigan, Barton, etc.) are all horrible.
     
  6. TarheelJTK

    TarheelJTK Member

    Dec 14, 2004
    Jersey City
    I believe he has apologized in several different forms and none of them were ever good enough. He's also not been entirely sincere in those apologies and I doubt he would be any more sincere now. He shouldn't apologize anymore to those Liverpool fans who tried to ruin his career repeatedly.
     
  7. felix51

    felix51 New Member

    Apr 11, 2012
    Club:
    3 de Febrero
    [​IMG]Thanks for sharing.
     
  8. Makandal

    Makandal Member

    Apr 21, 2007
    Cambridge, MA (USA)
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    Haiti
    I really don't see why he would be the ideal show host and not someone else. I defended Cohen and his right to go on with the FFF and WSD show. However he never struck me as someone who had any interest in football outside of England. On the WFD show Kenny and Steven did try to cover more football from Europe than they used to on WSD, but in general Cohen's laser-focus on the Premier League shows that there are a list of other folks out there I would rather have host a show before him.
    There are many podcasts out there covering the game from most leagues. What I would like is a MLS highlight show like La Liga 360 or Premier League Review Show.
     
  9. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    There does seem to be an element of Liverpool fans who won't accept any criticism.

    A day or two ago a comedian here tweeted about the fact that Chelsea have been made to play their FA Cup semi on Sunday rather than Saturday (with a CL meeting with Barcelona looming on Wednesday) because Liverpool refused to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. His point was (he's not a chelsea fan, by the way) was that other clubs such as Rangers, Bradford, Juventus etc play on the anniversary of tragedies at their clubs, so why should Liverpool be any different?

    This statement was greeting by a ton of abuse and threats, despite being a completely reasonable question.


    Cohen's case is slightly different, in that he insists on sticking to a version of events which has been proven to be incorrect, and then criticising Liverpool fans for actions that didn't happen. Repeating something which is offensive and false does not become OK because it's just an opinion. That does warrant criticism, but not abuse.

    The point is though, that neither Alan Davies (the comedian) nor Cohen will ever be forgiven by some Liverpool fans, regardless of what they say or do.
     
  10. TarheelJTK

    TarheelJTK Member

    Dec 14, 2004
    Jersey City
    Have you listened lately? Cohen is an expert on European football compared to the people there now who bring everything back to England. Martin Rogers even admitted on air a few months ago to not watching much outside of England.
     
  11. blackhornet

    blackhornet Member

    Jun 26, 2008
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    here's a great article about the mindset wrt Liverpool and Hillsborough: Alan Davies has committed a thought crime against the post-Hillsborough cult of emotional correctness – Telegraph Blogs
     
  12. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    it's attracted 1142 comments so far, which says a lot.

    It is clearly a very deeply emotional subject for many, but the nature of some of those comments shows that they just aren't taking on board what's being said.

    There's no sane reason for needing to lay down the facts about what happened on that day, and demanding justice for those that died, in response to someone saying Liverpool should play on April 15th, just as other clubs do on similar anniversaries.

    Davies was right to apologise for saying "that shit gets on my tits", but beyond that, not at all.


    The article is very right about how Hillsborough changed British society, with large scale grief suddenly becoming a media event. When people first went into Anfield and started laying tributes it was dignified, but it soon became something of a media circus, with updates of how big an area was now covered in flowers.

    He was mentioned in the article, but people were laying floral tributes to Fabrice Muamba at Bolton's ground, and he was still alive. They clearly couldn't wait for him to actually die before buying their flowers and dashing down to the ground,



    Cohen will never be forgiven my many. Some might, if he can admit he was wrong with all his claims about Liverpool fans causing the disaster. And if he can't admit that, then at very least he should refrain from mentioning it.
     
  13. blackhornet

    blackhornet Member

    Jun 26, 2008
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That is kinda sad, isn't it. It's like wanting to be part of the event is more important than what's actually going on. It's like misplaced emotion. That goes on here too but it seems like we move on quicker.
     
  14. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    It is odd. As a society we've almost become grief junkies, determined to show just how much we care in public, while not really being that bothered in private.

    There's a media-conditioned response to how the nation is reacting, or at least supposed to be reacting.

    The phrase "Pray for Muamba" came to be like a mantra, even though the country is starkly non-religious and hardly anybody prays.

    It's almost like a competition, as if the tributes themselves are an event, and anyone not buying into the party line is rarely allowed a voice.
     
  15. HectorM

    HectorM Member

    Apr 26, 2001
    Pittsburgh
    Some of you need to quit pretending that Liverpool fans got Cohen sacked because he disagreed with them on a sore subject. That's simply untrue.

    Cohen pissed off Liverpool fans by taunting them, chanting "murderers, murders" on the air like some jerks still do in stadiums.

    That's not "disagreeing on the facts" that's being a jackass.

    He had done it years earlier and had done the right thing and apologized but it was obviously insincere and it also obviously stuck in his craw and a few years later, when his show had gotten bigger and he figured he was now big enough to get away with it, he did the exact same thing again.

    He knew exactly what he was doing and, what's more, he refused to apologize.

    In any case, I thought our society had reached the point where we didn't presume to judge for other people what it is that they take seriously. Would you also mock people who lost loved ones on 9/11 or in New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina? Or would you say "Oh, it's just those dumbass Louisianans (or those silly New Yorkers) , they really ought to get over it"?

    I don't think so. When tragedies happen, we as civilized human beings, give those who are grieving some space on the subject.

    We sure as hell don't make jokes about what happened, or mock the people it happened to. We'd all recognize that as profoundly uncool.

    Yet that's EXACTLY what Cohen did and yet there are people who want to defend it. Even though, to this day, the man hasn't even had the common decency to apologize.



    Bottom line, Cohen was wrong on the facts, he dug up a sore subject that he knew good and well that a lot of people are still very emotional about and intentionally sneered at them on the air with the knowledge that they would be angry about it.

    And topped the whole thing off by not having the class, or being a big enough man to say, simply "I'm sorry, I was wrong".


    But aside from all that, Cohen was never anything but a blowhard. His only qualification was a British accent. His narrow ignorance and loud insistence on his own brilliance was beginning to grate on everybody anyway.

    He started a littlle online podcast and Sirius picked it up when there was quite literally no one else doing anything like it. Now there are dozens of guys doing it, and doing it better. He couldn't survive in today's market anyway.

    Finally, his constant sneering at MLS - my favorite line: "I want to talk for a minute to MLS fans; you know who I mean - the morons" - was classless, stupid and short sighted.

    He would constantly insist that MLS fans all think that we have "the greatest league in the world" and are too stupid to understand just how bad it is. This despite the fact that I have never, ever heard even ONE MLS fan say anything of the sort.

    He also swore that David Beckham would only play here for one season at the most, and a bunch of other stuff about the guy that I'm not going to repeat except to say that he was wrong about all of it.

    But then being wrong is a specialty of Cohen's. The guy turned it into an art form, followed by loud denials of either a) the truth or b) having said it in the first place.

    Cohen was in the right place at the right time and had a good run for a guy with no expertise, no personal knowledge and no experience.

    I used to listen almost every day, but soccer in the US has moved past his sorry act.

    He'll never be back.
     
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  16. stagnant

    stagnant Member

    Jul 22, 2006
    Houston, Texas
    Nobody will read this because it isn't an essay like the previous posts, but I'll just say that I miss Steven and Kenny and wish they had a new daily show.

    WFD lost me with their host choices and at times like this where there is so much going on in football, I really miss the show.


    Boo-hoo.
     
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  17. TarheelJTK

    TarheelJTK Member

    Dec 14, 2004
    Jersey City
    I'd be a lot more sympathetic about Liverpool fans if they talked about the Heysel tragedy half as much as they talk about Hillsborough. They've pretty successfully swept their involvement in that under the rug.


    If being wrong was something that got people fired then everyone who covers sports would be fired immediately only to be replaced by people who would then be fired. He mastered what ESPN has going now with a lot of their shows. He put out controversial opinions that were frequently wrong but were entertaining.

    I thought he had apologized several times. I distinctly remember him apologizing on his show and I'm pretty sure on FSC as well but I guess that doesn't fit your argument.
     
  18. blackhornet

    blackhornet Member

    Jun 26, 2008
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes we do - we do it all the time. Perhaps this is specifically an English/Liverpool thing? We get over our mass tragedies quickly even if there are unresolved elements. Fact is, in this case, the vocal minority were able to push their case into a sort-of protected status that, when challenged, releases all hell from people who aren't even tangentially connected, but feel some empathy and feel compelled to act and/or to support those who are connected to act - even if they go overboard in doing so. Even if they had a good point.

    Agreed about Heysel. But maybe they've gotten over that already because it doesn't involve them and there's no immediate sympathetic connection to be made with Italian fans.

    as far as Cohen apologizing, he apoligized alright, but as HectorM says, they were coerced apologies done for PR's sake or to try to head off the protests at the pass. Otherwise why even bring it up? Ratings? It's not like he was talking about a subject that most people here knew about. In fact, the average clueless American may actually agree with him that it was the fans' fault but then they would listen to the rest of the show talking about soccer and throw away their satellite receivers.
     
  19. ant0n

    ant0n Member+

    Jun 12, 2007
    San Jose, Ca
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We need Steven and Kenny back. Only real Football show worth listening to. Scouse scum can go make their own show if they want.
     

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