Source: Daily_Mail
Will Alan Green please shut up! One writer's plea to the BBC commentator
If you were looking for a phrase that distilled the essence of Alan Green, BBC Radio's star commentator; one that crystalised the man's Toad-like self-importance, he dispensed it with the gladdest of hands (or mouths) last month.[LNB]No bribe was necessary. It emerged, unbidden, with chilling precision.[LNB]Welcoming one of those peculiar callers to 606, the phone-in that could easily be mistaken for 5 Live's contribution to care in the community, Green spotted that he had a wrong'un on his hands, and moved on to the next misfit with this brutal valediction: 'I'm sorry, but if idiots come on to this show, I just have to destroy them.'[LNB] Green dragon: the BBC commentator managed to fall out with Graham Taylor[LNB]Is Green the fans' champion - or is he an opinionated windbag? Leave your comments below You may think it, Mr Green, but you should never say it. First, because as an observer, you are not the story, merely the conduit through which it flows. Secondly, because 'destruction' (how casual he made it sound) is not an admirable quality. It is hateful.[LNB]Mark well that preliminary 'just', as though it were some daily chore. When allowances are made for context (the caller in question was speaking absolute tripe), that cruel declaration indicated a mentality that proclaims 'I shall have my way, and don't anybody doubt it'. Whatever one thinks of Green's gifts - and they exist - it was an unsettling moment.[LNB]To be fair to the man (fairer than he often is to others), let us acknowledge those gifts. He speaks crisply, as so many Irish people do, in plain English. There is colour in his voice, which falls only a cubit short of true warmth, and he is no cliche-monger.[LNB]
