Why current players dont make great pundits

Anyone listening to the inquest on Test Match Special will have heard the problem of current players acting as pundits on sporting events. Taking away the fact that Geoffrey Boycott’s rant at Broad was a little ludicrous, it did display that current players will not be able to offer their own real views on what has happened, but will churn out the party line. Broad spoke of taking positives from the game and looking to build momentum, which Boycott described as rubbish. Indeed, Boycott described everything about England’s performance as poor or rubbish, without offering a great amount of further insight, no doubt to the delight of TMS listeners who play Boycott Bingo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/testmatchspecial/4910566798/). Yet, current players are never going to be able to offer their own personal opinion if it could affect their relationship with the team, Broad would never single players out for criticism, these players are going to be team-mates for many years and indeed many will be his friends. Broad would not risk upsetting the England team and management for the sake of a few sound bites on the radio. The same situation is often seen on Sky and on Match of the Day 2, where current pros are in the studio. In these cases, they are never going to risk upsetting current players for fear of getting a bad reputation in the industry.