FEC OFF!

Freddie F***off launches into Fec Atherton:

F-bomb Freddie: Foul-mouthed Flintoff unleashes on Atherton

Former England allrounder Andrew Flintoff has launched a foul-mouthed attack on Michael Atherton, his former Lancashire and England teammate who now works as a cricket pundit.

Flintoff, speaking to the London Evening Standard at a Sky TV party on Tuesday, criticised Atherton's work as a Sky commentator and cricket correspondent for The Times newspaper.

"He's a p....," Flintoff said of his fellow former England captain.

"He's a f...... prick. He sits there making judgments about players that are much better than he ever was, believe me, he's a p.....

"How can he talk about a player like Alastair Cook who is 10 times the player he ever was? He has a much bigger average and will go on and on. Atherton averaged in the 30s for England and yet he thinks he can judge others."

Asked if he wanted his comments taken as "off the record", Flintoff replied: "I don't care. Say what you like. There's no love lost there."

Comments

[Tony]

Have we reached an era in which commentators with lesser records cannot criticise players with better records?

[m0nty]

I can only assume Freddie ended the interview by standing legs akimbo, arms outstretched in triumph, nodding with a grin at the assembled partygoers.

[Tony]

... and then tumbling off a pedalo.

[Lou]

Hoo har. It's just Freddy trying to stay in the limelight. He's no better than Warney for that.

[Tony]

Been wondering if there was trace evidence of tongue in cheek.

[Carrot]

It's not as though he had that great a record either, in fact it's completely comparable to Atherton's in many ways. Pretty good, probably under-achieved, had some very good series, some dog-ordinary ones too, and played off his reputation for a long time after he was actually much use. The main difference as I see it is that Atherton actually managed to lead his team with some semblance of dignity no matter how bad things were, which was in clear contrast to Freddie's too drunk to play/falling off pedalos style. Does that mean that in turn Flintoff isn't allowed to criticse Atherton?

And I'm with Tone - anyone who says that you can't criticise someone unless you were as good as them is a first-class prawn. The fact that he was willing to go on the record with such crass, inarticulate boof-headery says a helluva lot more about him that it does about Atherton.

[Tony]

I actually looked up Freddie's ODI stats when I did the post. Reasonable. Batting at 32, bowling at 24. Atherton batting at 35.

With respect to your last point - you don't have to be a chicken to know a rotten egg.

[Carrot]

Oh. ODI stats. Meh.

In other breaking news, we're playing the Oirish today. Had a quick look at their team - eight of their line-up are Irish born, including all of their top six. Nine of the eleven have county contracts and of those, most are playing regular first-class and/or List A matches. Regardless of results, it's those sorts of stats that make you optimistic that there's a future for Irish cricket. Particularly if they manage to poach the occasional Englishman across like Murtagh - usually it's the other way around.

[Tony]

I used ODI stats because Fredward had a go at Athers because he had criticised Cook's stodginess at the crease in the short game.

[The Don has Risen]

What logic.

One cannot criticsie anyone who is a better player.

Some of the best commentators ( and coaches of any sport) were terrible players.