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Shame to see him on the Sunday forum today
Very sick man still ruled by his ego
Very sick man still ruled by his ego
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What is his health problem, I've not seen him for a long time. Years ago I long noticed a tremor and wondered if he was heading for Parkinsons.
Looks no different to what he's been for years. Still I'm maybe not as medically qualified as others.
I saw him this morning on ATR & he didn't look too well...perhaps its simply old age
I saw him this morning on ATR & he didn't look too well...perhaps its simply old age
Not watched it but Mac is 77 years old.
Not watched it but Mac is 77 years old.
he has made some good points ,he mentioned that some sportsmen of the year do not have more votes than others he also said that some tote prices are not so long as they shoulde be
to quote big mac enable to win 6 lgth,and a joke to run capri who finished last,
i met him once at wimbledon dogs he was a proper mug . gets no sympathy from me
"Looks no different to what he's been for years. Still I'm maybe not as medically qualified as others."
Don't need to be medically qualified, but yeah looks no different to what he's been for years, bitter perhaps after losing his age discrimination case against Channel 4 after a tribunal ruled the ‘bigoted male chauvinist’ alienated viewers. To be fair he was good for C4 racing back in the day. He had a good run. Why can't these people just retire gracefully ?
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Don't need to be medically qualified, but yeah looks no different to what he's been for years, bitter perhaps after losing his age discrimination case against Channel 4 after a tribunal ruled the ‘bigoted male chauvinist’ alienated viewers. To be fair he was good for C4 racing back in the day. He had a good run. Why can't these people just retire gracefully ?
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Very opinionated and flamboyant; have to give him credit for creating the betting ring role. I was at a wedding reception and staying overnight in a hotel in Six Mile Bottom some years ago and heard a noise outside my window in the morning and he was rooting around in the flower bed looking for a flower for his lapel. Huge mistake suing CH4 (what were his legal team thinking) should have gone quietly and saved a couple of million.
He doesn't look well and I noticed that tremor, a big man for his age and you don't often see that tbh.
He doesn't look well and I noticed that tremor, a big man for his age and you don't often see that tbh.
Why can't these people just retire gracefully ?
Nobody wants to leave the gravy train
Nobody wants to leave the gravy train
^ True, nobody wants to leave the gravy train. But he could not accept that he was out of fashion, or as the Beatles said in "The Day in a Life": He didn't notice that the lights had changed.
you did feel that he fought the punters corner more than most
as for suing C4 under ageism I think - he might just have won that today -
Nevertheless, McCririck's acute insights into the world of betting generated substantial progress on the Sporting Life between 1972 and 1984, winning him two high- profile British Press awards. Despite his own protestations about a lack of talent, McCririck has written some truly Runyonesque pieces about the calamities and joys of betting and bookmaking.
In 1979 he was the British Press Campaigning Journalist of the Year after a sustained investigation had revealed that certain Tote officials had transmitted money into betting pools after races had been run in order to reduce the pay-outs. Eventually a judicial inquiry investigated McCririck's findings and accepted that malpractice had taken place.
McCririck was also a vital go- between for the Jockey Club when the negotiations to save Aintree took place with its owner, Bill Davies. Unhappily, his time at the Sporting Life ended with dismissal, although he later won substantial libel damages from the Daily Star when it made allegations about the reasons for the sacking. None of this prevented his recruitment to Channel 4 in 1983, nor the establishment of his crusading persona.
Whether it is attacking trainers for their horses' being "non-triers", or berating bookies for shaving the odds, or even chiding his Channel 4 colleague Jim McGrath for over-rating Celtic Swing in the Timeform race- card of last month's 2,000 Guineas, he is never afraid to express an opinion.
This has led to his being hailed by many of Channel 4 racing's viewers as "The Punters' Champion", a sort of Don Quixote of racing aiming his lance at any bastions of vested interest without fear. But in truth idealism and a multi- million-pound gambling industry do not go together. So McCririck is more of a Sancho Panza.
His detractors will cite his occasional illiberal rants and exhibitionist tendencies as turn-offs, but for the millions of punters who will tune in on Saturday to his report from the front-line of Derby Day betting, he is the man who, having spent years in the trenches himself, truly knows the depths of their suffering. "I'm just the pub bore with a microphone," he says modestly. But as someone who has lived through the days of street- corner bookies to see gambling become part of the national fabric, he is also a curator of a key part of our social history. So despite the clothes and arm-waving, what you get with John McCririck is more than what you see.
In 1979 he was the British Press Campaigning Journalist of the Year after a sustained investigation had revealed that certain Tote officials had transmitted money into betting pools after races had been run in order to reduce the pay-outs. Eventually a judicial inquiry investigated McCririck's findings and accepted that malpractice had taken place.
McCririck was also a vital go- between for the Jockey Club when the negotiations to save Aintree took place with its owner, Bill Davies. Unhappily, his time at the Sporting Life ended with dismissal, although he later won substantial libel damages from the Daily Star when it made allegations about the reasons for the sacking. None of this prevented his recruitment to Channel 4 in 1983, nor the establishment of his crusading persona.
Whether it is attacking trainers for their horses' being "non-triers", or berating bookies for shaving the odds, or even chiding his Channel 4 colleague Jim McGrath for over-rating Celtic Swing in the Timeform race- card of last month's 2,000 Guineas, he is never afraid to express an opinion.
This has led to his being hailed by many of Channel 4 racing's viewers as "The Punters' Champion", a sort of Don Quixote of racing aiming his lance at any bastions of vested interest without fear. But in truth idealism and a multi- million-pound gambling industry do not go together. So McCririck is more of a Sancho Panza.
His detractors will cite his occasional illiberal rants and exhibitionist tendencies as turn-offs, but for the millions of punters who will tune in on Saturday to his report from the front-line of Derby Day betting, he is the man who, having spent years in the trenches himself, truly knows the depths of their suffering. "I'm just the pub bore with a microphone," he says modestly. But as someone who has lived through the days of street- corner bookies to see gambling become part of the national fabric, he is also a curator of a key part of our social history. So despite the clothes and arm-waving, what you get with John McCririck is more than what you see.
To read the full article from 1995.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/man-to-shout-the-odds-profile-john-mccririck-1584943.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/man-to-shout-the-odds-profile-john-mccririck-1584943.html
If Mac had kept to the racing and had the sense to put the lid on the right wing and misogynist shtick then he'd probably still be on the telly.
No interest whatsoever in standing up for punters, loads of interest in going whatever way is best for J McCririck...
I remember him many years ago when although big he looked quite smart in a white suit.
My wife was waiting for me once at York Station and said that Mac and Emma Ramsden had been standing in front of her and she was surprised at how different Mac was compared to his TV self.
My wife was waiting for me once at York Station and said that Mac and Emma Ramsden had been standing in front of her and she was surprised at how different Mac was compared to his TV self.
If I had the power to do so, I would have banned him from racecourses for bringing racing into disrepute. He got away with basically accusing loads of trainers and jockeys of systematic cheating without a shred of evidence.
Big Mac ... defender of the FOBT... self serving
user of a privileged position.
Barney put him in his place on interview
with nothing said beyond " I helped you".
He cowered down like the snivelling turd he
is , knowing that one sentence from Barney
would expose his underbelly.
Save your sympathy for a decent human
being ... not a bookies Moll ....
Massive issues in betting and bookie
behaviour in these modern times...
Let's concentrate on them instead.
user of a privileged position.
Barney put him in his place on interview
with nothing said beyond " I helped you".
He cowered down like the snivelling turd he
is , knowing that one sentence from Barney
would expose his underbelly.
Save your sympathy for a decent human
being ... not a bookies Moll ....
Massive issues in betting and bookie
behaviour in these modern times...
Let's concentrate on them instead.
You have to laugh. Being criticised of accusing jockeys and trainers of cheating and supporting bookies both at the same time.
Just need someone to accuse of him of being a mass murderer now for the full house.
Just need someone to accuse of him of being a mass murderer now for the full house.
Self serving .... whatever suits .... jockeys , bookies ...
Duplicitous isnt a defence.
Duplicitous isnt a defence.
onlythenamehaschanged and millhouse - you are so spot on
i recall a journo i used to know quite well was one of the journos involved in that story for the Daily Star, and i know who i believe
i recall a journo i used to know quite well was one of the journos involved in that story for the Daily Star, and i know who i believe
onlythenamehaschanged and millhouse - you are so spot on
i recall a journo i used to know quite well was one of the journos involved in that story for the Daily Star, and i know who i believe
i recall a journo i used to know quite well was one of the journos involved in that story for the Daily Star, and i know who i believe
absolutely correct
his ego got the better of him
but he has lost weight and his odds of coffin cheating in 2018
will tighten judging by todays performance
his ego got the better of him
but he has lost weight and his odds of coffin cheating in 2018
will tighten judging by todays performance
About 4 years ago at Cheltenham festival I'm standing with a pint at the back of the stands picking out one for the next race and I look up from paper and big mac is standing next to me, he had rigger boots on with a suit! Anyway I said to him something along the lines of " how you doing, what you fancy in this" he goes out into a strop and marches away as if I asked for a loan of £20! He's a bit of a buloon but given the choice of him or chapman I'd need to take mac.
Friend once spoke to him about bookies shortening the book massively before the off in big handicaps..very anti punter..and his response was "well you try being a bookie..real punters friend
Irishone:
Where my wife goes swimming they call her the Coffin Dodger as she swims so slowly but she does 100 lengths three times a week and the rest of them are in and out in half an hour or stand chatting in the water.
Where my wife goes swimming they call her the Coffin Dodger as she swims so slowly but she does 100 lengths three times a week and the rest of them are in and out in half an hour or stand chatting in the water.
He was right. You should try being a bookie. Big Mac did, and lost, so he should know what he is talking about. At one time he was a huge and very active supporter of greyhound racing, on track and field, and his kinship - friendship is probably an inaccurate word - with Robin Cook kept the game in good stead with the legislators. We have nothing like that now. My mate once engaged Gary Lineker, in much the same friendly manner as Bankit did McCririck, with an even uglier and more hostile result. The point being they are all the same - making a living in the public domain but not giving a flying f*ck about the general public. So why pick on the big man? As far as I know he is no Jimmy Savile, he has never claimed parliamentary expenses for a duck pond and he has never sold donkey meat in burgers! He's down , and obviously nearly out. Good luck to him.
Well said loyalHoncho,my memory of him is at Aintree many years ago and a young lad asking him for his autograph,he took his time with the lad and signed his book,all the time giving the lad his fullest attention.I remember thinking to myself,fair play to him,the kid ran off happy as larry.He wouldn't be my cup of tea,but that day he did our game proud.
Has a wardrobe full of any number of whistles better than the pinstripe one that Matt always wears.
Easy target for those who don't know him or who have never met him..
he may not be everyones favourite person but his advice helped me in a dispute with a bookmaker a few years ago and if I'm not mistaken he was hugely instrumental in bringing in computerised betting receipts on the racecourse which has helped lots of people over the years
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