Prince William’s soccer punditry assessed: ‘High press’ chat and earnest nodding, but a way-off prediction

It’s amazing what AI can do these days, isn’t it?

Because, in case you missed it last night, the producer of TNT Sport seemed to have asked an AI video generator to produce a clip of the Prince of Wales making his first foray into punditry. And it was convincing.

Either that or… the future king has hidden depths that prove he really does like football (contrary to the idea that his Aston Villa fandom is a carefully curated stab at appearing normal) and can compellingly articulate his thoughts on the game.

He certainly did that in a five-minute chat — real, not AI — with Rio Ferdinand and Ally McCoist at the Parc des Princes in Paris before Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg between Paris Saint-Germain and Villa, the team William supports.

As Ferdinand quickly twigged during the weirdly-not-awkward interview before kick off, the Prince of Wales can make his point as convincingly as most pundits. If you closed your eyes and just listened, it could have been a routine pre-game chat between three former professionals; albeit one not a regular and the other two slightly fawning.

There was a sense of ‘this is good value, keep him going’ from Ferdinand and McCoist, like when an upbeat coach joins the commentary team for a quick chat on the pitch after a Premier League game.

William got the attire right: a sensible-but-trendy shacket, the jumper underneath, an open-necked shirt, all giving off a vibe of ‘ex-player dressing for the job they want’. Sure, he’s shopping in a higher price bracket than the Arne Slot (Liverpool’s head coach) identikit beloved by many pundits, but there was something recognisably ‘normal fella with a few quid’ going on.

This may have been his lucky outfit. As he explained, he has worn something very similar at many Villa games he has attended as a season ticket holder, such as when he was in the crowd for Villa’s home win against Bayern Munich and in Monaco in January.

So, style, yes, and function. His outfit had suitably deep pockets for HRH to shove his hand into, punctuating the end of another surprisingly good point, then nodding earnestly as he let the other guys speak, closely followed by the familiar tropes of such interviews.

Asked what he expected from the game, William talked about “managing that press” like a seasoned regular. He even wheeled out the rhetorical mid-sentence questions, mimicking a coach’s tactical musing: “Unai (Emery, Aston Villa’s manager) likes it when teams come on to them, and play quite a high press, obviously there is a limit. Can we get round the press? Can we beat it? So I’m thinking long ball a bit, I’m also thinking how are they going to get round the high press?”

It was not so much that he clearly knew what he was talking about, it was that he phrased his analysis in such a ‘football’ way. “The way he just dissected that there, I am going to nick it for later on,” says Ferdinand. “Do not go for a punditry job, we’ll be out of a job.” Yes, it was a bit sycophantic but we were all thinking it.

William continued, this time revealing a layer of knowledge about the game that even the best Windsor PR team could not have prepped. Not only could he identify Portuguese midfielder Vitinha as a pivotal performer for PSG, he also knew that the maestro had an underwhelming loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

“Vitinha in the midfield, I’ve been really impressed by,” he said. “Apparently, he was at Wolves two or three years ago maybe, and he could hardly get a game, and now look at him.” The 25-year-old pass master went on to have a wonderful game.

There was another pundit perennial when William mentioned Emery’s obsession with “the little details”. He even mimicked the Villa manager’s hands-on approach he had witnessed at training.

The Prince usually comes across as a modest chap and he pointedly deferred to McCoist and Ferdinand’s expertise: “It shows you — both of you know this better than I do — a couple of years in development terms is massive.”

Perhaps it should be no major surprise that William is a good public speaker. He went to Eton and, well, he’s been used to having to make speeches on a range of topics since he became a working royal.

But it is surprising that he is so good at this specific brand of speaking, with all its rhythms and subtle motifs, which you just don’t associate with someone from the polo-loving elite and whose future job involves reigning over everyone in the United Kingdom.

Football remains the great leveller, though, doesn’t it? Which parent, like William, hasn’t wanted to share their passion with their children? Endearingly, he beamed when explaining why his 11-year-old was with him. It’s not too much of a reach to imagine the pair settling down for Monday Night Football.

There was also a flicker of that Lampardian pivot from light to serious when the Prince, asked about Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday, joked that he was as shocked as most neutrals by Declan Rice’s free-kick wondery.

“Unbelievable… I’ve never seen Declan take a free kick like that,” he said. “What a couple of amazing free kicks. What a performance by Arsenal, it was just an incredible match to watch. I’m really excited to see what Declan can do for the England team. He can do that now, he’s going to be the England set-piece taker.”

It’s at that point you remember this is the patron of the English Football Association. He was its president for nearly two decades. There was something vaguely reassuring knowing that those titles, ceremonial as they are, must mean something to him.

Finally, there was even the ubiquitous ‘wince at being asked for a prediction’.

Ever the optimistic Villain, William said a 2-1 win for the visitors. Unfortunately for him, Villa lost 3-1. It was about the only thing he got wrong.

(Top image: From TNT Sports)

This post was originally published on this site