BBC Football coverage, list problems here

league two is always reliable for batshit 9-goal thrillers

Had the misfortune to listen to Saturday's 606 podcast during my run this morning. Simon Jordan, what a fucking wind-up merchant scab knob end.

Had to skip to something else after 15 minutes. He was worse than Savage.

Martin Samuel tackling the same issue this morning:

It would appear this show exists to remind us of the genius of Danny Baker, because 18 minutes of his programme which ran for a year until October 1992 and sparkled with wit, irreverence and, on occasions, righteous anger, was worth 18 years of the sorry whinge fest that has followed in its name

Heh. I thought someone refused to cross a picket line but I guess he was on because Savage had an evening game.

the consequence of MOTD's top-heaviness is that when any of the Big Clubs play any of the other clubs (which is all the time) there's no narrative there. Lineker and others need to tell the story of the smaller clubs, build a narrative beyond "beset by injuries of late" or "best start to the season since 2001". in any given game there are at least 24 stories to be told.

I actually think MOTD2 has been pretty good at doing this for a while, going round one club per week, talking to the fans in the buildup to the game and so forth. It works pretty well with yer Blackpools and West Broms and the like. The problems come when you try and say something exciting about yr perennial midtable cloggers, I can't honestly think of many interesting ways to cover Blackburn or Wigan at this stage.

maybe focus on the promising players at those clubs? who with luck won't have to be playing for them much longer

Maybe I should actually watch MOTD2 some time!

Good to hear it Ronan and gl on getting it. Always hope to see ilf break into the system.

I personally don't see a problem with their being a hierarchy of making the most interesting games go first on motd. Tracer you will find it turn itself on its head come Feb when the relegation battle often makes as good a show as Chelsea storming to victory. Team X is currently at the stage of boring as shit 0 - 0 draws every week and their fans don't even turn up to pretend to care, wanting to put them ahead of actual entertainment or a story is crazy.

Of course it doesn't help that there are received notions on certain teams. Wigan spring to mind. The reality is they actually have many exciting, discussion worthy matches and if the past 5 years are anything to go by, could be working towards getting the exciting players the top teams teams want. This can and should be worked on. But until they fire the shitty panel and hire people who understand narrative as opposed to football cliches that drive you mad I don't see a chance of them sorting this.

far, far better show

On the other hand, I got good laughs out of the tactic backfiring on the League Cup show the night of the Liverpool-Northampton debacle - which they obviously had to lead with, but having already decided the show's narrative* hadn't bothered to send a commentator along to Anfield.

* Chelsea-Newcastle

Wigan spring to mind. The reality is they actually have many exciting, discussion worthy matches and if the past 5 years are anything to go by, could be working towards getting the exciting players the top teams teams want. This can and should be worked on.

In the past, yeah, right now I'm not seeing much quality there, with the possible exception of Rodallega. West Brom seem to have taken up the mantle of New Wigan.

re: the online side of things the BBC's club pages are abysmal:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/default.stm

i.e. under the banner of "Latest video, audio and stories" is an embedded video of Mark Hughes talking about a reffing decision. it's been there for three weeks. there have been two matches since then! it's obvious that no one gives a shit about these pages. it's no one's job to look at them.

ok i just watched the As It Stands table change to reflect Bolton's late goal - not sure how many seconds between the goal and that change. at least ten seconds after the table change the actual scoreline above it changes and then you get a minute or more before the text update.

as problems with bbc coverage go, I'd be inclined to let that one slide

as far as the main motd organ goes hansen & dixon is an good enough combination i think - dixon able to appease the boy's club but still be enthusiastic (even perceptive) at the same time. i've been morbidly amused by lawro's nihilism over the years but it's hard not to see him as a key tumour these days. time to shunt him off to 5 live.

xp it was more of a 'this is interesting' observation about the process than an official complaint tbh

So MOTD showed the dirty filthy foreign Cesc tackle but not the one by England's Brave Karl Henry?

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/743/imag0101tz.jpg

not exactly new for motd there.

"David Cameron's Premier League predictions"

just fucking fuck off

u kiddin

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50332000/jpg/_50332851_koscielny.jpg
Koscielny suffered a head injury during the Fulham match on Saturday

It occurred to me that I really want to see Savage and Shearer on a panel together. The mutual loathing could make for extraordinary viewing.

They'd be depressingly chummy. The forced nature of it all, them putting on their mummy's best for the Beeb, would make it more nauseating yet.

not a big deal but on MOTD Hansen was narrating Nasri's first goal and said "see you later!" for each time Nasri passed a player. Lineker picked up on this and tried to make it a meme, even ending the show with the same line. It just seemed a really pointless forced way to try and generate levity.

I think they'd totally wind each other up xp. Savage is *desperate* to make a name for himself and has a somewhat inappropriate matiness on-camera. Shearer can't handle any challenge or interaction beyond cliche, but was actually a good player and had his media career handed to him on a plate. A skilled winder-upper presiding and it could be sweet.

Europe's elite
Would Barcelona magician Lionel Messi make your Uefa Team of the Year?

rmdex100000000000000

: )

James Richardson is coming to the BBC! Sort of!

Could be fun!

haha funny old show they've given him. (does he live there or something?) could well be a trial run for bigger stuff.

v glad that late kick off is returning, i really enjoyed it last season (the london edition at least - other versions i caught didn't really seem as good.) presumably all the other presenters will be the same?

dunno why it hasn't been on from the start really.

Hopefully they'll be working up to bumping Colin Murray from MOTD2.

people who want richardson on motd2 have seriously not thought things through. can u imagine the sheer excruciating awkwardness between him and hansen/lawro? or really anyone who isnt sav or dicko? it's not even like jimbo would take it in good humour, he's always having little tantrums at perceived boorishness.

we'll see how he gets on with murty and rosenior's blank looks first i suppose.

people who want richardson on motd2 have seriously not thought things through. can u imagine the sheer excruciating awkwardness between him and hansen/lawro?

This is part of the appeal.

dont know why lawro or shearer would necessarily need to be there

How would a developing Spurs team built around the pace and width of Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale in tandem with the midfield subtlety of Luka Modric and the thrust and threat of Rafael van der Vaart accommodate a 35-year-old whose best days are inevitably in the past?

nulty, inevitably in the past

Jenas' crib on motd kickabout right now - loves drake & nando's

kind of a short feature - was over by the time I finished typing that

motd kickabout is the new version of the show i worked for in newsround. was it any good? i hope not cos i lost my job cos of it!

I didn't realise it was a kids' show until afterwards, which explains the ultra-short features I guess. Same mixture of lame banter and fence-sitting as every other show. Seems a bit unnecessary to get Dion Dublin in for thirty seconds of that. Also the gags get told as if there's an audience there to whoop and applaud, but there's nobody there.

So yeah, it's terrible. Miles better than the old version at least, I'll give them that.

they want to have a footie guest every week, as someone who worked on the old show i have to say i find it doubtful they'll get good people. colleagues met dion dublin in the bbc bar one night. qed.

Also explains Jenas's crib. Nice to see his massive rooms, massive gym, big swimming pool, his massive office too ("spend a lot of time in here. It's where I download my music")

I forgot to mention the transfer window section:

Dzeko to Man City
Dion: not sure about that one
Talking Head: waste of money

Ronaldinho to Blackburn
Dion: seems a strange one

Keane to Birmingham
Dion: that's a good move
TH: he'll get you goals, guaranteed

Chances Dion knows who Dzeko is = negligible.
Chances he knows Rnaldinho's been doing okay for Milan = debateable
Chances he's seen Robbie Keane play well in last 2 years = impossible

Hey, Dion ex-Celtic, he might have heard about his half-decent half-season up here, no?

celtic, put some money down for him ffs

From F365

Apparently the BBC have a TV show called 'MOTD Kickabout' as part of CBBC, in which various kids TV presenters shout at the audience in typically patronising manner.

Us neither, but Adam Johnson was on the latest edition, taking part in a 'quick fire' Q&A session in which he was asked about his best friend in football.

After looking pensive for a few seconds, he replied in a somewhat reluctant manner: "Andrew Taylor."

Cut back to the studio and the presenter squarked "HE TOOK HIS TIME TO THINK OF HIS BEST FRIEND IN FOOTBALL, DIDN'T HE?" Before adopting a deeply curious falsetto to say: "SOOOOOOO LONELY!"

Well yes. It could be that. Or it could be that it's been fairly widely reported that his best friend in football was the late Dale Roberts.

guilty lol tbh - let the kids get away with bad researching

ha...god. bit of a clanger.

Late Kick Off In The North is amazing. Watching Guy Mowbray trying to have banter with Dean Windass really is quite something.

Anyone for Headers and Volleys?
Dan Walker recalls the football games he played as a kid