Marina Hyde from the Guardian points out the shortcomings of the BBC's football coverage.
I wonder if I might begin by making something clear. Graeme Le Saux has never actually been photographed with a copy of the Guardian, much less reading the ruddy thing. In fact, given that his fabled affinity with this newspaper was first cited in an ancient Hello! magazine interview, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that, desperate for a counterweight to the apparent lowness of brow evidenced by his agreeing to an at home photo shoot, the then
For some years, Graeme has been indulged in this affectation, but now that we are being treated to his analysis on all but seven minutes a week of the BBC's football output, it has become more than clear that formal dissociation should take place at once.
Naturally, it would be unfair to paint him as a completely unenlightening presence, but one can't help but be reminded that when asked some years ago which of the BBC and ITV fielded the better commentary team, he answered "Sky". At the time, it was dismissed as a standard Colemanball; yet ever since he took the mic for the Beeb it has looked a remarkably prescient assessment of his own future impact on the corporation's coverage. In fact, having passed a few televised games in his company now, it seems fair to suspect Graeme attended the Catchphrase college of commentary, so-called after the host of that gameshow's continual exhortations to "Say what you see". And inoffensive as it is to have Professor Le Saux describe precisely what is happening on screen during a replay, it might be nice if Auntie paid a little more attention to her non-blind audience next summer.
Yes, now that we have as good as won the World Cup, thoughts inevitably turn to the commentating teams who have the potential to amplify our joy by informing and entertaining us as we rise to that final, glorious crescendo.
As for the pundits . . . well, there are plenty of occasions when two pundits are sufficient, but never when one of their chairs is occupied by Alan Shearer. With Shearer, there seem only two things for which to be grateful. One, that he has opted to stay on another year at
It's all very well being carried along on a wave of demented enthusiasm after a game like Saturday's, but the old fashioned among us feeble-brained football viewers wouldn't mind learning a little something along the way. The question that must be asked: is Lee Dixon the man to teach me it? In short, and with a few notable exceptions, the lads in suits "have it all to do" before next summer. Maybe one useful way to incentivise them would be to award each member of a channel's team marks out of 10 in the next day's newspapers in the manner of the players. This would result in the peerless Hansen getting at least a nine every time, Motty averaging an eight for effort if nothing else, and young Le Saux being given useful notes such as "best moment did not come when he pointed out for the second time that his wife was Argentinean