I’m in denial over FA Cup’s defection to ITV

Phill Jupitus

Here’s the thing. I appreciate that during my lifetime, football has transformed from a charming domestic sport to a hugely publicised corporate behemoth. So why didn’t I know that the FA Cup had gone across to ITV? As a member of the sporting media, surely one of my comrades in the fourth estate could have given me the nod.

Ultimately, I am in denial. As a 46-year-old I find change scary. My digital TV box has a button on it called “series link” that has recorded Match of the Day for me every Saturday without fail since the season began. Now, while this technology is impressive, why can’t developers go that extra mile and design a system that issues brightly coloured screen warnings all week? “No Match of the Day this week, Tubby, reprogramme me to ITV!”

For some reason this hasn’t happened, therefore I had to go without my weekly session of trying to decipher Alan Shearer’s impenetrable Geordie mumble over poached egg and kippers. But wait . . . do we really want to watch ITV’s football coverage?

If memory serves, I would rather fashion a crude FA Cup highlights flick book from a pile of Sunday papers. Let’s face facts, ever since the loss of the wonderful Brian Moore, ITV has not had a handle on its football coverage. I’m not laying the blame for this fully at the feet of “Gentleman” Jim Rosenthal, but whenever it scooped the Corporation to a big game and Jim was at the helm, rather than the brash confidence of a top sports anchor working for a winning broadcaster, he had the twitchy demeanour of a substitute geography teacher dumped into a violent inner-city comprehensive.

The stock response to this presentation credibility gap is to try to poach BBC talent. When the ITV and Setanta deal was struck, there was talk of Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen going over, which never transpired.

Adrian Chiles was being tapped up for the job last March. But why persist in this crude strategy? When BBC stalwarts such as Des Lynam and Steve Rider take the commercial shilling they just end up looking a bit uncomfortable; rich and uncomfortable. ITV executives should do their job and try to discover a talented new sports anchor. And until then we’re left with poor Andy Townsend and his magic telly.

Comments

[Nogbad T. Bad]

I don't know where this ridiculous affection for BBC football coverage comes from - it's terrible. Hansen and Lawrensen are the worst informed, most biased and irritating men (let alone pundits) in the country. The BBC were so stuck in their 1950's view of the FA Cup that they never had time for actual football highlights for the nostalgia clips. I have never seen a BBC report from Preston that didn't have 10 mins about Tom Finney bolted on (I intend no offence to the great Tom Finney of course). Also, why, when they only have a couple of minutes to highlight a game do they include players getting injuries treated and twenty shots of a manager, on the phone, sitting in the stand; these are the bits you are supposed to discard. I'm not saying that ITV are better, they are not. I do think sky are a bit better and they have the time to cover everything. The "Sunday Suplement", now that Jimmy "We must, must, must have proffesional Referees" Hill is gone is the best program on TV for the background of football and "Football First, Match Choice" is how footbal highlights should be covered.
The BBC has two arts channels and no sports channel - hopeless.

[Boycs]

I'm with Mad Dave and his long post below (especially paragraph one, spot on). In general ITV's presenters and pundits make me cringe but I do feel that Robbie Earle has something more to offer, he's wasted on ITV. Most annoying are Matt Smith's patronising tones and pauses with the eye squints. And then there's Andy Townsend and his magic screen - why do we have to see him doing the touch screen thing? Is that meant to impress me? Its very annoying to watch him press play then rewind/fast forward on another telly. Poor work from the editor/producer there for cutting to Andy's wobbly fingers.

The BBC coverage has gone downhill in my opinion. I now record MOTD and fast-forward through the inane analysis. Lineker is top notch and I've got time for Dixon but Hansen and Lawro are really stale now. Crooks is the worst pundit in history (at least you can laugh at Pleat). Shearer? Oh dear, please say something insightful rather than the obvious. Its been said before that the MOTD coverage annoys because they pretty much show the same replays and incidents again in the analysis that you just saw in the highlights - without any real insight at all. Hence, fast-forward to the next match. I can watch MOTD in about 15-20 minutes!

Good article by Phil, by the way.

[Nick Dixon]

I watched the ITV coverage for the first and last time on Saturday , I think most of the posts concur that it was pretty dire . The guy who hosts the highlights show is more annoying than David Pleat ( if thats possible ) .
The complete lack of criticism of the match officials , who got a lot of decisions wrong , made a mockery of any analysis that followed .It's probably in the contract .
Bring back Barry Davies , quickly , someone .

[Alan Roberts]

At least you lot can watch the football!! Up here in Scotland we got MOTD when BBC had the FA Cup. Now it is on ITV we get nothing at all, unless you want to watch an old film or some other rubbish (no. I don't mean Scottish football, although that comes under the same category!!)

[Simon Macdonald]

Jim Rosenthal is a legend.. If ITV having the FA cup means we see Jim on screens a few more times a year then so be it...

[Richard Fitzsimmons, Lincoln]

Is it me, or has anybody else noticed when watching MOTD, just prior to a goal being scored from a set piece, there is a close up and brief career history of the goalscorer along the lines of " he hasn't scored from a corner since 2nd October 2002"? He then blasts a header in. This is obvious and unnecessary editing done after the game. Why?

[Moorish]

Urrrrgh... ITV football coverage is utterly horrible.

[Villan]

Well Mad Dave, I got through it, but only because I noticed you are a Villa season ticket-holder. It made a lot of sense but try to make it shorter next time, eh?

[Caoimhe, N.Ireland]

ITV indeed has horrid coverage, I always find that the pundits have the IQ of a 10 year old and the articulate skills of someone trying to learn english, 'giggs passes to rooney........... (we know, we aren't blind)'. Also there seems to be a 2-3 second delay in the audio (sounds not out of sync-tis the pundits). To be fair though Motson at the BBC isn't the same as he used to be and the half time pundits are not that far off than the ones at ITV-Lineker and Hanson more interested in Walkers and Morrisons contracts. I cringe when I watch both channels.

The best coverage (biased opinion) is on RTE-Graham Souness has done rather well there but it is just a bunch of old men arguing amongst themselves contradicting everything that each other says and making very outrageous comments (finger pointing at Eamon Dunphy-twat). Also the fact that RTE pay peanuts compared to BBC/ITV/Sky/Setanta (dare i say FIVE?) to show live games (league, Champions League, UEFA Cup, World Cup, Euros) as there is no competition!

Has anyone noticed on MOTD how the female pundit has disappeared? I haven't watched it in a while now so maybe she's back.

[Gen]

I was annoyed when Setanta and ITV won coverage because I knew they would find a way to ruin it.

Firstly showing a Friday night FA Cup tie on Setanta - no no no! There something special about waking up on a Saturday knowing the FA Cup weekend is going to start. I was not impressed either to see an FA Cup tie being played on a Monday night. It just makes the whole thing never ending.

I also found the ITV "highlights" programme a complete and utter joke. Totally rushed and if you are a supporter of a smaller team especially its hardly worth tuning in.

Shame that the Sky/BBC partnership did not win it again as their coverage over the last few years has been first class.

[Louis]

Yes the ITV pundits are woeful but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the advert breaks. Making time for two four minute ad breaks during a fifteen minute half time period is hardly going to do the the quality of analysis any good. There is barely enough time to state the facts along with obvious comment/criticism before the match starts/restarts/ or the programme ends. At the BBC the pundits have the time for deeper analysis. Furthermore the ad breaks are infuriating and make you hate ITV/Sky regardless of how good the punditry and coverage is.

[Danny]

Well said Phil. In a nutshell, ITV coverage is just rubbish and I dont know why. Its the same games but they just fails miserably to capture the atmosphere.
ITV = Its Tragic Viewing

[Motoloco]

I can't see why we need "Pundits" and their attendent egos at all. I'd rather just watch the game and make my own mind up or, if we have to have padding before and after, how about having a bunch of blokes in a pub give their pearls of wisdom?

[Simon of Edinburgh]

At least most people get to watch it, up here STV have decided for commercial reasons not to show the games and will use the money for more relevant Scottish programs in 09!!.

Therefore on Saturday and Sunday there was some utter rubbish on, which can not have brought much advertising income in and the viewing figures must have been horrendous.

And no I can't get cable or Sky!!

Help, email STV and demand a change.

[BenM]

I agree with 'Mad Dave' Sky do comment with cliches. ITV Champions League is terrible as is their Internationl tourament stuff - awful from my first memory of it. ITV has always been very tacky for some reason. I don't think this is pyschological. We all feel it. The Radio 5live solution even with Alan ‘ego’ Green is loads better.

[Hannah]

I watch ITV on mute with Radio 5 for the commentary if possible.

[Mark]

I agree with a lot of Mad Dave's comments, especially about David Bleat, but when you've had to endure Tommy "stick it in the old onion bag" Smith's Champions' League coverage on ESPN you will realise what a bastion the BBC coverage is.

[Frank Upton]

And then there are the horrible, annoying ads.

[Mad Dave]

I would agree, except for the fact that the BBC is nearly as bad these days. It is little more than an ex-footballer's club. Linekar is as good as Lynham in my opinion- no problems there and yes he is better than the patronising clueless ITV presenters. But Hansen and Lawrenson are little more than parodies of their former selves. Lawrenson really doesn't want to be there, says glaringly obvious comments and awful puns. Hansen rarely makes any effort at all and has mellowed too much in his old age. Yes we know that Man U and Chelsea are good teams, and if anyone is going to finish in the top five it is Villa (!) How I long for the days of Strachan and Peacock. And worst of all they have Garth Crooks, the single worst 'pundit' in the entire history of the game. Now I'm not as big a critic of Shearer as others, but he doesn't add anything of any value. Lee Dixon is trying at least to look at some tactics, but he needs time to develop.

And what about sky? Hasselbaink is incomprehensible- I'm sorry but he finds it very difficult to communicate in English. And they have the temerity to describe Souness as an expert- the guy who single handedly reduced Liverpool from the dominant force in English football to mediocrity. Redknapp has little to add apart from wide eyed enthusiasm. Just like his father, he is oblivious to anything approaching tactics or a footballing brain. And Andy Gray- who spearheads the I hate zonal marking Sky campaign- right let's look at the facts (bear in mind I am an Aston Villa season ticket holder, with no love for Liverpool). Liverpool have one of the best defences at home and abroad, and Reina has had the most clean sheets for the past few seasons. And this 'expert' is telling Liverpool how to defend??? At Sky they don't actually seem to do any commentary on the football, just generic remarks about reputations (Lampard likes to shoot!) and even the decent Andy Gray's Last Word is now cramming in the weekend's action in 15 minutes (with the likely candidates getting most of the time) and bringing in that boring ex-ref to discuss 'controversial' decisions. Dull as dishwater- once again someone please understand that not all football fans are idiots who talk for hours about whether the ref got it wrong. We usually swear, inform the ref of his fitness to referee, and berate every consequent decision that does not go our way. Even the Champions league coverage is ruined- Trevor Francis is a nonentity who makes me fall to sleep (it doesn't help that he's a former blues player) and Ruud does a decent job informing us of the contintental angle. But Francis and Souness are completely ignorant of European football in general- sometimes I bust out in laughter hearing their ignorance about football on the continent. That isn't snobbery- the Champions League feature teams from across Europe, so is it too much to expect the pundits to know basic information about teams from Germany, Spain, Italy and France?

I can't say much about Setanta- I ordered the service at the start of the season and they refused to give it to me because I had moved house. From what I have seen it seems like it's very much along the lines of ITV. Getting back to the ITV coverage- yes it is full of ad breaks, competitions, little analysis (worst than BBC and Sky), but the other two are detoriating so much that it's almost like they are trying to bridge the gap. Mind you, ITV does have the most annoying pundits in the world- who declare the most obvious and well known facts thinking that the viewer is clueless about football. And there is David Pleatt- who feature the most annoying prattle in the history of football commentary. And like Sky their ignorance is amazing- during the Germany-England match the commentators declared that Germany were unbeaten for over a year. Which confused me greatly as I had seen the final of the European Championships a few months earlier where Spain had won 1-0. Maybe the beeb and Sky aren't too bad after all...

[Karl]

Bring back the tactics truck I say.

[Martin]

I'm with you there bigman. ITV have a horrible approach to football coverage and have shown that it is not the personalities but the format and, presumably, a need to accommodate adverts. The fact that Lynam couldn't cut it on ITV shows the they fail regardless of the face.

[Toon fan]

Have to agree - never watch footie on ITV if the Beeb had it - compare figures for when the FA Cup final was broadcast simultaneously. The BBC have an indefinable something that makes their coverage better - the cameramen, editors, presenters?

[Dan]

The problem is that BBC has dedicated football presenters. ITV has to make do with generic sports presenters.

[PaulM]

Spot on Phil. I watched the ITV attempt at the FA Cup last Saturday and it was awful. Instead of the cup heroics of Hartlepool, Forest and Southend we wer treated to headline billing Derby - good for Forest Green I admit but it wasn't an upset. Then we had to suffer Liverpool and Preston again which had been live a few hours earlier. The rest were just goals even if full commentary and cameras were there as they were for Forest & Man City and Chelsea & Southend. As for the global post match review that was a joke with a love in between Curbishly and Earl but not one incisive comment or analysis between them. I never thought I would mourn Motty but you don'y know what you have till its gone!!