Not sure why the original poster is making such a fuss of the BBC line up being better than the as yet unannounced ITV line up, besides a few final stages games you have to watch both channels anyway!
Because ITV always mess up big tournaments, partly because they're resigned to humiliating defeat whatever they do. It's just one of those things- when the country unites, it unites with the BBC, whether that be in major news or sporting events. Sure Des is OK, but even he can't rescue coverage butchered by adverts, generally passionless summerisers and mediocre commentators. Whilst Ian Wright is very annoying on entertainment shows and on the radio, there's something about his passion for England that just makes him great in the studio for the England games- the combo with Linekar, Hansen, Wright and Schmeichal/Lawrenson is just unstoppable.
Umm, what a bizarre reply. Schmeichel and Wright are amongst the worst "experts" to ever grace the genre of punditry. Watching the BBC during the half-time break is similar to intruding on an old-boys network. It's actually quite exclusive.
Lawrenson - passionate and unstoppable? Don't make me laugh.
The general consensus amongst football fans is that they prefer to see games on the BBC because of the adverts on ITV. Don't know what pub you were in!
Really annoys me about BBC Sport that even if the action is 4:3, the programme is shown in widescreen so on a 4:3 TV, the programme cuts to widescreen, ending up with the central 4:3 picture, meaning you have to zoom in yourself!
Indeed - why not just produce the whole programme in 4:3, since the main focus of it is the match!
I've never really been that impressed by the Freeview coverage of interactive football. I don't really understand why you'd want to watch the highlights while the match is on, and I'd rather hear the Radio 5 Live commentary than the two more 'analytical' commentators, who just sound a bit rubbish to me.
Yeah, I've never been a fan of the extra football feeds.Always seemed to be a gimick rather than actually being of benefit. I'm concerned though that football will take priority over wimbledon though and that the extra coverage of wimbledon will be shunted out of the way for the quite useless extra football. Surely the real football fans just want to watch the matches rather than faff around with the extras.
I've never really been that impressed by the Freeview coverage of interactive football. I don't really understand why you'd want to watch the highlights while the match is on, and I'd rather hear the Radio 5 Live commentary than the two more 'analytical' commentators, who just sound a bit rubbish to me.
Presumably so that those people who were late getting to see the coverage can catch up by watching the highlights of what they missed before switching to the live game.
But I'd go straight to the live coverage first, and watch the bits I missed during half time or when the game has finished.
I hope the interactive feeds on Freeview includes Five Live or Sports Extra commentary, just as the Six Nations included "ref link" audio (no commentator).
People suck up to the BBC far too much in my opinion. Personally, and this is just me, I find Gary Lineker incredibly annoying, Garth Crooks is a truly awful interviewer and Mark Lawrenson a prat. Ian Wright is too big headed for my liking as well.
Has Trevor Brooking left the BBC altogether? Haven't seen or heard him for quite some time now.
ITV have their faults. Des isn't as good as he once was, tho was a great host of HIGNFY the other week. I think the adverts prevent him from developing the conversational, dry- humoured sytle he had on the BBC. Nevertheless these big tournaments give him more time to speak so you never know, this could be a great farewell for him.
I find the ITV network commentators unneccessarily aggressive most of the time, Tyldesley and Drury are the worst offenders. In my opinion,
Peter Brackley
should be ITV's senior commentator, with other big match commentators including
Trevor Harris
and
John Helm
. I've no idea why he was sidelined by ITV a few years back.
ITV's biggest problem seems to be pundits, namely their inability to have anybody who says anything interesting. It'd be good to get Cloughie to do some punditry work though he turns down most of the work he's offered these days. Hopefully Sir Bobby Robson will return, he was great during the last world cup. Gabby Logan is also a good presenter.
I found the below information from a package aimed at advertisers on the ITV Sales website:
Familiar faces - The ITV team
Interviews, analysis and match comment from household names with a football pedigree second to none. Research commissioned by ITV post World Cup 2002 showed 82% of people found the ITV1 World Cup coverage to be of good quality. Moreover, ITV1’s presenting team was also very well received – four of the top five World Cup presenters being on ITV1.
1 Desmond Lynam
European Championships, World Cups, Olympics, Grand Nationals, Wimbledons: Lynam is par excellence the man for the biggest occasions. One of the greats in broadcasting history, Desmond will sign off as a mainstream sports presenter after Euro 2004, so England in the Final on July 4 would be a dream farewell.
2 Gabby Logan
One of the brightest lights in the new generation of presenters, Gabby will front a range of Euro 2004 programming on ITV, including live and highlights shows. A natural in front of the camera, and truly passionate about the game, Gabby has become one of the main attractions for
ITV’s football audience, from ‘On The Ball’ to the UEFA Champions League.
3 Terry Venables
Nobody has come closer than Terry to making England European Champions: nobody will ever forget the heartstopping climax of the epic Euro ’96 Semi Final against Germany. Respected by players from White Hart Lane through the Nou Camp to the Riverside Stadium, Venables has been a coach of imagination and flair, and his powerful punditry has become a feature of ITV’s coverage of major football.
4 Ally McCoist
Goals are what the game is about in the end, and goals were certainly what McCoist was about for Rangers and Scotland, with a club record of 355 on the way to winning an unsurpassed 10 championships, plus 61 caps for his country. But statistics don’t tell the whole story: Ally’s charisma, sense of fun, and speed of tongue combine with his knowledge to make him one of the most popular of football pundits.
5 Sir Bobby Robson
The best-loved and certainly the liveliest septuagenarian in world football, Sir Bobby has become a national treasure. As a television expert he brings a heart full of passion and a wealth of experience. Who else has managed Romario, Ronaldo, Shearer and Gascoigne, and come within a kick of reaching a World Cup Final?
6 Andy Townsend
70 caps and two World Cups as captain of Republic of Ireland, and an illustrious club career including Chelsea and two League Cups with Aston Villa are the headlines on the pitch, but Townsend’s emergence as an eloquent television pundit is the big story more recently. A
natural communicator, Andy is forceful, straight and capable of giving the viewer genuine insight into the tactics, skills and issues of the modern game.
7 Clive Tyldesley
Voted Best Sports Commentator by the Royal Television Society three times since 1998, Clive has become the master of his craft, combining
speed and accuracy of player identification with a fine editorial style, and a great sense of occasion.