Sportsound Watch

[Frank Grimes]

Every time Kevin Thomson said “footy” somewhere, a puppy died 

[Kyle Reese]

23 hours ago, VincentGuerin said:

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think it's fair to say they only cover the Premiership.

The Championship gets a reasonable amount of discussion time and I think a decent number of live games (I had Raith v Arbroath on last week). I don't support a Championship side (any more) but I feel that Sportsound does a decent job in keeping me as informed about it as I would like to be. I'd be keen for more coverage of the third and fourth tier, but realistically I'm probably unusual in that respect.

How much time do Five Live give the English lower leagues?

There are things about Sportsound that grate, but I don't think its balance of coverage is really one of them. I think that part is decent.

What annoys me the most, is on a midweek fixture card, if Rangers and Celtic are playing, then you get good coverage of both.

If one of Rangers or Celtic are playing, then you get full match coverage of their game, and the absolute bare minimum shittest possible half arsed attempt at updates you’ve ever heard, for the other games. 

If the Rangers or Celtic game is on the BBC TV channels, then they still make that the radio game, and don’t bother their arses sending the radio crew to another match instead.

Also, Rob McLean is the worst commentator on the planet. He doesn’t keep you up to date with what’s going on in the match. He just chats to the other pundit, and usually goes of piste from the game that’s taking place. You hear the crowd reacting to incidents in the match and he’s still waffling on about some pish that happened a week ago. Then all of a sudden it’s “oh it’s a goal!” No mention of what happened in the build up whilst he was talking absolute pish about something unrelated. It often takes about two minutes to even figure out which team scored. He’s utterly utterly hopeless. He seems to think folk tune in to hear his whiney pompous chat, as opposed to try and listen to what’s going on in the match. He should stick to getting drunk and accidentally tweeting Salma Hayek’s name, instead of searching for photos of her.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Kyle Reese

[VincentGuerin]

49 minutes ago, Kyle Reese said:

What annoys me the most, is on a midweek fixture card, if Rangers and Celtic are playing, then you get good coverage of both.

If one of Rangers or Celtic are playing, then you get full match coverage of their game, and the absolute bare minimum shittest possible half arsed attempt at updates you’ve ever heard, for the other games. 

If the Rangers or Celtic game is on the BBC TV channels, then they still make that the radio game, and don’t bother their arses sending the radio crew to another match instead.

Also, Rob McLean is the worst commentator on the planet. He doesn’t keep you up to date with what’s going on in the match. He just chats to the other pundit, and usually goes of piste from the game that’s taking place. You hear the crowd reacting to incidents in the match and he’s still waffling on about some pish that happened a week ago. Then all of a sudden it’s “oh it’s a goal!” No mention of what happened in the build up whilst he was talking absolute pish about something unrelated. It often takes about two minutes to even figure out which team scored. He’s utterly utterly hopeless. He seems to think folk tune in to hear his whiney pompous chat, as opposed to try and listen to what’s going on in the match. He should stick to getting drunk and accidentally tweeting Salma Hayek’s name, instead of searching for photos of her.

 

 

100% on Rob McLean. He's just there because he's always been there. Amazing they give him games to commentate on.

The Old Firm stuff is annoying, but I don't honestly feel I can say Sportsound under-reports Hearts, or Aberdeen, or Hibs. Any side in the top flight, really.

[The Master]

10 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

100% on Rob McLean. He's just there because he's always been there. Amazing they give him games to commentate on.

He left the BBC to join Setanta at the end of the 2003/04 season. 

When that went south he reappeared as a freelancer, including presenting STV's Champions League coverage for a season. Eventually he found his way back to the BBC, primarily as Dougie Donnelly's replacement as main presenter of Sportscene. From there he found his way back into the BBC commentary box, initially only on the radio but now on TV as well. Then of course he landed the Scotland commentary gig for network BBC at the Euros.

Of course, he also works for BT and Premier when they have more than one OF game to show in a day. 

Edited January 24, 2022 by The Master

[Kyle Reese]

6 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

100% on Rob McLean. He's just there because he's always been there. Amazing they give him games to commentate on.

The Old Firm stuff is annoying, but I don't honestly feel I can say Sportsound under-reports Hearts, or Aberdeen, or Hibs. Any side in the top flight, really.

It’s only really an issue with mid-week games for me. As irritating as most of the pundits are, Open All Mics is way preferable to full coverage of Rangers or Celtic’s game, with few and poor updates of the other matches. It’s not really an issue for me most of the time, as I’ll be at the game, but I can’t do as many away games or midweek games these days. I’ve got Hearts TV now, so I just gave up on Sportsound altogether for radio coverage. I resent being forced to listen to Rangers or Celtic bending over a team of huddies with a thirtieth of their resources, to “ooh” and “ah!” from the studio, just to get three brief updates on what’s happening in the Hearts match.

[Den Spark]

Bonner never seems to know the names of any of the opposition players and, when, I say opposition, I mean any team that is playing against Celtic. The guy watches them 38 times in the league and various other cup and Euro games and sees the other 11 teams 3, possibly 4, times a season. 

[gannonball]

On 23/01/2022 at 09:02, Monkey Tennis said:

Nonsense.

As a pundit, Bonner is so bad that he transcends punditry and even broadcasting.

 

It's bad enough for him to be considered among the worst people in all of human history.

I think you may have misunderstood me I think Bonner is terrible pundit but at least he realises he’s lucky enough to have the job and not be a miserable b*****d about it.

1 hour ago, Frank Grimes said:

Every time Kevin Thomson said “footy” somewhere, a puppy died 

My father says that the odd time and it makes me want to request a DNA test.

[forkboy]

1 hour ago, Den Spark said:

Bonner never seems to know the names of any of the opposition players and, when, I say opposition, I mean any team that is playing against Celtic. The guy watches them 38 times in the league and various other cup and Euro games and sees the other 11 teams 3, possibly 4, times a season. 

While it's annoying as hell to listen to, part of me does deeply respect that commitment to doing as little work as you can get away with. Very relatable.

[Kyle Reese]

6 minutes ago, forkboy said:

While it's annoying as hell to listen to, part of me does deeply respect that commitment to doing as little work as you can get away with. Very relatable.

Didn't realise you supported Ross County, Jamie. Good luck in Bradford.

[VincentGuerin]

2 hours ago, Kyle Reese said:

It’s only really an issue with mid-week games for me. As irritating as most of the pundits are, Open All Mics is way preferable to full coverage of Rangers or Celtic’s game, with few and poor updates of the other matches. It’s not really an issue for me most of the time, as I’ll be at the game, but I can’t do as many away games or midweek games these days. I’ve got Hearts TV now, so I just gave up on Sportsound altogether for radio coverage. I resent being forced to listen to Rangers or Celtic bending over a team of huddies with a thirtieth of their resources, to “ooh” and “ah!” from the studio, just to get three brief updates on what’s happening in the Hearts match.

I'm the same with the midweek games. Too far for me, so I go to about one midweek a season.

I go to pretty much every home game and one weekend away a month, but when I don't go to Hearts I usually go to a game local to me. If I'm going alone I'll have Sportsound on in the background and I quite enjoy the open all mics stuff. Some of them are shite at telling you which team has scored etc, but I find the halves tend to fly by.

[Kyle Reese]

Just now, VincentGuerin said:

I'm the same with the midweek games. Too far for me, so I go to about one midweek a season.

I go to pretty much every home game and one weekend away a month, but when I don't go to Hearts I usually go to a game local to me. If I'm going alone I'll have Sportsound on in the background and I quite enjoy the open all mics stuff. Some of them are shite at telling you which team has scored etc, but I find the halves tend to fly by.

Yeah, the modern equivalent of the guys that used to take a tranny radio to the games back in the 80s. Good memories that!  

I used to like doing that as well, but I really need to get a phone with a better battery. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

57 minutes ago, forkboy said:

While it's annoying as hell to listen to, part of me does deeply respect that commitment to doing as little work as you can get away with. Very relatable.

All he needs to do is read it of the team sheet.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Sergeant Wilson

[Jacksgranda]

On 07/01/2022 at 12:44, Frank Grimes said:

Willie Miller can do whatever the f**k he likes 

Thank you 

Except run a fish and chip shop, apparently...

[Kyle Reese]

12 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

Except run a fish and chip shop, apparently...

Or complete a sentence without "didn't they/he?" at the end of it. 

[Monkey Tennis]

4 hours ago, gannonball said:

I think you may have misunderstood me I think Bonner is terrible pundit but at least he realises he’s lucky enough to have the job and not be a miserable b*****d about it.

I'd rather he experienced misery than induced it in listeners.

[A96]

23 hours ago, Kyle Reese said:

What annoys me the most, is on a midweek fixture card, if Rangers and Celtic are playing, then you get good coverage of both.

If one of Rangers or Celtic are playing, then you get full match coverage of their game, and the absolute bare minimum shittest possible half arsed attempt at updates you’ve ever heard, for the other games. 

If the Rangers or Celtic game is on the BBC TV channels, then they still make that the radio game, and don’t bother their arses sending the radio crew to another match instead.

Also, Rob McLean is the worst commentator on the planet. He doesn’t keep you up to date with what’s going on in the match. He just chats to the other pundit, and usually goes of piste from the game that’s taking place. You hear the crowd reacting to incidents in the match and he’s still waffling on about some pish that happened a week ago. Then all of a sudden it’s “oh it’s a goal!” No mention of what happened in the build up whilst he was talking absolute pish about something unrelated. It often takes about two minutes to even figure out which team scored. He’s utterly utterly hopeless. He seems to think folk tune in to hear his whiney pompous chat, as opposed to try and listen to what’s going on in the match. He should stick to getting drunk and accidentally tweeting Salma Hayek’s name, instead of searching for photos of her.

 

 

Totally agree about Rob McLean.  His style of commentary is okay for TV as the viewer can see the action. But he doesn’t  adapt his style for radio.  

 

 

[Dons_1988]

Rob McLean is a decent enough presenter for red tv but he’s not a commentator. 

[tamba_trio]

Agreed on Rob McLean. He's okay for TV but it defies belief that, over the course of the last decade, no one has told him that you need to say what's happening when you're on the radio. 

As an aside, it's worth remembering that 11 or 12 years ago every top league match was live on the radio. It was great. 

[kingjoey]

3 hours ago, Dons_1988 said:

Rob McLean is a decent enough presenter for red tv but he’s not a commentator. 

He’s definitely good on RedTV and his commentating for a TV match is passable. It’s when he’s stuck on the radio that he is a nightmare. Seldom tells the listener what’s happening and in his mind I’m sure that he thinks everyone can see the match.

[Kyle Reese]

2 hours ago, tamba_trio said:

Agreed on Rob McLean. He's okay for TV but it defies belief that, over the course of the last decade, no one has told him that you need to say what's happening when you're on the radio. 

As an aside, it's worth remembering that 11 or 12 years ago every top league match was live on the radio. It was great. 

Can't believe it's been that long. Yep, I remember you could get all the games. Used to be plenty local opt-outs at commercial channels too, such as Radio Forth, and Talk 107.