Alan Green is the latest big name at BBC Sport having to take a significant pay cut - following lead TV football pundit Alan Hansen.
Freelance Green, whose Radio 5 Live commentary contract expires in July, was hoping to negotiate a deal for him to work on 100 games a season over the next two years.
But it is understood Green has had to settle for around 60 matches at a time when the cuts-ravaged Corporation are looking to lose five jobs from BBC Radio's football team.
The BBC will introduce one commentator per match for the 2012-2013 campaign, but Green and Mike Ingham will continue their partnership for England matches up to Brazil 2014.
BBC Radio Five Live - Tuesday 31 January 2012 Host Mark Pougatch with Martin Keown, David Pleat, Ian Dennis and Phil McNulty Everton v Man City John Murray and Danny Mills (commentary) with Alistair Yeomans Man Utd v Stoke Conor McNamara (with David Oates and Dean Kiely commentating on Sports Extra) Swansea v Chelsea Alistair Bruce-Ball Tottenham v Wigan Nigel Adderley Wolves v Liverpool Pat Murphy Ipswich v West Ham Steve May Leeds v Birmingham Peter Slater Southampton v Cardiff Andy Gillies
Ipswich v West Ham was the main commentary on BBC London (with Phil Parry commentating).
Mark Pougatch hosted Five Live on Wednesday with Steve Harper, Phil Brown and Mark Lawrenson
I think the RAJARs have been pretty positive all round when it comes to the sports coverage on all three national radio stations.
Slightly off-topic for the football thread, but it's heartening to see that the Rugby World Cup looks to have paid off for talkSPORT given the massive commitment they gave the tournament. It vindicates UTV Radio's decision to purchase rights and commit to as many hours of coverage as they did, as during the tournament there seemed to be a lot of cynics on here and elsewhere who had a strong belief that their coverage would prove to be bad for the station and a turn-off for listeners used to the station's normal predominantly football-based output. It is always nice to see talkSPORT proving the naysayers wrong.
That Moz Dee has chosen to lead with praise for the performance of the Rugby World Cup despite it being towards the back of the memory now and with them having football coverage to promote indicates that it was the success they are making it out to be rather than something they'd want to quietly move on from. Hopefully this will secure the future of the excellent Full Contact for many years to come and will lead to them making a serious bid for rights to next year's British & Irish Lions tour.
On Absolute, it's interesting that in the third paragraph of the article 4-4-2 has quoted that TIML are putting a significant 16.5% "seasonal dip" down to a lack of live Premier League commentaries. Given that their live football coverage only made up for five hours of their weekly output perhaps it would be surprising if it has had a huge impact across the board at the station, but nevertheless it shows that live football has brought an audience to Absolute and indicates that under their current management they are likely to be open to at least continuing their existing coverage come 2013.
Earlier this month, Absolute Radio re-signed Russ Williams, Jim Proudfoot and Ian Wright to new contracts and extended Wright's hours on Saturday, and while this story was put out there in a fairly quiet manner and seems to have gone largely unnoticed, it does underline how that station believes in their coverage and, barring TIML selling up to new management that are looking to give Absolute a significant change in direction, I see it continuing post 2013.
With Radio 5 Live, I think it's another case of their figures not being quite as bad as they seem due to having been disproportionately skewed in a past instance. I think the opening paragraph of the Media Guardian article make the figures sound a lot worse than they actually are. They may be the lowest since 2009 and we're now in 2012, but the reality to me seems to be that 5 Live's Q4 2010 numbers were disproportionately raised due to them carrying live coverage of The Ashes (I know I listened to a lot more 5 Live when they were carrying Test Match Special for the Boxing Day test than I normally would) and without this big event their Q4 2011 figures returned to the same kind of level they were at during Q4 2009.
That's not a surprise when you think about it and it's a similar situation to how 5 Live's Q2 2011 figures dropped year on year - this was surely a given seeing as Q2 2010 covered the bulk of a World Cup and a General Election. This is just another example of the appeal live sport on 5 Live holds to its audience.
There's an interesting interview on the Broadcast website with talkSPORT programme director Moz Dee:
Hiring Richard Keys and Andy Gray in the middle of a media storm showed that TalkSport’s programme director is not afraid to take a gamble – and it’s paying off.
Spend an hour in the company of Moz Dee and it becomes clear why he is making such a decent fist of running TalkSport. He opines about the Sony Awards’ national station of the year like a football fan making the case for their team: full of banter, anecdotes and analogies.
In fact, the programme director is only a stone’s throw away from many of the presenters on his books; equalling the coiled enthusiasm of Stan Collymore on football rantathon Call Collymore and the swagger of Alan Brazil on the weekday Sports Breakfast.
It’s the sort of unashamedly blokeish broadcasting for which TalkSport has become renowned, but does not explain how the station’s fanbase has swelled from 2.45 million just months before Dee joined in 2008 to 3.13 million in the most recent round of Rajar figures.
Scratch beneath TalkSport’s boyish veneer and a careful repositioning has taken place over the past four years. It all comes back to one word: credibility.
Dee takes up the story: “You walk into a pub and there’s a bloke playing the fruit machine and you’ll have a laugh and a chat with him, but then you’ll go and see your real mates. TalkSport was always this, a bit of a guilty pleasure. You quite liked it, but you didn’t stick with it and moved to alternatives.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard to up TalkSport’s credibility, keeping the fun, banter and tone, but building in journalism and a level of competency.”
A timely example Dee calls upon is football’s January transfer window – a period when fans can gorge themselves on a feast of rumours about imminent arrivals and departures from their club.
Dee tasked TalkSport with delivering transfer news amid this hubbub, both through its website and on air.
A central content production team of 35 was recruited to root out and stand up (or indeed down) transfer stories, while some of TalkSport’s expert presenters were encouraged to feed in their knowledge.
Dee says the broadcaster has now become a trusted news source, breaking stories that get picked up every day by other outlets. “It often makes me laugh when I click onto the BBC website and see four or five stories that have come from us,” he smiles.
Growing audience
Self-generated news has helped TalkSport’s online audience grow consistently. The most recent figures (December) show its unique users were up 89% year on year to 2 million. Its iPhone app was accessed a record 928,000 times in the same month.
The website benefits from being able to “harvest” from the many interviews with sporting professionals on air throughout the day. Wayne Rooney is one such contributor and regularly listens to the Richard Keys and Andy Gray afternoon show.
It seems a lifetime ago that the presenters became embroiled in a media storm, and subsequently forced out of BSkyB, for making sexist comments about assistant referee Sian Massey.
TalkSport swooped for the pair in the thick of the scandal. Dee admits the decision carried reputational risks, but was not a “huge leap of faith” because of their expertise and respect within the game. “
We asked the audience to put the distasteful comments to one side and listen to the content. They’re not here as social commentators, they’re here to talk about football,” he says.
“I said to them: ‘Do your first show, everyone will slag you off and it will be shit. Get it over and I guarantee you there will be no press standing outside this building tomorrow.’ I was right.”
Dee, who is sat in front of a picture of Russell Brand, the former TalkSport presenter whose Radio 2 show provoked media outrage, says the pair has “learned a lot” and their show is now unrecognisable from its first broadcast. “The audience is at the highest point it has ever been in the history of that timeslot,” he adds.
Gray is now being lined up to co-commentate on the station’s football coverage and Keys is also likely to get further work. This will be music to the ears of TalkSport owner UTV, which has been well rewarded since acquiring the station in 2005.
The last time TalkSport’s financials were broken down in the Northern Irish broadcaster’s results for 2010, it posted a near £2m increase in operating profits to £6.4m. Over Christmas, a 9% year-on-year increase in advertising income across UTV’s British radio operations (in which TalkSport is by far the biggest player) helped its parent company mitigate a fall in TV turnover.
Dee, who holds daily sales meetings, says TalkSport is working with commercial partners in increasingly sophisticated ways. Online advertising and sponsorship forms part of this mix, but not at the expense of editorial independence.
“The bottom line is to make the best content you can and not compromise. Alongside that, you work as hard as you can with your commercial partners, never forgetting your audience. By putting your audience first, you are doing your best for advertisers.” Sponsorship ‘reads’ from presenters can grate on listeners, but he argues that most accept TalkSport has “got to pay the rent”, just as “people understand they have to pay the licence fee”.
Advertising brings rewards for listeners, says Dee, and high among them is sports rights. TalkSport has two packages for the Premier League and is gearing up to broadcast all 31 games of the European Championship in the summer. Add this to its coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the station begins to look like a real home for live sport.
Dee praises UTV’s backing, but makes clear it will not enter the market “at any cost”. Conditions must be right, he says, adding that a “gap in consciousness” and lack of rigour among BBC Radio 5 Live executives enabled TalkSport to swoop for the Rugby World Cup rights.
He cites the Premier League as the most “potent” of all the rights that could ever be available to TalkSport, meaning there is nothing else he would give his “right arm” to acquire.
“On 23 October last year, we had the Rugby World Cup final live and exclusive followed by Manchester Utd v Manchester City, again live and exclusive,” Dee says. “If I had still been at 5 Live, I’d have stayed in bed.”
Commercial responsibilities
Dee worked at his BBC rival for more than seven years, but is not afraid to take it to task over its scope. He prefaces his argument about 5 Live’s remit with tributes to the BBC, but wears his allegiances on his sleeve.
TalkSport repeatedly raised questions about the quality and quantity of 5 Live’s news content in 2011, and this week welcomed BBC Trust recommendations that the station harden up its news output and cover more minority sports.
“The BBC needs to get to grips with its responsibility to the commercial sector. It receives billions of pounds in licence fee-payer money, it has a responsibility – and my former colleagues may laugh at this – to help the commercial sector grow,” Dee says.
If TalkSport’s grandstanding fails to bear fruit, Dee says it will continue to play its own game: winning over new audiences. “Being bolder about our programming has a manifest effect on what comes out of the speakers. Sports fans have been looking for a place to call home – I hope that’s what we’re providing, and getting better at.”
A couple of key points from the piece about Richard Keys and Andy Gray:
“The audience is at the highest point it has ever been in the history of that timeslot,”
Gray is now being lined up to co-commentate on the station’s football coverage and Keys is also likely to get further work.
I think it was said in the Euro 2012 press release that Keys and Gray would be involved with their coverage - I'd imagine Gray will be one of the co-commentators in Poland and Ukraine for talkSPORT.
It's my understanding that talkSPORT will have commentary of AC Milan v Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday 15th February.
And then on Thursday 16th February, they'll also have a double-header of commentaries from the Europa League with Ajax v Manchester United (18:00) followed by FC Porto v Manchester City (20:05).
Andy Gray will be talkSPORT's co-commentator for AC Milan v Arsenal.
Brian Moore will be alongside Richard Keys on the morning show - with Gray live from Italy.
Andy Gray will be talkSPORT's co-commentator for AC Milan v Arsenal.
Brian Moore will be alongside Richard Keys on the morning show - with Gray live from Italy.
An interesting development, with a key point not be overlooked being that talkSPORT will be broadcasting their commentary from the San Siro rather than off-tubing as they have often done for European away games in recent seasons. This is a massively positive step and it's good to see them investing in this area.
In which case, I wonder who'll be working alongside Andy Gray on commentary? You would imagine travelling to Milan would preclude Sam Matterface from working on ITV's Champions League and Europa League coverage that week. If not Sam then it's unlikely to be Ian Danter with his UEFA.com commitments.
It'll be interesting to find out whether this came about at least partially because Stan Collymore is travelling to Amsterdam for Channel 5's coverage of Ajax v Manchester United the following day - it'll be interesting to see if their presentation is done on-site - and talkSPORT took an opportunity to use Gray in this role due to Stan not being available. We will undoubtedly hear two other co-commentators - most probably the likes of Alvin Martin and Ray Houghton - doing talkSPORT's Europa League double header the following day.
Good timing as well for them to get Brian Moore back into the studio, what with that week being in the middle of the Six Nations.
It took longer than I thought, but it was inevitable that Andy Gray would move into a co-commentary role on talkSPORT.
I think one of the problem with using Andy as a co-commentator up until now will presumably be contractual. I'd be highly surprised if the new contract Stan Collymore signed during the 2010 World Cup (which keeps him at the station until 2013) doesn't include assurances that in theory would prevent him from being usurped as talkSPORT's co-commentator on Premier League matches.
Of course Champions League and Europa League matches are different with the rights being purchased on a one-off game basis or as part of a season-long deal at the start of each European campaign. As such, Stan's contract probably does not tie him into doing European co-commentaries in the same way it might state that he expects to do X amount of their 64 Premier League commentaries each season as part of his agreement with the station.
Similarly this could be the case at Euro 2012. As rights were only secured relatively recently, talkSPORT may have room to use Gray and bring in another commentator (potentially someone from TV?) to use as their main pairing ahead of Sam and Stan. In any event, due to the amount of games that will need to be covered it's likely that Andy will be in Poland or Ukraine as part of their commentary team. It could be that Mark Saggers (or Ray Stubbs), Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore are their team with England in Ukraine with Richard Keys, Andy Gray and another commentator leading the Polish leg of their coverage.
What I think would be a sensible move from here on in, should Keys and Gray be willing to take the commitment on, would be to make them the regular studio team on Sunday Exclusive. Since Neil Warnock left his role on this show at the end of last season, their presentation of the Sunday matches has been a bit of a mix and match. Some weeks Alan Brazil presents, other weeks it's Ian Danter or Adrian Durham or Georgie Bingham and it's a similar random cycle of regulars when it comes to the pundits.
Having Keys and Gray in the studio for Sunday Exclusive most weeks would give their live coverage that extra bit of star power and would show that they can co-exist with Stan Collymore, as Sam and Stan would presumably be able to continue as the commentary team on matches in this timeslot.
On the subject of contractual issues, the 100 commentaries a season Alan Green is reported to have requested does seem a tad excessive and unrealistic given the planned changes to BBC Radio 5 Live's commentary setup. Going back to last season's thread and the stats Shaun_D provided, Green did the largest amount of commentaries of any national radio commentator with 83 games. This would have been more were it not for his illness (which saw him miss the FA Cup Final) although I doubt it'd be more than 85-90 as that 83 was up two on the amount of matches he had covered the season before.
The closest national radio commentator to the amount of commentary games Green covered was Sam Matterface of talkSPORT with 75; the nearest on 5 Live being John Murray with 66. The only co-commentator to do more than 30 games on UK national radio last season was Stan Collymore (73). The only radio commentator I can think of who broke the 100 commentaries mark last season is Tom Ross, the lynchpin of the Orion Group's (BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Gold) coverage, who was often doing four or five games a week when the matches involving the five clubs his group cover were spread out over a number of days. He mentioned he had racked up his 100th game on a phone-in at the tail end of the season so I imagine he'd have ended up doing around 110 games in 2010/11.
Sad to hear about Peter Slater, I've always thought he is a very strong reporter, one of a dying breed of region-specific sports correspondents on 5 Live.
I'm hoping that he'll continue to report as a freelancer for 5 Live on Saturdays and busy midweek evenings. If not I'm not sure where he could move on too, seeing as the likes of talkSPORT (Graham Courtney), IRN (Alistair Ross) and Today FM (Bob Crosby) all have strong North-East correspondents. Perhaps he might pop up as a member of the Sky Sports News/Soccer Saturday team?
Going back to that Charles Sale article, I'd be interested to know which of 5 Live's commentators make up their "13-strong football division" they are supposedly looking to make five cuts from. Would reporters like Slater be included? Of the commentators themselves, I'd guess Green, Ingham, Murray, McNamara, Fletcher, Dennis, Oates, Adderley, Bruce-Ball, Ian Brown and Mike Sewell make up 11 of this 13 while Brotherton and Motson are classed as BBC TV contractors. Given their work elsewhere might Dave Woods and/or Roddy Forsyth be freelancers? And with her BBC News Channel and Football Focus, might Jacqui Oatley be considered part of the TV division instead of radio these days?
Elsewhere, according to Tom Ross on tonight's Friday Football Phone-In on Gold in the Midlands, the Orion Group's Goalzone strand is the most listened to sports coverage locally in the West Midlands according to the latest RAJAR figures, ergo they are outrating BBC WM Sport.
Agreed re. Slater. He goes back a long way too (certainly throughout the Five Live era) and I think he was on commercial radio about thirty years ago - did someone on here (Ian Fergus?) once say he was on Radio Orwell in Ipswich?
Adrian Durham presenting Matchday Live alongside Ray Houghton, followed by Premier League Live and Call Collymore from the Etihad Stadium
Premier League
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers - Ian Abrahams
Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers - Kev Lawrence
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Tony Incenzo
Stoke City v Sunderland - Geoff Peters
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Dave Rowe
Wigan Athletic v Everton - Simon Humphreys
Manchester City v Fulham - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (5.30pm commentary), with Dom McGuinness at pitchside and Carl Ralley producing
Championship
West Ham United v Millwall - Ian Danter
Brighton & Hove Albion v Leicester City - Andrew McKenna
Cardiff City v Blackpool - Roger Hughes
Coventry City v Ipswich Town - Grahame Lloyd
Middlesbrough v Crystal Palace - Graham Courtney
Birmingham City v Southampton - Jack Woodward
Cricket: Third Test Match
Pakistan v England - Jack Bannister
Rugby Union: Six Nations
France v Italy - Simon Ward
Scotland v England - Nick Heath
Absolute Radio 1215AM & Absolute Radio Extra
Russ Williams presenting Rock 'N' Roll Football Live alongside Perry Groves, followed by Ian Wright on the phone-in
Premier League
Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers - Jim Proudfoot and Stewart Robson (3pm commentary)
Today FM
Michael McMullan presenting Premier League Live with Mark Lawrenson between 2-3pm and Frank Stapleton (from the DW Stadium) for Live After Five
Premier League
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers - Graham Miller
Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers - Guy Swindells
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Ian Beach
Stoke City v Sunderland - Steve Roberts
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Alan Tolley
Wigan Athletic v Everton - Ron Jones and Frank Stapleton (3pm commentary)
BBC WM
Mark Regan presenting WM Sport from Loftus Road
Premier League
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Rob Gurney and Mark Regan (3pm commentary)
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Phil Cartwright, with Richie Anderson talking to the fans outside the Hawthorns
Championship
Birmingham City v Southampton - TBA (5.20pm commentary)
Beacon Radio (Black Country and Shropshire), Mercia and Gold (Birmingham, Black Country and Shropshire)
Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from the Hawthorns
Premier League
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Mikey Burrows and Matt Murray (3pm Beacon commentary)
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Tom Ross and Tony Brown (3pm Gold commentary)
Championship
Coventry City v Ipswich Town - Joe Holt and Dave Bennett (3pm Mercia commentary)
Birmingham City v Southampton - Steve Hermon and Darren Carter (5.20pm Gold Birmingham commentary)
Richard Gordon presenting Sportsound, with Chick Young.
Scottish Cup:
Inverness v Celtic (12.45) - David Begg, Murdo MacLeod and Charlie Christie (commentary) with Charlie Mann pitchside Aberdeen v Queen of the South - Scott Davie Hibernian v Kilmarnock - Allan Preston Motherwell v Morton - Billy Dodds St Mirren v Ross County - Derek Ferguson, with Chris McLaughlin doing interviews.
Premier League
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Rob Gurney and Mark Regan (3pm commentary)
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Phil Cartwright, with Richie Anderson talking to the fans outside the Hawthorns
Championship
Birmingham City v Southampton - TBA (5.20pm commentary)
WM's commentary team at St Andrew's is due to be Dan Wheeler and Richard Wilford, although as I type this they are saying that due to the snow there is a chance that the game might be called off.
West Bromwich Albion V Jackland - Simon Davies (host) Mark Poyser and Kevin Ratcliffe (SW FM)
Cardiff City V Blackpool - Rob Phillips and Jason Perry (SE FM)*
Bangor City V Prestatyn Town - Marc Lloyd Williams
Sale Sharks V Scarlets (LV= Cup RU) - Ion Thomas
Llanelli V Pontypool (Principality Premiership RU) - Alun Jenkins
* Not sure whether those in North Wales had full commentary on the game. AM / Digital TV/Radio certainly didn't
BBC Radio Cymru
Eleri Siôn studio host
West Bromwich Albion V Jackland - Daydd Roberts and Iwan Roberts (SW Wales commentary)
Cardiff City V Blackpool - Gareth Blainey and Osian Roberts (main commentary)
Bangor City V Prestatyn Town - Marc Lloyd Williams
Sale Sharks V Scarlets (LV= Cup RU) - Ion Thomas
Llanelli V Pontypool (Principality Premiership RU) - Alun Jenkins
BBC Radio Five Live Sports Xtra
Birmingham City V Southampton - Mike Sewell and Paul Jewell (can't remember who was there for 5 Live)
BFBS Radio
Queens Park Rangers V Wolverhampton Wanderers - Andrew Cheal (who told us that Chris Kamra was using a different sports reporters hat/scarf for whenever he appeard on Gilette Soccer Saturday)
Scotland V England (RBS 6 Nations RU) - Russell Hargreaves
BBC Radio Leeds, and the official website of Huddersfield Town host:Gareth Jones at the Galpharm Stadium
Huddersfield Town verses Milton Keynes Dons commentator:Paul Ogden summariser: Kieran O'Regan
Bristol City verses Leeds United reporter: Dave Callahan
Scotland V England (RBS 6 Nations RU) - Russell Hargreaves
A correction from earlier - Russell Hargreaves was reporting on the Scotland v England Six Nations game for talkSPORT (via Talking Rugby) rather than Nick Heath. Nick had tweeted earlier that he was covering the game but it transpires that rather than reporting on it for Talking Rugby he was commentating on highlights of the game for the official Six Nations and RFU websites.
For clarity on BBC WM's coverage of Birmingham City v Southampton, it was Dan Wheeler commentating with Richard Wilford co-commentating and presenting.
Hero of the day has to be Simon Humphreys. From listening to his first preview on Wigan Athletic v Everton for talkSPORT, it was painfully clear that he had the worst case of a sore throat I think I've ever heard on the radio yet he struggled through and somehow got to full-time without completely losing his voice. Good effort!
Ian Danter presenting Sunday Exclusive alongside Ray Houghton, followed by Call Collymore from St James' Park
Premier League
Newcastle United v Aston Villa - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (1.30pm commentary), with Graham Courtney at pitchside and Carl Ralley producing
Chelsea v Manchester United - Ian Abrahams
Cricket: Third Test Match
Pakistan v England - Jack Bannister
Rugby Union: Six Nations
Ireland v Wales - David Brady
Golf: Qatar Masters
Doha Golf Club - Rupert Bell
Geoff Peters would have reported on Derby County v Nottingham Forest in the Championship had it gone ahead.
BBC WM
Daz Hale presenting WM Sport from St James' Park
Premier League
Newcastle United v Aston Villa - Mike Taylor and Daz Hale (1.30pm commentary)
Gold (Birmingham)
Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from St James' Park
Premier League
Newcastle United v Aston Villa - Tom Ross and Pat Heard (1.30pm commentary)
Looks like The Goalzone has already been shifted from Orion's FM stations to Gold, as Phil Riley said would happen upon their rebrand to Free Radio in April, in all timeslots other than on Saturdays. Another note on The Goalzone from yesterday: while Tom presented the phone-ins on Beacon and Gold, David Francis hosted an opt-out phone-in specifically for Coventry City fans on Mercia.
Sportsound presented by Richard Gordon live from Tynecastle.
Commentary 12:15Rangers v. Dundee United - John Barnes, Craig Patterson and Billy Davis with Chick Young pitchside 14:15Hearts v. St Johnstone - Scott Davie, Steven Craigan and Allan Preston with Charlie Mann pitchside
Agreed re. Slater. He goes back a long way too (certainly throughout the Five Live era) and I think he was on commercial radio about thirty years ago - did someone on here (Ian Fergus?) once say he was on Radio Orwell in Ipswich?
Thirty years ago, on Saturday 6th February 1982 (when I lived in the Radio Orwell catchment area), Peter Slater was reporting on Liverpool v Ipswich. Previous to joining Radio Orwell, he was with Metro Radio in the North-East.
BBC Radio Five Live - Saturday Host Mark Pougatch Arsenal v Blackburn Ian Dennis, Alistair Bruce-Ball and Lee Dixon (commentary) Norwich v Bolton Simon Mann QPR v Wolves John Murray and Steve Claridge (commentary) Stoke v Sunderland ? WBA v Swansea Pat Murphy Wigan v Everton ? (I know that Peter Slater covered one of the Premier League games - can't remember which) Man City v Fulham Nigel Adderley (I think) Birmingham v Swansea Chris Dennis (with Mike Sewell, drafted in to replace Jacqui Oatley - ill, and Kevin Blackwell commentating on Sports Extra) Cardiff v Blackpool Andy Gillies (with Alistair Durden (replacing Mike Sewell - see above -and Chris Hargreaves commentating on Sports Extra) R/U: Scotland v England Alistair Eykyn, Ian Robertson with Gavin Hastings and Matt Dawson (commentary) - painful listening for me driving through the snow showers yesterday)
Can anybody confirm the other reporters please plus the IRN line-up?
BBC Radio Five Live - Sunday Newcastle v Aston Villa John Murray and Phil Brown Chelsea v Manchester United Mike Ingham, Alan Green and Danny Mills (commentary) Rangers v Dundee United Roddy Forsyth R/U: Ireland v Wales Andy Gillies (with commentary on Sports Extra by Conor McNamara, Rob Jones)
Comments
Freelance Green, whose Radio 5 Live commentary contract expires in July, was hoping to negotiate a deal for him to work on 100 games a season over the next two years.
But it is understood Green has had to settle for around 60 matches at a time when the cuts-ravaged Corporation are looking to lose five jobs from BBC Radio's football team.
The BBC will introduce one commentator per match for the 2012-2013 campaign, but Green and Mike Ingham will continue their partnership for England matches up to Brazil 2014.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2095147/Charles-Sale-Levy-axes-Spurs-commerce-chief.html#ixzz1lBGXVtys
Host Mark Pougatch with Martin Keown, David Pleat, Ian Dennis and Phil McNulty
Everton v Man City John Murray and Danny Mills (commentary) with Alistair Yeomans
Man Utd v Stoke Conor McNamara (with David Oates and Dean Kiely commentating on Sports Extra)
Swansea v Chelsea Alistair Bruce-Ball
Tottenham v Wigan Nigel Adderley
Wolves v Liverpool Pat Murphy
Ipswich v West Ham Steve May
Leeds v Birmingham Peter Slater
Southampton v Cardiff Andy Gillies
Ipswich v West Ham was the main commentary on BBC London (with Phil Parry commentating).
Mark Pougatch hosted Five Live on Wednesday with Steve Harper, Phil Brown and Mark Lawrenson
Slightly off-topic for the football thread, but it's heartening to see that the Rugby World Cup looks to have paid off for talkSPORT given the massive commitment they gave the tournament. It vindicates UTV Radio's decision to purchase rights and commit to as many hours of coverage as they did, as during the tournament there seemed to be a lot of cynics on here and elsewhere who had a strong belief that their coverage would prove to be bad for the station and a turn-off for listeners used to the station's normal predominantly football-based output. It is always nice to see talkSPORT proving the naysayers wrong.
That Moz Dee has chosen to lead with praise for the performance of the Rugby World Cup despite it being towards the back of the memory now and with them having football coverage to promote indicates that it was the success they are making it out to be rather than something they'd want to quietly move on from. Hopefully this will secure the future of the excellent Full Contact for many years to come and will lead to them making a serious bid for rights to next year's British & Irish Lions tour.
On Absolute, it's interesting that in the third paragraph of the article 4-4-2 has quoted that TIML are putting a significant 16.5% "seasonal dip" down to a lack of live Premier League commentaries. Given that their live football coverage only made up for five hours of their weekly output perhaps it would be surprising if it has had a huge impact across the board at the station, but nevertheless it shows that live football has brought an audience to Absolute and indicates that under their current management they are likely to be open to at least continuing their existing coverage come 2013.
Earlier this month, Absolute Radio re-signed Russ Williams, Jim Proudfoot and Ian Wright to new contracts and extended Wright's hours on Saturday, and while this story was put out there in a fairly quiet manner and seems to have gone largely unnoticed, it does underline how that station believes in their coverage and, barring TIML selling up to new management that are looking to give Absolute a significant change in direction, I see it continuing post 2013.
With Radio 5 Live, I think it's another case of their figures not being quite as bad as they seem due to having been disproportionately skewed in a past instance. I think the opening paragraph of the Media Guardian article make the figures sound a lot worse than they actually are. They may be the lowest since 2009 and we're now in 2012, but the reality to me seems to be that 5 Live's Q4 2010 numbers were disproportionately raised due to them carrying live coverage of The Ashes (I know I listened to a lot more 5 Live when they were carrying Test Match Special for the Boxing Day test than I normally would) and without this big event their Q4 2011 figures returned to the same kind of level they were at during Q4 2009.
That's not a surprise when you think about it and it's a similar situation to how 5 Live's Q2 2011 figures dropped year on year - this was surely a given seeing as Q2 2010 covered the bulk of a World Cup and a General Election. This is just another example of the appeal live sport on 5 Live holds to its audience.
A couple of key points from the piece about Richard Keys and Andy Gray:
I think it was said in the Euro 2012 press release that Keys and Gray would be involved with their coverage - I'd imagine Gray will be one of the co-commentators in Poland and Ukraine for talkSPORT.
Andy Gray will be talkSPORT's co-commentator for AC Milan v Arsenal.
Brian Moore will be alongside Richard Keys on the morning show - with Gray live from Italy.
Ah this should be great radio, I love Mooro when he's let off the leish!
An interesting development, with a key point not be overlooked being that talkSPORT will be broadcasting their commentary from the San Siro rather than off-tubing as they have often done for European away games in recent seasons. This is a massively positive step and it's good to see them investing in this area.
In which case, I wonder who'll be working alongside Andy Gray on commentary? You would imagine travelling to Milan would preclude Sam Matterface from working on ITV's Champions League and Europa League coverage that week. If not Sam then it's unlikely to be Ian Danter with his UEFA.com commitments.
It'll be interesting to find out whether this came about at least partially because Stan Collymore is travelling to Amsterdam for Channel 5's coverage of Ajax v Manchester United the following day - it'll be interesting to see if their presentation is done on-site - and talkSPORT took an opportunity to use Gray in this role due to Stan not being available. We will undoubtedly hear two other co-commentators - most probably the likes of Alvin Martin and Ray Houghton - doing talkSPORT's Europa League double header the following day.
Good timing as well for them to get Brian Moore back into the studio, what with that week being in the middle of the Six Nations.
I think one of the problem with using Andy as a co-commentator up until now will presumably be contractual. I'd be highly surprised if the new contract Stan Collymore signed during the 2010 World Cup (which keeps him at the station until 2013) doesn't include assurances that in theory would prevent him from being usurped as talkSPORT's co-commentator on Premier League matches.
Of course Champions League and Europa League matches are different with the rights being purchased on a one-off game basis or as part of a season-long deal at the start of each European campaign. As such, Stan's contract probably does not tie him into doing European co-commentaries in the same way it might state that he expects to do X amount of their 64 Premier League commentaries each season as part of his agreement with the station.
Similarly this could be the case at Euro 2012. As rights were only secured relatively recently, talkSPORT may have room to use Gray and bring in another commentator (potentially someone from TV?) to use as their main pairing ahead of Sam and Stan. In any event, due to the amount of games that will need to be covered it's likely that Andy will be in Poland or Ukraine as part of their commentary team. It could be that Mark Saggers (or Ray Stubbs), Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore are their team with England in Ukraine with Richard Keys, Andy Gray and another commentator leading the Polish leg of their coverage.
What I think would be a sensible move from here on in, should Keys and Gray be willing to take the commitment on, would be to make them the regular studio team on Sunday Exclusive. Since Neil Warnock left his role on this show at the end of last season, their presentation of the Sunday matches has been a bit of a mix and match. Some weeks Alan Brazil presents, other weeks it's Ian Danter or Adrian Durham or Georgie Bingham and it's a similar random cycle of regulars when it comes to the pundits.
Having Keys and Gray in the studio for Sunday Exclusive most weeks would give their live coverage that extra bit of star power and would show that they can co-exist with Stan Collymore, as Sam and Stan would presumably be able to continue as the commentary team on matches in this timeslot.
On the subject of contractual issues, the 100 commentaries a season Alan Green is reported to have requested does seem a tad excessive and unrealistic given the planned changes to BBC Radio 5 Live's commentary setup. Going back to last season's thread and the stats Shaun_D provided, Green did the largest amount of commentaries of any national radio commentator with 83 games. This would have been more were it not for his illness (which saw him miss the FA Cup Final) although I doubt it'd be more than 85-90 as that 83 was up two on the amount of matches he had covered the season before.
The closest national radio commentator to the amount of commentary games Green covered was Sam Matterface of talkSPORT with 75; the nearest on 5 Live being John Murray with 66. The only co-commentator to do more than 30 games on UK national radio last season was Stan Collymore (73). The only radio commentator I can think of who broke the 100 commentaries mark last season is Tom Ross, the lynchpin of the Orion Group's (BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Gold) coverage, who was often doing four or five games a week when the matches involving the five clubs his group cover were spread out over a number of days. He mentioned he had racked up his 100th game on a phone-in at the tail end of the season so I imagine he'd have ended up doing around 110 games in 2010/11.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2095694/Aston-Villa-Wigan-baffled-lack-trial-TV-Charles-Sale.html
I'm hoping that he'll continue to report as a freelancer for 5 Live on Saturdays and busy midweek evenings. If not I'm not sure where he could move on too, seeing as the likes of talkSPORT (Graham Courtney), IRN (Alistair Ross) and Today FM (Bob Crosby) all have strong North-East correspondents. Perhaps he might pop up as a member of the Sky Sports News/Soccer Saturday team?
Going back to that Charles Sale article, I'd be interested to know which of 5 Live's commentators make up their "13-strong football division" they are supposedly looking to make five cuts from. Would reporters like Slater be included? Of the commentators themselves, I'd guess Green, Ingham, Murray, McNamara, Fletcher, Dennis, Oates, Adderley, Bruce-Ball, Ian Brown and Mike Sewell make up 11 of this 13 while Brotherton and Motson are classed as BBC TV contractors. Given their work elsewhere might Dave Woods and/or Roddy Forsyth be freelancers? And with her BBC News Channel and Football Focus, might Jacqui Oatley be considered part of the TV division instead of radio these days?
Elsewhere, according to Tom Ross on tonight's Friday Football Phone-In on Gold in the Midlands, the Orion Group's Goalzone strand is the most listened to sports coverage locally in the West Midlands according to the latest RAJAR figures, ergo they are outrating BBC WM Sport.
Adrian Durham presenting Matchday Live alongside Ray Houghton, followed by Premier League Live and Call Collymore from the Etihad Stadium
Premier League
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers - Ian Abrahams
Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers - Kev Lawrence
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Tony Incenzo
Stoke City v Sunderland - Geoff Peters
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Dave Rowe
Wigan Athletic v Everton - Simon Humphreys
Manchester City v Fulham - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (5.30pm commentary), with Dom McGuinness at pitchside and Carl Ralley producing
Championship
West Ham United v Millwall - Ian Danter
Brighton & Hove Albion v Leicester City - Andrew McKenna
Cardiff City v Blackpool - Roger Hughes
Coventry City v Ipswich Town - Grahame Lloyd
Middlesbrough v Crystal Palace - Graham Courtney
Birmingham City v Southampton - Jack Woodward
Cricket: Third Test Match
Pakistan v England - Jack Bannister
Rugby Union: Six Nations
France v Italy - Simon Ward
Scotland v England - Nick Heath
Absolute Radio 1215AM & Absolute Radio Extra
Russ Williams presenting Rock 'N' Roll Football Live alongside Perry Groves, followed by Ian Wright on the phone-in
Premier League
Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers - Jim Proudfoot and Stewart Robson (3pm commentary)
Today FM
Michael McMullan presenting Premier League Live with Mark Lawrenson between 2-3pm and Frank Stapleton (from the DW Stadium) for Live After Five
Premier League
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers - Graham Miller
Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers - Guy Swindells
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Ian Beach
Stoke City v Sunderland - Steve Roberts
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Alan Tolley
Wigan Athletic v Everton - Ron Jones and Frank Stapleton (3pm commentary)
BBC WM
Mark Regan presenting WM Sport from Loftus Road
Premier League
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Rob Gurney and Mark Regan (3pm commentary)
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Phil Cartwright, with Richie Anderson talking to the fans outside the Hawthorns
Championship
Birmingham City v Southampton - TBA (5.20pm commentary)
Beacon Radio (Black Country and Shropshire), Mercia and Gold (Birmingham, Black Country and Shropshire)
Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from the Hawthorns
Premier League
Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Mikey Burrows and Matt Murray (3pm Beacon commentary)
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City - Tom Ross and Tony Brown (3pm Gold commentary)
Championship
Coventry City v Ipswich Town - Joe Holt and Dave Bennett (3pm Mercia commentary)
Birmingham City v Southampton - Steve Hermon and Darren Carter (5.20pm Gold Birmingham commentary)
Richard Gordon presenting Sportsound, with Chick Young.
Scottish Cup:
Inverness v Celtic (12.45) - David Begg, Murdo MacLeod and Charlie Christie (commentary) with Charlie Mann pitchside
Aberdeen v Queen of the South - Scott Davie
Hibernian v Kilmarnock - Allan Preston
Motherwell v Morton - Billy Dodds
St Mirren v Ross County - Derek Ferguson, with Chris McLaughlin doing interviews.
Bristol City v Leeds United DAB 1548MW and 94:9FM
Bristol City Fan and Supporter Brendon Mitchell as radio commentator with former Bristol City player Scott Murray as summeriser
Sheff Wednesday v Yeovil Ed hadwin as radio commentator and Chris Spittles as summeriser on 95:5FM
WM's commentary team at St Andrew's is due to be Dan Wheeler and Richard Wilford, although as I type this they are saying that due to the snow there is a chance that the game might be called off.
Scotland v England - Bill Johnstone, John Beattie, Peter Wright and Rory Lawson (commentary)
West Bromwich Albion V Jackland - Simon Davies (host) Mark Poyser and Kevin Ratcliffe (SW FM)
Cardiff City V Blackpool - Rob Phillips and Jason Perry (SE FM)*
Bangor City V Prestatyn Town - Marc Lloyd Williams
Sale Sharks V Scarlets (LV= Cup RU) - Ion Thomas
Llanelli V Pontypool (Principality Premiership RU) - Alun Jenkins
* Not sure whether those in North Wales had full commentary on the game. AM / Digital TV/Radio certainly didn't
BBC Radio Cymru
Eleri Siôn studio host
West Bromwich Albion V Jackland - Daydd Roberts and Iwan Roberts (SW Wales commentary)
Cardiff City V Blackpool - Gareth Blainey and Osian Roberts (main commentary)
Bangor City V Prestatyn Town - Marc Lloyd Williams
Sale Sharks V Scarlets (LV= Cup RU) - Ion Thomas
Llanelli V Pontypool (Principality Premiership RU) - Alun Jenkins
BBC Radio Five Live Sports Xtra
Birmingham City V Southampton - Mike Sewell and Paul Jewell (can't remember who was there for 5 Live)
BFBS Radio
Queens Park Rangers V Wolverhampton Wanderers - Andrew Cheal (who told us that Chris Kamra was using a different sports reporters hat/scarf for whenever he appeard on Gilette Soccer Saturday)
Scotland V England (RBS 6 Nations RU) - Russell Hargreaves
host: Gareth Jones at the Galpharm Stadium
Huddersfield Town verses Milton Keynes Dons
commentator: Paul Ogden
summariser: Kieran O'Regan
Bristol City verses Leeds United
reporter: Dave Callahan
A correction from earlier - Russell Hargreaves was reporting on the Scotland v England Six Nations game for talkSPORT (via Talking Rugby) rather than Nick Heath. Nick had tweeted earlier that he was covering the game but it transpires that rather than reporting on it for Talking Rugby he was commentating on highlights of the game for the official Six Nations and RFU websites.
For clarity on BBC WM's coverage of Birmingham City v Southampton, it was Dan Wheeler commentating with Richard Wilford co-commentating and presenting.
Hero of the day has to be Simon Humphreys. From listening to his first preview on Wigan Athletic v Everton for talkSPORT, it was painfully clear that he had the worst case of a sore throat I think I've ever heard on the radio yet he struggled through and somehow got to full-time without completely losing his voice. Good effort!
Ian Danter presenting Sunday Exclusive alongside Ray Houghton, followed by Call Collymore from St James' Park
Premier League
Newcastle United v Aston Villa - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (1.30pm commentary), with Graham Courtney at pitchside and Carl Ralley producing
Chelsea v Manchester United - Ian Abrahams
Cricket: Third Test Match
Pakistan v England - Jack Bannister
Rugby Union: Six Nations
Ireland v Wales - David Brady
Golf: Qatar Masters
Doha Golf Club - Rupert Bell
Geoff Peters would have reported on Derby County v Nottingham Forest in the Championship had it gone ahead.
BBC WM
Daz Hale presenting WM Sport from St James' Park
Premier League
Newcastle United v Aston Villa - Mike Taylor and Daz Hale (1.30pm commentary)
Gold (Birmingham)
Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from St James' Park
Premier League
Newcastle United v Aston Villa - Tom Ross and Pat Heard (1.30pm commentary)
Looks like The Goalzone has already been shifted from Orion's FM stations to Gold, as Phil Riley said would happen upon their rebrand to Free Radio in April, in all timeslots other than on Saturdays. Another note on The Goalzone from yesterday: while Tom presented the phone-ins on Beacon and Gold, David Francis hosted an opt-out phone-in specifically for Coventry City fans on Mercia.
Sportsound presented by Richard Gordon live from Tynecastle.
Commentary
12:15 Rangers v. Dundee United - John Barnes, Craig Patterson and Billy Davis with Chick Young pitchside
14:15 Hearts v. St Johnstone - Scott Davie, Steven Craigan and Allan Preston with Charlie Mann pitchside
Charles Dagnall presenting BBC Radio Leicester Sport from Welford Road.
Championship
Brighton v Leicester City - Ian Stringer and Alan Young (FM commentary)
LV= Cup: Pool Stage
Leicester Tigers v Newcastle - Charles Dagnall and Bleddyn Jones (DAB commentary)
Six Nations
France v Italy - Simon Ward
Scotland v England - Christopher Jones
Host Mark Pougatch
Arsenal v Blackburn Ian Dennis, Alistair Bruce-Ball and Lee Dixon (commentary)
Norwich v Bolton Simon Mann
QPR v Wolves John Murray and Steve Claridge (commentary)
Stoke v Sunderland ?
WBA v Swansea Pat Murphy
Wigan v Everton ? (I know that Peter Slater covered one of the Premier League games - can't remember which)
Man City v Fulham Nigel Adderley (I think)
Birmingham v Swansea Chris Dennis (with Mike Sewell, drafted in to replace Jacqui Oatley - ill, and Kevin Blackwell commentating on Sports Extra)
Cardiff v Blackpool Andy Gillies (with Alistair Durden (replacing Mike Sewell - see above -and Chris Hargreaves commentating on Sports Extra)
R/U: Scotland v England Alistair Eykyn, Ian Robertson with Gavin Hastings and Matt Dawson (commentary) - painful listening for me driving through the snow showers yesterday)
Can anybody confirm the other reporters please plus the IRN line-up?
BBC Radio Five Live - Sunday
Newcastle v Aston Villa John Murray and Phil Brown
Chelsea v Manchester United Mike Ingham, Alan Green and Danny Mills (commentary)
Rangers v Dundee United Roddy Forsyth
R/U: Ireland v Wales Andy Gillies (with commentary on Sports Extra by Conor McNamara, Rob Jones)