I have to say I didn't hear reports from the other grounds during either BBC Radio Five Live (and Sports Extra) or BBC World Service yesterday.
I was listening to Five Live between 2.30 and three o'clock and they were going round the grounds during the golf - Will Perry was at West Ham I think, Alistair Yeomans and John Southall were, er, somewhere else and they had others all over the place. As I say, they were only on Five Live, though, not Sports Extra. Ian Dennis also said that the World Service would be joining them, rather than Five Live, for the second half so you wouldn't have heard them there either.
Mark Saggers presenting Sunday Exclusive and The Full Time Phone-In from White Hart Lane alongside Ray Houghton
Premier League
Manchester United v Stoke City - Sam Matterface and Danny Higginbotham (12noon commentary), with Dom McGuinness at pitchside
Leicester City v Southampton - Geoff Peters
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - Jim Proudfoot and Ray Houghton (2.15pm commentary), with James Dodd producing and conducting post-match interviews
Burnley v Arsenal - Graham Beecroft
Formula 1: Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang International Circuit - Graham Courtney
Golf: The Ryder Cup 2016
Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minnesota - Rupert Bell and Bob Bubka
talkSPORT Live
Premier League
Manchester United v Stoke City - Phil Blacker and Chris Iwelumo
Leicester City v Southampton - Glenn Wheeler
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - Alex Crook and Steve Lomas (featured 2.15pm commentary on international radio stations)
Burnley v Arsenal - Tim Long and Rohan Ricketts
Bundesliga
VfL Wolfsburg v Mainz 05 - Joe Shennan
Schalke 04 v Borussia Monchengladbach - Kevin Hatchard
Two talkSPORT Live debuts today - for Glenn Wheeler (a new name to me, Twitter tells me he's a recent graduate who's done bits for ITN, West Ham United and Norwich City) and Rohan Ricketts.
Newstalk 106-108FM
Joe Molloy presenting Off The Ball alongside Richie McCormack
Premier League
Manchester United v Stoke City - Dave McIntyre and Andy Reid (12noon commentary)
Leicester City v Southampton - Shane Pinnington (as IRN)
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - Bernard O'Toole and Gary Breen (2.15pm commentary)
Burnley v Arsenal - Peter Smith (as IRN)
La Liga Live presented by Will Gavin (11am-1pm) and Dan Windle (7-10pm)
La Liga
Valencia v Atletico Madrid - Alex Crook and Chris Perry (11am commentary)
Celta Vigo v Barcelona - Tim Long and Adam Virgo (7.45pm commentary)
In between those games:
Andrew McKenna presented Aviva Premiership Live and The Rugby Show from the Ricoh Arena
Rugby Union: Premiership
Wasps v Harlequins - Andrew McKenna and Glenn Delaney (2.30pm commentary)
American Football: NFL International Series
Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Will Gavin
Will Gavin picked up presentation at the end of the early La Liga game from Wembley Stadium, where he was for the NFL International Series game and to host talkSPORT Today from 1pm. He was studio-based to host this morning's Sportsday, so he may have linked into the commentary from 11am before moving across town, although I wasn't listening at that point.
Jim White with Jim, Dean Ashton and Matt Scott from Inside World Football
FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round Draw
talkSPORT Towers - Jim White presented, with Dean Ashton and Jeff Mostyn drawing the home and away teams respectively
The draw took place just after the 11.30am news this morning if anyone wants to catch it on Listen Again, with them doing the northern section before the 11.45am commercial break and the southern section after it. The draw took place about an hour later than most expected it, but then for most of the first half hour they were taking audio from Gareth Southgate's first press conference as England manager.
Jim played it pretty straight, he didn't have the boundless enthusiasm about non-league football that Colin Murray also used to have in the years he brought this draw to the radio, but he handled it professionally with a good set of stats about the teams as they were drawn of the type those presenting FA Cup draws on TV always do. Regardless, it's always nice to hear non-league football getting half an hour of national radio devoted to it in order to broadcast this draw - well done talkSPORT for getting it on the airwaves.
Mike Taylor presented BBC WM 95.6 Sport from Bramall Lane
Devalued Trophy Group Stage
Crewe Alexandra v Wolverhampton Wanderers Youth - Mikey Burrows
Luton Town v West Bromwich Albion Youth - Rob Gurney
Sheffield United v Walsall - Mike Taylor (7.45pm commentary)
Not only did Mike Taylor anchor the show, he also flew solo for Walsall commentary as they didn't have a summariser at Bramall Lane. With both of the games involving youth teams from the region kicking off at 7.30pm, they took commentary from Luton on roughly the first 15 minutes of each half. With none of the games going to a penalty shootout, the programme ended at the conclusion of the Walsall game at around 9.40pm, with them joining the end of Mark Forrest's networked show in progress.
He's done bits for WM for just over a year now, but hearing Mikey Burrows covering a Wolves game (of sorts) for them is notable given that he is Signal 107's regular commentator on the club. However, neither Signal nor Wolves Player (which simulcasts their The Big Match broadcasts) was covering the game at Crewe tonight, so he was available to cover it for WM. Likewise, Albion Player didn't cover the game at Luton, while Mick Kearns wasn't at Bramall Lane to co-commentate on Walsall for Saddlers Player as he usually does - instead Dale Moon was joined by James Brackpool, who is the producer of the Saddlers TV show on Big Centre TV (indeed he and Dale were there to film some footage for next week's edition of said show).
Mikey is not the only regular from a Wireless Group-owned station to appear on BBC WM this week - last night, Midlands-based talkSPORT football correspondent and freelance speedway commentator Dave Rowe was WM's pitlane reporter during their coverage of the first leg of the Elite League Grand Final between Wolverhampton Wolves and Belle Vue Aces. Mike Taylor, who presented and commentated on that as well, mentioned that it was the first time Dave has been involved in their speedway coverage.
While WM was covering the speedway on their DAB, Freeview and online platforms last night, 95.6FM was carrying a special extra hour to The West Midlands Football Phone-In reacting to the sacking of Robert Di Matteo as Aston Villa manager with Richard Wilford and Garry Thompson from 7pm. Between 6-7pm, Richard was chairing a special phone-in with Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett - he'd been due to make a guest appearance on yesterday's show for a few weeks, sod's law the day he was booked for would be the day Villa sack their manager!
With Walsall's league game at Sheffield United having been postponed due to international call-ups, BBC WM will be doing commentary on Aldershot Town v Solihull Moors from the National League on Saturday instead. Shame they didn't have a reporter at Moors' first ever televised game, at home to Southport, tonight - it wouldn't surprise me if there was more interest in that fixture than there is in the Trophy games involving youth teams.
BBC Radio 5 Live Commentaries First-Round of the Double-Header World Cup Qualifiers
Tonight (Thurs 6th Oct)
Austria v WALES (7:45pm) - Ian Brown and John Hartson
Saturday 8th October
ENGLAND v Malta (5pm) - John Murray, Ian Dennis, Chris Waddle & Danny Mills
SCOTLAND v Lithuania (7:45pm) - Conor McNamara and Pat Nevin
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: International Special
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Austria v Wales - Nigel Adderley and Danny Gabbidon (7.45pm commentary)
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - David Brady
UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifying Group 9
Kazakhstan Under-21s v England Under-21s - Graham Courtney
On Sunday night, talkSPORT 2 has commentary on Moldova v Republic of Ireland. talkSPORT.com 's schedule for Tuesday hasn't been properly updated yet, but I expect they'll probably have commentary on Slovenia v England.
Looking ahead to club matters, talkSPORT 2's next Premier League commentary on Saturday week is Arsenal v Swansea City. In Champions League and Europa League action, it'll be Bayer Leverkusen v Tottenham Hotspur (Tuesday 18th), Barcelona v Manchester City (Wed 19th - talkSPORT), Bayern v PSV (Wed 19th - talkSPORT 2) and Inter v Southampton (Thurs 20th). Their EFL Cup Fourth Round commentary game is Manchester United v Manchester City, with Sam Matterface mentioning in a recent commentary that he and Danny Higginbotham will be covering that one.
To alert any cricket fans reading this to a last minute deal, talkSPORT 2 have today secured rights to England's three-match One-Day International series in Bangladesh, which begins tomorrow at 9am. The BBC have rights to the whole series but (I'm guessing due to security concerns) have decided against covering the one-dayers, so talkSPORT 2 have stepped in.
BBC Radio 5 Live Commentaries First-Round of the Double-Header World Cup Qualifiers
Tonight (Thurs 6th Oct)
Austria v WALES (7:45pm) - Ian Brown and John Hartson
Saturday 8th October
ENGLAND v Malta (5pm) - John Murray, Ian Dennis, Chris Waddle & Danny Mills
SCOTLAND v Lithuania (7:45pm) - Conor McNamara and Pat Nevin
Second-Round of the Double-Header World Cup Qualifiers
Sunday 9th October
WALES v Georgia - Ian Brown and John Hartson
The top brass at talkSPORT remain bemused by controversial football pundit Stan Collymore's insistence he left the radio station on a point of principle after they were bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
The broadcaster were at breaking point with Collymore — and decided not to renew his contract — after his nuclear fall-outs with colleagues at Euro 2016, which followed unacceptable confrontations at other tournaments.
If Charles Sale really does have contacts high up at talkSPORT, and is reporting truthfully, Stan Collymore sure is a tit, this whole " i boycotted talkSPORT because of Murdoch" business is looking like somewhat of a smokescreen.
Peterborough United v Bury - Ian Cheeseman and John McGinlay - 12.0 FM commentary
Swindon Town v Bolton Wanderers - Jack Dearden and Alan Gowling - 1.0 commentary - 1st half on DAB and 2nd on both
Rochdale v Southend United - Phil Kinsella - 3.0 commentary
Gillingham v Oldham Athletic - Alan Seabrook - 3.0 reports
Doncaster Rovers v Barnet was the only game involving South Yorkshire/North Derbyshire Sides.
Mike Miney was Commentator alongside Micky Walker on all Frequencies.
Between 14:00 and 15:00, Rob Staton was in the Studio, anchoring. Between 17:00 and 18:00, there was a replay of the Non-League Special aired on Thursdays Football Heaven
Presented by Richard Gordon from the studio, with Chick Young (2pm-5.30pm), then from Hampden Park with Tom English (810MW, 7.05pm-10pm).
World Cup Qualifying - Group F Scotland v Lithuania (7.45pm) - Liam McLeod, Willie Miller and Steven Thompson (commentary) Slovenia v Slovakia (7.45pm) - Alasdair Lamont
"Scottish" Challenge Cup - 4th round Hibernian v St Mirren - Rob Maclean, Craig Paterson and Alex Rae (commentary) with Brian McLaughlin pitchside Dunfermline Athletic v Queen's Park - Allan Preston Forfar Athletic v The New Saints* - Paul Mitchell Stranraer v Dundee Utd (2pm) - Bruce McKenzie
Ian Danter presented Matchday Live from Huish Park with Alvin Martin at the Priestfield Stadium (2-5.30pm), then Adrian Durham presented Super League Live from Old Trafford alongside Paul Cooke and Michael Shenton (5.30-8pm), followed by The Football Phone-In with Danny Kelly and Clive Allen (8-10pm)
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group F
England v Malta - Ian Abrahams
Scotland v Lithuania - Nigel Pearson
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group C
Northern Ireland v San Marino - Graham Courtney
League One
Peterborough United v Bury - Kev Lawrence
Bradford City v Shrewsbury Town - Naz Premji
Gillingham v Oldham Athletic - Chris Parrott and Alvin Martin
Scunthorpe United v Northampton Town - Nick Walsh
League Two
Blackpool v Cambridge United - Graham Beecroft
Doncaster Rovers v Barnet - Alan Biggs
Stevenage v Plymouth Argyle - Tony Incenzo
Yeovil Town v Wycombe Wanderers - Laurence Mora and Ian Danter
Rugby League: Super League Grand Final
Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - Mark Wilson, Michael Shenton and Paul Cooke (6pm commentary)
Rugby Union: Premiership
Bath v Sale Sharks (Friday) - Nick Heath
Leicester Tigers v Worcester Warriors - Hamish Stuart
Horse Racing: Dewhurst Stakes
Newmarket Racecourse - Rupert Bell
Good to hear a lower league Around the Grounds show this afternoon, these programmes are always enjoyable listens on international Saturdays. It was mentioned that Alvin Martin was originally going to be at Coventry City v Chesterfield before that game was postponed due to international call-ups.
Credit to talkSPORT for doing these shows and also for prioritising commentary on the Super League Grand Final on their main station, when it would have been easy to keep coverage on talkSPORT 2 and prioritise rolling updates and chat about England. I dare say by doing this they encouraged Radio 5 Live into prioritising the second half on their main station rather than doing 606 instead. Changing codes, talkSPORT 2 had commentary on Harlequins v Northampton Saints on Matchday Live 2 with Russell Hargreaves and Tom May. Also on said station, Tom Rennie presented a lower league edition of The Full Time Phone-In between 5-7pm before Danny Kelly and Clive Allen took over to do the first of their three hours.
BBC WM 95.6
Mike Taylor presented BBC WM 95.6 Sport from the Recreation Ground
National League
Aldershot Town v Solihull Moors - Rob Gurney and Mike Taylor (3pm commentary)
Northern League Premier Division
Halesowen Town v Ashton United - Tom Marlow
Rushall Olympic v Hednesford Town - Steve Hermon
It was a bit of a smaller scale non-league Saturday for BBC WM in the absence of any of their league clubs playing with just the three games covered, as on previous international Saturdays they've had correspondents at 6-8 matches. Unfortunately for them, their only National League North team Tamworth had a long-distance away game at Gainsborough Trinity, similarly Northern Premier Stourbridge were at Marine. Sutton Coldfield Town, from the same division, were at home to Frickley and could have been covered. All of the other local-ish teams in the top three tiers of the pyramid - Kidderminster, Worcester, Telford, Nuneaton, Leamington and Redditch - are at least nominally covered by neighbouring BBC Local Radio stations.
Hopefully WM will have reporters covering their two remaining non-league clubs in the FA Cup, Solihull Moors and Stourbridge, in their Fourth Qualifying Round matches next Saturday. With Aston Villa facing Wolves in a late kick-off that day and Birmingham playing on Friday night, they'll be more space to incorporate updates on those two games into their Walsall and West Brom coverage.
The 5Live schedules always had the second half of the RL down, but as you say, the stations could have influenced each other
I'm not sure how long constitutes "always" as far as Radio 5 Live are concerned, but talkSPORT were listed as doing commentary on the Super League Grand Final on their primary channel at least a couple of weeks ago. So I doubt it was a case of 5 Live influencing talkSPORT, as welcome as their call was.
I bring up the possibility that the BBC may have prioritised the Grand Final after learning what talkSPORT were planning as 5 Live hasn't got a great track record when it comes to putting the final ahead of live football or even 606 in previous years. Also, during the Easter weekend international break last season, Radio 5 Live were originally listed to be providing Saturday afternoon commentary on a Premiership rugby union match, only to switch their plans to relaying Radio 5 Live Sports Extra's commentary on an England World Twenty20 match after talkSPORT announced they would be broadcasting said match on their primary channel rather than talkSPORT 2. So 5 Live have form when it comes to mirroring talkSPORT's output on these occasions, and if the commercial station's call to focus on the Grand Final rather than England chat prompted them to carry the second half from Old Trafford then that can only be a good thing in this instance.
"Scottish" Challenge Cup - 4th round Forfar Athletic v The New Saints* - Paul Mitchell
*Yes, you did read that correctly...
At the risk of veering wildly off-topic, how have the changes to the Scottish Challenge Cup gone down in Scotland?
As you probably know, the introduction of Premier League and Championship youth teams to the Football League Trophy have gone down like a lead balloon in England and Wales, yet I've heard very little discussion about the changes to the Scottish equivalent. For me, the introduction of the top two teams from Wales and Northern Ireland's domestic leagues sounds like a novel experiment, something very different that will see how teams from these nations measure up against SPFL clubs. I'm one of those who don't mind the EFL Trophy's new group stage format, but would have much preferred the 16 additional teams to have come from the National League. Saying that, I would be very unhappy about the introduction of Premiership youth teams to the competition if the Challenge Cup was my club's best route to Hampden Park. Yet it doesn't appear as if fans of clubs from the former SFL divisions have kicked up the same kind of fuss about this change to the one those of us in England and Wales have when it comes to the devaluing of the EFL Trophy.
Jason Cundy presented The Clash of the Titans alongside Alvin Martin, Stewart Robson and Mike Parry, followed by The Press Pass with Ray Stubbs, Michael Calvin and Tom Collomosse then Trans Europe Express with Danny Kelly and Andy Brassell
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Wales v Georgia - Laurence Mora
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - David Brady
Cricket: Second One-Day International
Bangladesh v England - Jon Norman
Rugby Union: Premiership
Saracens v Wasps - Russell Hargreaves
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka International Racing Course - Graham Courtney
talkSPORT 2
Dan Windle presented International Football Live
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - Tim Long and Alan McLoughlin (7.45pm commentary)
Earlier in the day:
Will Gavin presented International Cricket Live
Cricket: Second One-Day International
Bangladesh v England - Andrew McKenna, Phil Walker, Steve Harmison and Mike Selvey (9.30am BST commentary)
Russell Hargreaves presented The Rugby Show from Allianz Park
Rugby Union: Premiership
Saracens v Wasps - Russell Hargreaves and Gary Street
talkSPORT 2 were hoping to provide commentary on at least part of today's Premiership game, which was going to be fully live until they picked up rights to England's ODI series in Bangladesh. Instead, with the cricket ending after 5pm they just had a truncated Rugby Show from Allianz Park between 5.15-6pm. This enabled Russ to provide reports into talkSPORT's Clash of the Titans and going by the edit on the post-match talkSPORT Today section of their Republic of Ireland coverage, Russ and Gary did an off-air commentary that is scheduled to go out overnight.
As for the cricket, the same commentary team as the one listed above commentated on Friday's First ODI for talkSPORT 2, although Russell Hargreaves handled the presentation during the break between innings that day. Over on talkSPORT, Cricket Week host Jon Norman has reported on both ODIs.
Hugh Cahill presented Game On from the Aviva Stadium alongside Pat Fenlon and Johnny McDonnell
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Adrian Eames and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
Newstalk 106-108FM
Ger Gilroy presented Off The Ball from the Aviva Stadium alongside Andy Reid, Stephen O'Donnell and Paul Kimmage
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Dave McIntyre and Andy Reid (7.45pm commentary)
Today FM carried updates on Republic of Ireland v Georgia from Philip Egan during Ross Lindsay's sports bulletins.
Sunday 9th October - RTE Radio 1
Damien O'Meara presented a Sunday Sport Special from the studio alongside Pat Fenlon and Mark Kinsella
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - Adrian Eames and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
This programme hasn't been uploaded to the RTE Radio Player (only the earlier edition of Sunday Sport), so I'm going by Damien's Twitter account for the details. Neither Newstalk 106-108FM nor Today FM provided coverage of Moldova v Republic of Ireland last night.
Hugh Cahill presented Game On from the Aviva Stadium alongside Pat Fenlon and Johnny McDonnell
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Adrian Eames and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
Newstalk 106-108FM
Ger Gilroy presented Off The Ball from the Aviva Stadium alongside Andy Reid, Stephen O'Donnell and Paul Kimmage
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Dave McIntyre and Andy Reid (7.45pm commentary)
Today FM carried updates on Republic of Ireland v Georgia from Philip Egan during Ross Lindsay's sports bulletins.
Sunday 9th October - RTE Radio 1
Damien O'Meara presented a Sunday Sport Special from the studio alongside Pat Fenlon and Mark Kinsella
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - Adrian Eames and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
This programme hasn't been uploaded to the RTE Radio Player (only the earlier edition of Sunday Sport), so I'm going by Damien's Twitter account for the details. Neither Newstalk 106-108FM nor Today FM provided coverage of Moldova v Republic of Ireland last night.
Dave McIntyre was certainly at the game in Moldova.
At the risk of veering wildly off-topic, how have the changes to the Scottish Challenge Cup gone down in Scotland?
As you probably know, the introduction of Premier League and Championship youth teams to the Football League Trophy have gone down like a lead balloon in England and Wales, yet I've heard very little discussion about the changes to the Scottish equivalent. For me, the introduction of the top two teams from Wales and Northern Ireland's domestic leagues sounds like a novel experiment, something very different that will see how teams from these nations measure up against SPFL clubs. I'm one of those who don't mind the EFL Trophy's new group stage format, but would have much preferred the 16 additional teams to have come from the National League. Saying that, I would be very unhappy about the introduction of Premiership youth teams to the competition if the Challenge Cup was my club's best route to Hampden Park. Yet it doesn't appear as if fans of clubs from the former SFL divisions have kicked up the same kind of fuss about this change to the one those of us in England and Wales have when it comes to the devaluing of the EFL Trophy.
The inclusion of teams from the other Celtic Nations has gone down reasonably well, because it now represents a realistic chance of a "European" tie for teams that haven't a hope of reaching any of the UEFA competitions.
However, the Premiership U-20 teams went down like a lead balloon. There was a farcical situation in the first round where Arbroath travelled up to Inverness to face their first team in the League Cup on the Saturday, then their U-20s in the Challenge Cup on the Tuesday.
In general, I think most lower league teams have enough to see off most Premiership U-20 teams. But Celtic did manage to get to the 3rd round and there's a risk that with an easier path they could end up in the final. I think the day the trophy is won by an U-20 team is the day the competition dies.
Dave McIntyre was certainly at the game in Moldova.
OK. I'm guessing he was there for the Sunday afternoon edition of Off The Ball, but having checked the Newstalk Listen Back player, from 7-10pm they just ran their usual Sunday programming line-up with no reports on the game in Chisinau during their news bulletins.
I'll post the details of BBC Radio Wales' coverage of the two Wales games at some point, seeing as Ian C hasn't been posting for quite a while now (I hope everything is well with him and that he'll be back on here very soon).
The inclusion of teams from the other Celtic Nations has gone down reasonably well, because it now represents a realistic chance of a "European" tie for teams that haven't a hope of reaching any of the UEFA competitions.
However, the Premiership U-20 teams went down like a lead balloon. There was a farcical situation in the first round where Arbroath travelled up to Inverness to face their first team in the League Cup on the Saturday, then their U-20s in the Challenge Cup on the Tuesday.
In general, I think most lower league teams have enough to see off most Premiership U-20 teams. But Celtic did manage to get to the 3rd round and there's a risk that with an easier path they could end up in the final. I think the day the trophy is won by an U-20 team is the day the competition dies.
Thanks for providing your thoughts on the Scottish Challenge Cup Mark (I very nearly missed them given there being a few posts in quick succession and a split from one page to the next, always a risk on here!).
Glad to hear that fans of the Scottish lower division clubs have reacted to the inclusion of youth teams to that competition in a similar way to those of us in England and Wales to the same thing happening in the Trophy. I did notice that Celtic Under-20s had got through to the third round and there was some worry that they in particular were potentially a stronger prospect of reaching the final than any of the Premier League or Championship youth teams do down here.
That being said, last week's youth team v first team games in the second round of Trophy group games broke 8-7 in favour of the youth teams, and more than half of the Under-23 outfits appear to have a reasonable chance of reaching the knockout stage of the competition with a game to go. While I see in the Challenge Cup Celtic were the only Under-20s side to get to the third stage, where they exited, with The New Saints being the only non-Scottish first team remaining in the competition at the quarter-final stage. So perhaps I should be more fearful of the prospect of a youth team getting to Wembley sooner than to Hampden - my hope was that all 16 youth teams would exit the Trophy, the EFL would rule out their return to the competition next season over Christmas time, and the B-team boycott could then end with the knockout stage of the Trophy at least resembling a normal competition.
Was their any boycott of the Scottish Challenge Cup games involving the Under-20s sides?
Comments
I was listening to Five Live between 2.30 and three o'clock and they were going round the grounds during the golf - Will Perry was at West Ham I think, Alistair Yeomans and John Southall were, er, somewhere else and they had others all over the place. As I say, they were only on Five Live, though, not Sports Extra. Ian Dennis also said that the World Service would be joining them, rather than Five Live, for the second half so you wouldn't have heard them there either.
Mark Saggers presenting Sunday Exclusive and The Full Time Phone-In from White Hart Lane alongside Ray Houghton
Premier League
Manchester United v Stoke City - Sam Matterface and Danny Higginbotham (12noon commentary), with Dom McGuinness at pitchside
Leicester City v Southampton - Geoff Peters
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - Jim Proudfoot and Ray Houghton (2.15pm commentary), with James Dodd producing and conducting post-match interviews
Burnley v Arsenal - Graham Beecroft
Formula 1: Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang International Circuit - Graham Courtney
Golf: The Ryder Cup 2016
Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minnesota - Rupert Bell and Bob Bubka
talkSPORT Live
Premier League
Manchester United v Stoke City - Phil Blacker and Chris Iwelumo
Leicester City v Southampton - Glenn Wheeler
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - Alex Crook and Steve Lomas (featured 2.15pm commentary on international radio stations)
Burnley v Arsenal - Tim Long and Rohan Ricketts
Bundesliga
VfL Wolfsburg v Mainz 05 - Joe Shennan
Schalke 04 v Borussia Monchengladbach - Kevin Hatchard
Two talkSPORT Live debuts today - for Glenn Wheeler (a new name to me, Twitter tells me he's a recent graduate who's done bits for ITN, West Ham United and Norwich City) and Rohan Ricketts.
Newstalk 106-108FM
Joe Molloy presenting Off The Ball alongside Richie McCormack
Premier League
Manchester United v Stoke City - Dave McIntyre and Andy Reid (12noon commentary)
Leicester City v Southampton - Shane Pinnington (as IRN)
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - Bernard O'Toole and Gary Breen (2.15pm commentary)
Burnley v Arsenal - Peter Smith (as IRN)
La Liga Live presented by Will Gavin (11am-1pm) and Dan Windle (7-10pm)
La Liga
Valencia v Atletico Madrid - Alex Crook and Chris Perry (11am commentary)
Celta Vigo v Barcelona - Tim Long and Adam Virgo (7.45pm commentary)
In between those games:
Andrew McKenna presented Aviva Premiership Live and The Rugby Show from the Ricoh Arena
Rugby Union: Premiership
Wasps v Harlequins - Andrew McKenna and Glenn Delaney (2.30pm commentary)
American Football: NFL International Series
Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Will Gavin
Will Gavin picked up presentation at the end of the early La Liga game from Wembley Stadium, where he was for the NFL International Series game and to host talkSPORT Today from 1pm. He was studio-based to host this morning's Sportsday, so he may have linked into the commentary from 11am before moving across town, although I wasn't listening at that point.
Jim White with Jim, Dean Ashton and Matt Scott from Inside World Football
FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round Draw
talkSPORT Towers - Jim White presented, with Dean Ashton and Jeff Mostyn drawing the home and away teams respectively
The draw took place just after the 11.30am news this morning if anyone wants to catch it on Listen Again, with them doing the northern section before the 11.45am commercial break and the southern section after it. The draw took place about an hour later than most expected it, but then for most of the first half hour they were taking audio from Gareth Southgate's first press conference as England manager.
Jim played it pretty straight, he didn't have the boundless enthusiasm about non-league football that Colin Murray also used to have in the years he brought this draw to the radio, but he handled it professionally with a good set of stats about the teams as they were drawn of the type those presenting FA Cup draws on TV always do. Regardless, it's always nice to hear non-league football getting half an hour of national radio devoted to it in order to broadcast this draw - well done talkSPORT for getting it on the airwaves.
Mike Taylor presented BBC WM 95.6 Sport from Bramall Lane
Devalued Trophy Group Stage
Crewe Alexandra v Wolverhampton Wanderers Youth - Mikey Burrows
Luton Town v West Bromwich Albion Youth - Rob Gurney
Sheffield United v Walsall - Mike Taylor (7.45pm commentary)
Not only did Mike Taylor anchor the show, he also flew solo for Walsall commentary as they didn't have a summariser at Bramall Lane. With both of the games involving youth teams from the region kicking off at 7.30pm, they took commentary from Luton on roughly the first 15 minutes of each half. With none of the games going to a penalty shootout, the programme ended at the conclusion of the Walsall game at around 9.40pm, with them joining the end of Mark Forrest's networked show in progress.
He's done bits for WM for just over a year now, but hearing Mikey Burrows covering a Wolves game (of sorts) for them is notable given that he is Signal 107's regular commentator on the club. However, neither Signal nor Wolves Player (which simulcasts their The Big Match broadcasts) was covering the game at Crewe tonight, so he was available to cover it for WM. Likewise, Albion Player didn't cover the game at Luton, while Mick Kearns wasn't at Bramall Lane to co-commentate on Walsall for Saddlers Player as he usually does - instead Dale Moon was joined by James Brackpool, who is the producer of the Saddlers TV show on Big Centre TV (indeed he and Dale were there to film some footage for next week's edition of said show).
Mikey is not the only regular from a Wireless Group-owned station to appear on BBC WM this week - last night, Midlands-based talkSPORT football correspondent and freelance speedway commentator Dave Rowe was WM's pitlane reporter during their coverage of the first leg of the Elite League Grand Final between Wolverhampton Wolves and Belle Vue Aces. Mike Taylor, who presented and commentated on that as well, mentioned that it was the first time Dave has been involved in their speedway coverage.
While WM was covering the speedway on their DAB, Freeview and online platforms last night, 95.6FM was carrying a special extra hour to The West Midlands Football Phone-In reacting to the sacking of Robert Di Matteo as Aston Villa manager with Richard Wilford and Garry Thompson from 7pm. Between 6-7pm, Richard was chairing a special phone-in with Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett - he'd been due to make a guest appearance on yesterday's show for a few weeks, sod's law the day he was booked for would be the day Villa sack their manager!
With Walsall's league game at Sheffield United having been postponed due to international call-ups, BBC WM will be doing commentary on Aldershot Town v Solihull Moors from the National League on Saturday instead. Shame they didn't have a reporter at Moors' first ever televised game, at home to Southport, tonight - it wouldn't surprise me if there was more interest in that fixture than there is in the Trophy games involving youth teams.
First-Round of the Double-Header World Cup Qualifiers
Tonight (Thurs 6th Oct)
Austria v WALES (7:45pm) - Ian Brown and John Hartson
Saturday 8th October
ENGLAND v Malta (5pm) - John Murray, Ian Dennis, Chris Waddle & Danny Mills
SCOTLAND v Lithuania (7:45pm) - Conor McNamara and Pat Nevin
https://twitter.com/FootyPhilWye/status/784054007044112384
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: International Special
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Austria v Wales - Nigel Adderley and Danny Gabbidon (7.45pm commentary)
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - David Brady
UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifying Group 9
Kazakhstan Under-21s v England Under-21s - Graham Courtney
On Sunday night, talkSPORT 2 has commentary on Moldova v Republic of Ireland. talkSPORT.com 's schedule for Tuesday hasn't been properly updated yet, but I expect they'll probably have commentary on Slovenia v England.
Looking ahead to club matters, talkSPORT 2's next Premier League commentary on Saturday week is Arsenal v Swansea City. In Champions League and Europa League action, it'll be Bayer Leverkusen v Tottenham Hotspur (Tuesday 18th), Barcelona v Manchester City (Wed 19th - talkSPORT), Bayern v PSV (Wed 19th - talkSPORT 2) and Inter v Southampton (Thurs 20th). Their EFL Cup Fourth Round commentary game is Manchester United v Manchester City, with Sam Matterface mentioning in a recent commentary that he and Danny Higginbotham will be covering that one.
To alert any cricket fans reading this to a last minute deal, talkSPORT 2 have today secured rights to England's three-match One-Day International series in Bangladesh, which begins tomorrow at 9am. The BBC have rights to the whole series but (I'm guessing due to security concerns) have decided against covering the one-dayers, so talkSPORT 2 have stepped in.
Presented by Geoff Webster from Murrayfield, with Tom English.
Scottish Challenge Cup - 4th round
Ayr Utd v Falkirk - Chick Young
Pro12 Rugby Union
Edinburgh v Treviso (7.35pm) - Bill Johnstone, Colin Gregor and Peter Wright (commentary) with Phil Goodlad pitchside
Sunday 9th October
WALES v Georgia - Ian Brown and John Hartson
The broadcaster were at breaking point with Collymore — and decided not to renew his contract — after his nuclear fall-outs with colleagues at Euro 2016, which followed unacceptable confrontations at other tournaments.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3827614/Stuart-Pearce-proving-no-trouble-talkSPORT-Stan-Collymore-fallout.html
If Charles Sale really does have contacts high up at talkSPORT, and is reporting truthfully, Stan Collymore sure is a tit, this whole " i boycotted talkSPORT because of Murdoch" business is looking like somewhat of a smokescreen.
Peterborough United v Bury - Ian Cheeseman and John McGinlay - 12.0 FM commentary
Swindon Town v Bolton Wanderers - Jack Dearden and Alan Gowling - 1.0 commentary - 1st half on DAB and 2nd on both
Rochdale v Southend United - Phil Kinsella - 3.0 commentary
Gillingham v Oldham Athletic - Alan Seabrook - 3.0 reports
Doncaster Rovers v Barnet was the only game involving South Yorkshire/North Derbyshire Sides.
Mike Miney was Commentator alongside Micky Walker on all Frequencies.
Between 14:00 and 15:00, Rob Staton was in the Studio, anchoring. Between 17:00 and 18:00, there was a replay of the Non-League Special aired on Thursdays Football Heaven
Presented by Richard Gordon from the studio, with Chick Young (2pm-5.30pm), then from Hampden Park with Tom English (810MW, 7.05pm-10pm).
World Cup Qualifying - Group F
Scotland v Lithuania (7.45pm) - Liam McLeod, Willie Miller and Steven Thompson (commentary)
Slovenia v Slovakia (7.45pm) - Alasdair Lamont
"Scottish" Challenge Cup - 4th round
Hibernian v St Mirren - Rob Maclean, Craig Paterson and Alex Rae (commentary) with Brian McLaughlin pitchside
Dunfermline Athletic v Queen's Park - Allan Preston
Forfar Athletic v The New Saints* - Paul Mitchell
Stranraer v Dundee Utd (2pm) - Bruce McKenzie
*Yes, you did read that correctly...
Ian Danter presented Matchday Live from Huish Park with Alvin Martin at the Priestfield Stadium (2-5.30pm), then Adrian Durham presented Super League Live from Old Trafford alongside Paul Cooke and Michael Shenton (5.30-8pm), followed by The Football Phone-In with Danny Kelly and Clive Allen (8-10pm)
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group F
England v Malta - Ian Abrahams
Scotland v Lithuania - Nigel Pearson
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group C
Northern Ireland v San Marino - Graham Courtney
League One
Peterborough United v Bury - Kev Lawrence
Bradford City v Shrewsbury Town - Naz Premji
Gillingham v Oldham Athletic - Chris Parrott and Alvin Martin
Scunthorpe United v Northampton Town - Nick Walsh
League Two
Blackpool v Cambridge United - Graham Beecroft
Doncaster Rovers v Barnet - Alan Biggs
Stevenage v Plymouth Argyle - Tony Incenzo
Yeovil Town v Wycombe Wanderers - Laurence Mora and Ian Danter
Rugby League: Super League Grand Final
Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - Mark Wilson, Michael Shenton and Paul Cooke (6pm commentary)
Rugby Union: Premiership
Bath v Sale Sharks (Friday) - Nick Heath
Leicester Tigers v Worcester Warriors - Hamish Stuart
Horse Racing: Dewhurst Stakes
Newmarket Racecourse - Rupert Bell
Good to hear a lower league Around the Grounds show this afternoon, these programmes are always enjoyable listens on international Saturdays. It was mentioned that Alvin Martin was originally going to be at Coventry City v Chesterfield before that game was postponed due to international call-ups.
Credit to talkSPORT for doing these shows and also for prioritising commentary on the Super League Grand Final on their main station, when it would have been easy to keep coverage on talkSPORT 2 and prioritise rolling updates and chat about England. I dare say by doing this they encouraged Radio 5 Live into prioritising the second half on their main station rather than doing 606 instead. Changing codes, talkSPORT 2 had commentary on Harlequins v Northampton Saints on Matchday Live 2 with Russell Hargreaves and Tom May. Also on said station, Tom Rennie presented a lower league edition of The Full Time Phone-In between 5-7pm before Danny Kelly and Clive Allen took over to do the first of their three hours.
BBC WM 95.6
Mike Taylor presented BBC WM 95.6 Sport from the Recreation Ground
National League
Aldershot Town v Solihull Moors - Rob Gurney and Mike Taylor (3pm commentary)
Northern League Premier Division
Halesowen Town v Ashton United - Tom Marlow
Rushall Olympic v Hednesford Town - Steve Hermon
It was a bit of a smaller scale non-league Saturday for BBC WM in the absence of any of their league clubs playing with just the three games covered, as on previous international Saturdays they've had correspondents at 6-8 matches. Unfortunately for them, their only National League North team Tamworth had a long-distance away game at Gainsborough Trinity, similarly Northern Premier Stourbridge were at Marine. Sutton Coldfield Town, from the same division, were at home to Frickley and could have been covered. All of the other local-ish teams in the top three tiers of the pyramid - Kidderminster, Worcester, Telford, Nuneaton, Leamington and Redditch - are at least nominally covered by neighbouring BBC Local Radio stations.
Hopefully WM will have reporters covering their two remaining non-league clubs in the FA Cup, Solihull Moors and Stourbridge, in their Fourth Qualifying Round matches next Saturday. With Aston Villa facing Wolves in a late kick-off that day and Birmingham playing on Friday night, they'll be more space to incorporate updates on those two games into their Walsall and West Brom coverage.
I'm not sure how long constitutes "always" as far as Radio 5 Live are concerned, but talkSPORT were listed as doing commentary on the Super League Grand Final on their primary channel at least a couple of weeks ago. So I doubt it was a case of 5 Live influencing talkSPORT, as welcome as their call was.
I bring up the possibility that the BBC may have prioritised the Grand Final after learning what talkSPORT were planning as 5 Live hasn't got a great track record when it comes to putting the final ahead of live football or even 606 in previous years. Also, during the Easter weekend international break last season, Radio 5 Live were originally listed to be providing Saturday afternoon commentary on a Premiership rugby union match, only to switch their plans to relaying Radio 5 Live Sports Extra's commentary on an England World Twenty20 match after talkSPORT announced they would be broadcasting said match on their primary channel rather than talkSPORT 2. So 5 Live have form when it comes to mirroring talkSPORT's output on these occasions, and if the commercial station's call to focus on the Grand Final rather than England chat prompted them to carry the second half from Old Trafford then that can only be a good thing in this instance.
At the risk of veering wildly off-topic, how have the changes to the Scottish Challenge Cup gone down in Scotland?
As you probably know, the introduction of Premier League and Championship youth teams to the Football League Trophy have gone down like a lead balloon in England and Wales, yet I've heard very little discussion about the changes to the Scottish equivalent. For me, the introduction of the top two teams from Wales and Northern Ireland's domestic leagues sounds like a novel experiment, something very different that will see how teams from these nations measure up against SPFL clubs. I'm one of those who don't mind the EFL Trophy's new group stage format, but would have much preferred the 16 additional teams to have come from the National League. Saying that, I would be very unhappy about the introduction of Premiership youth teams to the competition if the Challenge Cup was my club's best route to Hampden Park. Yet it doesn't appear as if fans of clubs from the former SFL divisions have kicked up the same kind of fuss about this change to the one those of us in England and Wales have when it comes to the devaluing of the EFL Trophy.
Main commentary - Newcastle Falcons v Bristol - Ian Smith
Updates:
Gateshead v Dover Athletic - Chris Sykes
Blyth Spartans v Mickleover - Barry Hindson
North Shields v Ryhope - Paul Dixon
Studio: Matthew Raisbeck
Jason Cundy presented The Clash of the Titans alongside Alvin Martin, Stewart Robson and Mike Parry, followed by The Press Pass with Ray Stubbs, Michael Calvin and Tom Collomosse then Trans Europe Express with Danny Kelly and Andy Brassell
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Wales v Georgia - Laurence Mora
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - David Brady
Cricket: Second One-Day International
Bangladesh v England - Jon Norman
Rugby Union: Premiership
Saracens v Wasps - Russell Hargreaves
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka International Racing Course - Graham Courtney
talkSPORT 2
Dan Windle presented International Football Live
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - Tim Long and Alan McLoughlin (7.45pm commentary)
Earlier in the day:
Will Gavin presented International Cricket Live
Cricket: Second One-Day International
Bangladesh v England - Andrew McKenna, Phil Walker, Steve Harmison and Mike Selvey (9.30am BST commentary)
Russell Hargreaves presented The Rugby Show from Allianz Park
Rugby Union: Premiership
Saracens v Wasps - Russell Hargreaves and Gary Street
talkSPORT 2 were hoping to provide commentary on at least part of today's Premiership game, which was going to be fully live until they picked up rights to England's ODI series in Bangladesh. Instead, with the cricket ending after 5pm they just had a truncated Rugby Show from Allianz Park between 5.15-6pm. This enabled Russ to provide reports into talkSPORT's Clash of the Titans and going by the edit on the post-match talkSPORT Today section of their Republic of Ireland coverage, Russ and Gary did an off-air commentary that is scheduled to go out overnight.
As for the cricket, the same commentary team as the one listed above commentated on Friday's First ODI for talkSPORT 2, although Russell Hargreaves handled the presentation during the break between innings that day. Over on talkSPORT, Cricket Week host Jon Norman has reported on both ODIs.
Hugh Cahill presented Game On from the Aviva Stadium alongside Pat Fenlon and Johnny McDonnell
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Adrian Eames and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
Newstalk 106-108FM
Ger Gilroy presented Off The Ball from the Aviva Stadium alongside Andy Reid, Stephen O'Donnell and Paul Kimmage
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Dave McIntyre and Andy Reid (7.45pm commentary)
Today FM carried updates on Republic of Ireland v Georgia from Philip Egan during Ross Lindsay's sports bulletins.
Sunday 9th October - RTE Radio 1
Damien O'Meara presented a Sunday Sport Special from the studio alongside Pat Fenlon and Mark Kinsella
FIFA World Cup 2018 European Qualifying Group D
Moldova v Republic of Ireland - Adrian Eames and Brian Kerr (7.45pm commentary)
This programme hasn't been uploaded to the RTE Radio Player (only the earlier edition of Sunday Sport), so I'm going by Damien's Twitter account for the details. Neither Newstalk 106-108FM nor Today FM provided coverage of Moldova v Republic of Ireland last night.
The inclusion of teams from the other Celtic Nations has gone down reasonably well, because it now represents a realistic chance of a "European" tie for teams that haven't a hope of reaching any of the UEFA competitions.
However, the Premiership U-20 teams went down like a lead balloon. There was a farcical situation in the first round where Arbroath travelled up to Inverness to face their first team in the League Cup on the Saturday, then their U-20s in the Challenge Cup on the Tuesday.
In general, I think most lower league teams have enough to see off most Premiership U-20 teams. But Celtic did manage to get to the 3rd round and there's a risk that with an easier path they could end up in the final. I think the day the trophy is won by an U-20 team is the day the competition dies.
OK. I'm guessing he was there for the Sunday afternoon edition of Off The Ball, but having checked the Newstalk Listen Back player, from 7-10pm they just ran their usual Sunday programming line-up with no reports on the game in Chisinau during their news bulletins.
I'll post the details of BBC Radio Wales' coverage of the two Wales games at some point, seeing as Ian C hasn't been posting for quite a while now (I hope everything is well with him and that he'll be back on here very soon).
Thanks for providing your thoughts on the Scottish Challenge Cup Mark (I very nearly missed them given there being a few posts in quick succession and a split from one page to the next, always a risk on here!).
Glad to hear that fans of the Scottish lower division clubs have reacted to the inclusion of youth teams to that competition in a similar way to those of us in England and Wales to the same thing happening in the Trophy. I did notice that Celtic Under-20s had got through to the third round and there was some worry that they in particular were potentially a stronger prospect of reaching the final than any of the Premier League or Championship youth teams do down here.
That being said, last week's youth team v first team games in the second round of Trophy group games broke 8-7 in favour of the youth teams, and more than half of the Under-23 outfits appear to have a reasonable chance of reaching the knockout stage of the competition with a game to go. While I see in the Challenge Cup Celtic were the only Under-20s side to get to the third stage, where they exited, with The New Saints being the only non-Scottish first team remaining in the competition at the quarter-final stage. So perhaps I should be more fearful of the prospect of a youth team getting to Wembley sooner than to Hampden - my hope was that all 16 youth teams would exit the Trophy, the EFL would rule out their return to the competition next season over Christmas time, and the B-team boycott could then end with the knockout stage of the Trophy at least resembling a normal competition.
Was their any boycott of the Scottish Challenge Cup games involving the Under-20s sides?