I'm not looking for a conspiracy theory here, but is it any coincidence that Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion was a talkSPORT commentary game yesterday?
I wouldn't have thought so, as they had a reporter at Bolton vs Birmingham, and a big name too in Conor McNamara. And they've always had reporters at TalkSPORT games before. I've emailed Five Live to ask what happened
I didn't manage to get all the details for the BBC Radio Scotland coverage from Sunday. I know who the pundits were however the commentators I'm not sure about - I guessed at one or two of them.
BBC Radio Scotland - 29th August 2010
Sportsound presented by Kenny MacIntyre
Commentaries Motherwell v. Celtic - Rob MacLean & Murdo MacLeod St Mirren v. Hibernian - David Begg(?) & Billy Dodds with Chick Young pitchside Hearts v. Dundee United - Paul Mitchell(?) & Craig Patterson
As I say I wasn't sure about the commentators but judging by who wasn't used on the Saturday commentaries, Paul and David hadn't had games and with Paul being the "Edinburgh" commentator I figured he may have done the game at Tynecastle. Or Richard Gordon did a commentary?
If I'm wrong someone correct me, I just wanted to get at least the colour commentators out so we get a full record
As for the pitchside reporters, BBC Scotland seem to often have them at their "main" games on a Saturday/Sunday aswell as all games involving the Old Firm.
I wouldn't have thought so, as they had a reporter at Bolton vs Birmingham, and a big name too in Conor McNamara. And they've always had reporters at TalkSPORT games before. I've emailed Five Live to ask what happened
The key difference being that the Bolton v Birmingham match didn't clash with a 5 Live football commentary, spare for the overlap during the closing stages.
Anyone listening to 5 Live during the bulk of that match who is aware of talkSPORT and what they offer would have done so out of preference (either towards 5 Live over talkSPORT or to the F1 and discussion over that particular game). It's the same for the 5.30pm matches that go up against Sports Report and 606.
With the later Sunday games, Liverpool v West Brom was taking place at exactly the same time as Sunderland v Manchester City - so it could have been deemed that crossing to a reporter at that game on regular intervals might serve to alert some of their more savvy listeners to what was on offer elsewhere, particularly if the former proved to be a decent game.
It's all a bit coincidental that last week talkSPORT didn't have a reporter at Middlesbrough v Sheffield United, which was 5 Live's commentary game at the same time as they were doing Newcastle United v Aston Villa.
talkSPORT almost always have reporters at televised Championship games so this was very unusual for them too, and indeed moreso as I understand John Temple was originally scheduled to be reporting from the Riverside for them.
At the same time, 5 Live were initially due to have Ian Brown, John Murray and Michael Gray commentating for them from the Riverside, but in the end they sent Brownie over to St James's Park to report on that game. Could it be that, rather than there being a problem with another reporter, 5 Live weren't planning to have a reporter at that game either but had a last minute change of heart?
With there being clear competition between the two stations now, it wouldn't surprise me if neither of them really wants to highlight the game the opposition has on offer when commentaries directly clash any more than they absolutely need to.
The last thing either would want is to be constantly going for updates from their rivals live game if that turns out to be a tight, exciting fixture with goals at both ends while the game they are doing proves to be dull affair that is either one sided or isn't showing signs of much action whatsoever, as doing this may encourage the more discerning, media-savvy members of their audience to retune.
There shouldn't be too many commentary clashes of this sort over the course of the season, but I wonder what will happen the next time both stations go head-to-head with football commentaries on a Sunday afternoon.
With talkSPORT it's the norm for almost every game they cover, no matter how routine. Perhaps this initially only came about due to necessity, but I like it and think having someone at pitchside really enhances their commentaries.
I wonder if we will eventually get to a point where the other national stations and some of the bigger local ones decide to have pitchside reporters at every commentary game they cover. Personally I think it is one of those good ideas that will eventually become commonplace.
However I do think sometimes the location of the "pitchside" reporter needs to be taken with a pinch of salt
With the later Sunday games, Liverpool v West Brom was taking place at exactly the same time as Sunderland v Manchester City - so it could have been deemed that crossing to a reporter at that game on regular intervals might serve to alert some of their more savvy listeners to what was on offer elsewhere, particularly if the former proved to be a decent game.
I don't know about that, surely if ever that was to happen it would be the Bolton vs Birmingham match where it clashed with the F1, so if you didn't like F1 but liked football, you'd be far more likely to bugger off to TalkSPORT, especially as the F1 was live on BBC1 anyway. That's as opposed to the Liverpool game, where the choice was of two football matches of, I would say, broadly equal quality and appeal.
And surely there's more to be lost from opposing Man U vs West Ham with chat, as they did on Saturday, but they still had a reporter there. I'd suggest football fans would be way more likely to switch over in those instances than they would to the Liverpool game.
The Liverpool match was the one instance where as far as Five Live listeners were concerned, it wouldn't have been on anyway - there were two matches at once, Five Live chose the other - so there seems to be nothing to gain from pretending it wasn't happening, unlike the other two TalkSPORT commentaries this weekend when they didn't have a football alternative. I can't imagine it would be the case, Five Live would never provide poor or non-existent coverage because it was on a rival, that would be no service for the listener, and they've never done that before.
However I do think sometimes the location of the "pitchside" reporter needs to be taken with a pinch of salt
I take it they tend to be located somewhere in the first few rows of the stand behind the dugouts rather than on the touchline itself, or you'd spot them on the TV coverage.
Either way, it makes little consequence so long as they can see players warming up, substitutions being made and hear what the managers are saying in order to do their jobs properly.
The Liverpool match was the one instance where as far as Five Live listeners were concerned, it wouldn't have been on anyway - there were two matches at once, Five Live chose the other - so there seems to be nothing to gain from pretending it wasn't happening, unlike the other two TalkSPORT commentaries this weekend when they didn't have a football alternative. I can't imagine it would be the case, Five Live would never provide poor or non-existent coverage because it was on a rival, that would be no service for the listener, and they've never done that before.
You've provided some sound reasoning there, although the alternative viewpoint would be that 5 Live's audience on Saturday evenings and on Sundays at 1.30pm is probably smaller than it is at 4pm on a Sunday, but those listeners who stay with them are likely to be listening out of habit/loyalty to the station and so are less likely to be tempted to switch over to another broadcaster that is doing an event 5 Live can't cover.
Whereas at 3pm yesterday, 5 Live's audience surely would have been larger than it was during the F1 but among that number there would have been listeners more open to flicking between stations, many of whom may have been swayed to retune had 5 Live regularly reminded them of goings on elsewhere. So theoretically not taking updates from Liverpool may have helped in not pushing those "floating voter" type listeners away from 5 Live and towards talkSPORT or another station doing Liverpool-Albion.
I don't generally go looking for a conspiracy theory (for example I'm not one who goes in for the "Commentator X did not commentate or report this week, has he left station X?" type debates), but we've now seen three unexplained issues with reporters on two consecutive Sundays when 5 Live and talkSPORT were doing head-to-head commentaries, all of which involved the games in question.
You can say much the same thing you've said about 5 Live's lack of a reporter at Anfield yesterday about talkSPORT's lack of updates from the Riverside last weekend. talkSPORT had what I consider to be the more appealing commentary on that occasion, and poor/non-existent coverage of a football game where commentary is exclusive to a rival is not something they have done down the years either, despite being in that boat far more often than 5 Live. And with talkSPORT, they are usually fairly happy to arrange off-tube reporters if necessary, so if it was just a problem with their scheduled reporter they surely could have arranged an off-tuber instead?
It just seems too much of a coincidence to me that 5 Live would have reporting issues at the first and only two talkSPORT commentary games to have clashed with their commentaries thus far this season, and that talkSPORT did much the same thing with a 5 Live Championship commentary clashing with one of their live games last Sunday.
We will see if this was just a random set of oddities or if a pattern emerges the next time the two stations put commentaries head-to-head with each other.
Transfer Deadline Day
Midlands - Ian Danter
North - Dom McGuinness
Scotland - Mark Donaldson
South - Andrew McKenna (also afternoon sports bulletins)
England camp updates - John Anderson
Sky Sports News Radio
Transfer Latest presented by Keith Turk, with Jon Francis taking over at 6pm
Transfer Deadline Day
Studio updates - Ben Ransom (in the Andy Burton role)
Reporters taken from Sky Sports News TV included:
Birmingham City - Pete Colley
Fulham - Roger Clarke
Liverpool - Fraser Dainton
Manchester City - James Cooper
Stoke City - Rob Dorset
Sunderland - David Craig
Tottenham Hotspur - Geraint Hughes
West Ham United - Gary Cotterill
BBC WM
The Paul Franks Show, followed by The Football Phone-In with Richard Wilford and WM Sport with Mike Taylor
Transfer Deadline Day
Studio updates - Mike Taylor
Johnstone's Paint Trophy Northern Section First Round
Walsall v Chesterfield - Rob Gurney
Cricket: County Championship Division One
Warwickshire v Kent - Clive Eakin
BBC Radio Sheffield host: Seph Bennett
Walsall verses Chesterfield commentator: Seph Bennett summariser: Paul Shaw
Rotherham United verses Lincoln City reporter: Steve Crossman
I was going to ask Shaun about where Alistair Bruce-Ball presented the second half of 5 Live Sport from yesterday. With him not being involved in 5 Live's football coverage on Sunday, I'm guessing he was doubling up as a reporter from Gleneagles.
ABB was in the studio. Presumably chosen for his golfing knowledge as he linked to Iain Carter at Gleneagles and spoke to Bernard Gallacher and Jay Townsend about the picks.
At the same time, 5 Live were initially due to have Ian Brown, John Murray and Michael Gray commentating for them from the Riverside, but in the end they sent Brownie over to St James's Park to report on that game. Could it be that, rather than there being a problem with another reporter, 5 Live weren't planning to have a reporter at that game either but had a last minute change of heart?
I think thats unlikely because they had a summariser there in Kevin Gallacher alongside Ian Brown. They'd have got lucky I would have thought if they decided late on to send a reporter and then just happened to find one of their regular co-commentators was there to chip in as well.
As we go into the internation break still to hear a football commentary from Simon Brotherton, David Oates and Dave Woods on 5 Live this season though they've all been around on MOTD/Rugby League or reporting dutiess.
Two notable absentees though are Chris Waddle and Peter Slater. Be interesting to see if he does the England matches, if not I wonder if he's exclusive to ESPN. Very unusual not to hear from Peter Slater who is one of the most prolific reporters on 5 Live. Hope he's ok.
ABB was in the studio. Presumably chosen for his golfing knowledge as he linked to Iain Carter at Gleneagles and spoke to Bernard Gallacher and Jay Townsend about the picks.
As we go into the internation break still to hear a football commentary from Simon Brotherton, David Oates and Dave Woods on 5 Live this season though they've all been around on MOTD/Rugby League or reporting dutiess.
I think that's not too surprising. Given their reduced amount of live matches, it makes sense for 5 Live to mostly use football commentators who don't have other commitments elsewhere.
Simon Brotherton had a bit of a break anyway (presumably due to covering the Tour de France post-World Cup) before returning to MOTD for the new season. What with his TV work as well, I wouldn't expect to hear him too much on 5 Live this season except during Champions League weeks, FA Cup weekends etc.
Are there any others from 5 Live's regular football commentary pool who've yet to commentate this season? Green, Ingham and Dennis are all back now. I don't think Alistair Bruce-Ball will have done many (if any) matches due to his golf commitments.
I think thats unlikely because they had a summariser there in Kevin Gallacher alongside Ian Brown. They'd have got lucky I would have thought if they decided late on to send a reporter and then just happened to find one of their regular co-commentators was there to chip in as well.
Two notable absentees though are Chris Waddle and Peter Slater. Be interesting to see if he does the England matches, if not I wonder if he's exclusive to ESPN. Very unusual not to hear from Peter Slater who is one of the most prolific reporters on 5 Live. Hope he's ok.
It's a good point regarding Newcastle v Aston Villa the other week. I think Kevin Gallacher might be fairly local to the North-East but it's unlikely they'd be able to get one let alone two seats in the press box at short notice.
Putting two and two together and possibly making five - could it be that Peter Slater was due to be reporting from St James' Park that afternoon (geographically this would make sense), but something was up meaning he had to cancel? This could link in with why he's been not been heard so far.
Like you I hope things are OK with him and we hear him back on the airwaves soon. He's among 5 Live's best reporters IMO.
I didn't manage to get all the details for the BBC Radio Scotland coverage from Sunday. I know who the pundits were however the commentators I'm not sure about - I guessed at one or two of them.
BBC Radio Scotland - 29th August 2010
Sportsound presented by Kenny MacIntyre
Commentaries Motherwell v. Celtic - Rob MacLean & Murdo MacLeod St Mirren v. Hibernian - David Begg(?) & Billy Dodds with Chick Young pitchside Hearts v. Dundee United - Paul Mitchell(?) & Craig Patterson
As I say I wasn't sure about the commentators but judging by who wasn't used on the Saturday commentaries, Paul and David hadn't had games and with Paul being the "Edinburgh" commentator I figured he may have done the game at Tynecastle. Or Richard Gordon did a commentary?
If I'm wrong someone correct me, I just wanted to get at least the colour commentators out so we get a full record
As for the pitchside reporters, BBC Scotland seem to often have them at their "main" games on a Saturday/Sunday aswell as all games involving the Old Firm.
Richard Gordon did the St Mirren v Hibernian game, you're right about Paul Mitchell.
I take it they tend to be located somewhere in the first few rows of the stand behind the dugouts rather than on the touchline itself, or you'd spot them on the TV coverage.
Either way, it makes little consequence so long as they can see players warming up, substitutions being made and hear what the managers are saying in order to do their jobs properly.
Five Live will have commentary of S'ton vs Rochdale on Saturday so Oldham will be there 'Pougatch' type game but with Mark Chapman
They will also have comms of Brentford vs Sheff Weds on Sunday
Great stuff to focus on L1, they've normally had an international game on a Saturday in previous seasons so this is really the first opportunity they've ever had and I'm glad they've taken it
This weekend's Sunday Exclusive show will be a discussion show due to the lack of live Premier League coverage. It'll be hosted by Alan Brazil with Alvin Martin, Iain Dowie and Rob Shepherd between 12:00-16:00 on talkSPORT.
Danny Kelly presenting Kick-Off: International Special alongside Stan Collymore (from Wembley) and Bobby Gould
Euro 2012 Qualifiers
England v Bulgaria - John Anderson and Stan Collymore, with Mike Parry on the gantry
Lithuania v Scotland - Mark Donaldson
Montenegro v Wales - Nigel Pearson
Slovenia v Northern Ireland - Graham Courtney
Armenia v Republic of Ireland - David Brady
Under-21 Euro 2011 Qualifier
Portugal Under-21s v England Under-21s - Andy Clarke
BBC Radio Wales - Steffan Garerro hosting from Llandaf with commentary from Rob Phillips and Kevin Ratcliffe (All platforms)
BBC Radio Cymru - Dylan Griffiths and Iwan Roberts
Radio Cymru went to the game about 30 seconds from kick off :eek:
Steffan Garerro hosting Radio Wales Sport from the Mochyn Ddu pub, with guests Rob Phillips, Jason Perry (to talk last nights Montenegro V Wales game), Edward Bevan, Steve James and Adrian Shaw (at Taunton, but spent most of the time talking about the Pakistan Betting Scandal), Brent Pope (Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey season), Adrian Hadley (Crusaders RL), and Gareth Lewis (Magners League preview). phew!
Carmarthen Town V Bangor City - Jeremy Davies
Aberavon V Pontypool (Principality Premiership RU) - Phil Steele
European Masters Golf, Switzerland - Nick Dye
BBC Radio Cymru
Eleri Sion hosting
Carmarthen Town V Bangor City - Gareth Blainey and Waynne Phillips (commentary)
Llanelli V The New Saints (1545BST KO) - Dafydd Roberts and Osian Roberts (commentary)
Llanelli V Llandovery (Principality Premiership RU) - Keith Davies
Swansea V Tonmawr (Principality Premiership RU) - Bethan Clement
BBC Bristol / Somerset
Geoff Twentymann hosting
Oldham Athletic V Bristol Rovers - Ed Hadwin and Keith Brookman (94.9FM / 104.6FM)
Notts County V Yeovil Town - Richard Hoskin and Chris Spittles (95.5FM)
Bath City V Barrow AFC - Andy Howard and Andrew Kerslake (Online)
Esher V Bristol (RFU Championship) - Andy Champion and Mark Hoskins (DAB / Online)
Somerset V Glamorgan (CB40 Cricket) - Phil Toppal and Pete Simson (1566MW / Online)
Northamptonshire V Gloucestershire (CB40 Cricket) - Bob Hunt, Julian something, Rob Scanlon and Dean Ryan (1548MW / Online)
Swansea Sound
Swansea V Tonmawr (Principality Premiership RU) - Gaelon Downes (updates)
Comments
I wouldn't have thought so, as they had a reporter at Bolton vs Birmingham, and a big name too in Conor McNamara. And they've always had reporters at TalkSPORT games before. I've emailed Five Live to ask what happened
BBC Radio Scotland - 29th August 2010
Sportsound presented by Kenny MacIntyre
Commentaries
Motherwell v. Celtic - Rob MacLean & Murdo MacLeod
St Mirren v. Hibernian - David Begg(?) & Billy Dodds with Chick Young pitchside
Hearts v. Dundee United - Paul Mitchell(?) & Craig Patterson
As I say I wasn't sure about the commentators but judging by who wasn't used on the Saturday commentaries, Paul and David hadn't had games and with Paul being the "Edinburgh" commentator I figured he may have done the game at Tynecastle. Or Richard Gordon did a commentary?
If I'm wrong someone correct me, I just wanted to get at least the colour commentators out so we get a full record
As for the pitchside reporters, BBC Scotland seem to often have them at their "main" games on a Saturday/Sunday aswell as all games involving the Old Firm.
The key difference being that the Bolton v Birmingham match didn't clash with a 5 Live football commentary, spare for the overlap during the closing stages.
Anyone listening to 5 Live during the bulk of that match who is aware of talkSPORT and what they offer would have done so out of preference (either towards 5 Live over talkSPORT or to the F1 and discussion over that particular game). It's the same for the 5.30pm matches that go up against Sports Report and 606.
With the later Sunday games, Liverpool v West Brom was taking place at exactly the same time as Sunderland v Manchester City - so it could have been deemed that crossing to a reporter at that game on regular intervals might serve to alert some of their more savvy listeners to what was on offer elsewhere, particularly if the former proved to be a decent game.
It's all a bit coincidental that last week talkSPORT didn't have a reporter at Middlesbrough v Sheffield United, which was 5 Live's commentary game at the same time as they were doing Newcastle United v Aston Villa.
talkSPORT almost always have reporters at televised Championship games so this was very unusual for them too, and indeed moreso as I understand John Temple was originally scheduled to be reporting from the Riverside for them.
At the same time, 5 Live were initially due to have Ian Brown, John Murray and Michael Gray commentating for them from the Riverside, but in the end they sent Brownie over to St James's Park to report on that game. Could it be that, rather than there being a problem with another reporter, 5 Live weren't planning to have a reporter at that game either but had a last minute change of heart?
With there being clear competition between the two stations now, it wouldn't surprise me if neither of them really wants to highlight the game the opposition has on offer when commentaries directly clash any more than they absolutely need to.
The last thing either would want is to be constantly going for updates from their rivals live game if that turns out to be a tight, exciting fixture with goals at both ends while the game they are doing proves to be dull affair that is either one sided or isn't showing signs of much action whatsoever, as doing this may encourage the more discerning, media-savvy members of their audience to retune.
There shouldn't be too many commentary clashes of this sort over the course of the season, but I wonder what will happen the next time both stations go head-to-head with football commentaries on a Sunday afternoon.
However I do think sometimes the location of the "pitchside" reporter needs to be taken with a pinch of salt
I don't know about that, surely if ever that was to happen it would be the Bolton vs Birmingham match where it clashed with the F1, so if you didn't like F1 but liked football, you'd be far more likely to bugger off to TalkSPORT, especially as the F1 was live on BBC1 anyway. That's as opposed to the Liverpool game, where the choice was of two football matches of, I would say, broadly equal quality and appeal.
And surely there's more to be lost from opposing Man U vs West Ham with chat, as they did on Saturday, but they still had a reporter there. I'd suggest football fans would be way more likely to switch over in those instances than they would to the Liverpool game.
The Liverpool match was the one instance where as far as Five Live listeners were concerned, it wouldn't have been on anyway - there were two matches at once, Five Live chose the other - so there seems to be nothing to gain from pretending it wasn't happening, unlike the other two TalkSPORT commentaries this weekend when they didn't have a football alternative. I can't imagine it would be the case, Five Live would never provide poor or non-existent coverage because it was on a rival, that would be no service for the listener, and they've never done that before.
I take it they tend to be located somewhere in the first few rows of the stand behind the dugouts rather than on the touchline itself, or you'd spot them on the TV coverage.
Either way, it makes little consequence so long as they can see players warming up, substitutions being made and hear what the managers are saying in order to do their jobs properly.
You've provided some sound reasoning there, although the alternative viewpoint would be that 5 Live's audience on Saturday evenings and on Sundays at 1.30pm is probably smaller than it is at 4pm on a Sunday, but those listeners who stay with them are likely to be listening out of habit/loyalty to the station and so are less likely to be tempted to switch over to another broadcaster that is doing an event 5 Live can't cover.
Whereas at 3pm yesterday, 5 Live's audience surely would have been larger than it was during the F1 but among that number there would have been listeners more open to flicking between stations, many of whom may have been swayed to retune had 5 Live regularly reminded them of goings on elsewhere. So theoretically not taking updates from Liverpool may have helped in not pushing those "floating voter" type listeners away from 5 Live and towards talkSPORT or another station doing Liverpool-Albion.
I don't generally go looking for a conspiracy theory (for example I'm not one who goes in for the "Commentator X did not commentate or report this week, has he left station X?" type debates), but we've now seen three unexplained issues with reporters on two consecutive Sundays when 5 Live and talkSPORT were doing head-to-head commentaries, all of which involved the games in question.
You can say much the same thing you've said about 5 Live's lack of a reporter at Anfield yesterday about talkSPORT's lack of updates from the Riverside last weekend. talkSPORT had what I consider to be the more appealing commentary on that occasion, and poor/non-existent coverage of a football game where commentary is exclusive to a rival is not something they have done down the years either, despite being in that boat far more often than 5 Live. And with talkSPORT, they are usually fairly happy to arrange off-tube reporters if necessary, so if it was just a problem with their scheduled reporter they surely could have arranged an off-tuber instead?
It just seems too much of a coincidence to me that 5 Live would have reporting issues at the first and only two talkSPORT commentary games to have clashed with their commentaries thus far this season, and that talkSPORT did much the same thing with a 5 Live Championship commentary clashing with one of their live games last Sunday.
We will see if this was just a random set of oddities or if a pattern emerges the next time the two stations put commentaries head-to-head with each other.
Drive Time with Adrian Durham and Micky Quinn
Transfer Deadline Day
Midlands - Ian Danter
North - Dom McGuinness
Scotland - Mark Donaldson
South - Andrew McKenna (also afternoon sports bulletins)
England camp updates - John Anderson
Sky Sports News Radio
Transfer Latest presented by Keith Turk, with Jon Francis taking over at 6pm
Transfer Deadline Day
Studio updates - Ben Ransom (in the Andy Burton role)
Reporters taken from Sky Sports News TV included:
Birmingham City - Pete Colley
Fulham - Roger Clarke
Liverpool - Fraser Dainton
Manchester City - James Cooper
Stoke City - Rob Dorset
Sunderland - David Craig
Tottenham Hotspur - Geraint Hughes
West Ham United - Gary Cotterill
BBC WM
The Paul Franks Show, followed by The Football Phone-In with Richard Wilford and WM Sport with Mike Taylor
Transfer Deadline Day
Studio updates - Mike Taylor
Johnstone's Paint Trophy Northern Section First Round
Walsall v Chesterfield - Rob Gurney
Cricket: County Championship Division One
Warwickshire v Kent - Clive Eakin
host: Seph Bennett
Walsall verses Chesterfield
commentator: Seph Bennett
summariser: Paul Shaw
Rotherham United verses Lincoln City
reporter: Steve Crossman
ABB was in the studio. Presumably chosen for his golfing knowledge as he linked to Iain Carter at Gleneagles and spoke to Bernard Gallacher and Jay Townsend about the picks.
I think thats unlikely because they had a summariser there in Kevin Gallacher alongside Ian Brown. They'd have got lucky I would have thought if they decided late on to send a reporter and then just happened to find one of their regular co-commentators was there to chip in as well.
As we go into the internation break still to hear a football commentary from Simon Brotherton, David Oates and Dave Woods on 5 Live this season though they've all been around on MOTD/Rugby League or reporting dutiess.
Two notable absentees though are Chris Waddle and Peter Slater. Be interesting to see if he does the England matches, if not I wonder if he's exclusive to ESPN. Very unusual not to hear from Peter Slater who is one of the most prolific reporters on 5 Live. Hope he's ok.
Thanks for clarifying that.
I think that's not too surprising. Given their reduced amount of live matches, it makes sense for 5 Live to mostly use football commentators who don't have other commitments elsewhere.
Simon Brotherton had a bit of a break anyway (presumably due to covering the Tour de France post-World Cup) before returning to MOTD for the new season. What with his TV work as well, I wouldn't expect to hear him too much on 5 Live this season except during Champions League weeks, FA Cup weekends etc.
Are there any others from 5 Live's regular football commentary pool who've yet to commentate this season? Green, Ingham and Dennis are all back now. I don't think Alistair Bruce-Ball will have done many (if any) matches due to his golf commitments.
It's a good point regarding Newcastle v Aston Villa the other week. I think Kevin Gallacher might be fairly local to the North-East but it's unlikely they'd be able to get one let alone two seats in the press box at short notice.
Putting two and two together and possibly making five - could it be that Peter Slater was due to be reporting from St James' Park that afternoon (geographically this would make sense), but something was up meaning he had to cancel? This could link in with why he's been not been heard so far.
Like you I hope things are OK with him and we hear him back on the airwaves soon. He's among 5 Live's best reporters IMO.
Richard Gordon did the St Mirren v Hibernian game, you're right about Paul Mitchell.
Probably somewhat further back than that.
Maybe 2 out of 3.
http://www.oldhamathletic.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~2140667,00.html
extra coverage from
Southampton v Rochdale, 15:00
Tranmere v Peterborough, 15:00
They will also have comms of Brentford vs Sheff Weds on Sunday
Great stuff to focus on L1, they've normally had an international game on a Saturday in previous seasons so this is really the first opportunity they've ever had and I'm glad they've taken it
host and commentator: Seth Bennett
summariser:Paul Heart
Very interesting conversation between Seth Bennett and Paul aheart about academies after the match.
Sportsound presented by Kenny MacIntyre with Gordon Smith and Jim Traynor in Glasgow. There will be a Your Call special after the game
Lithuania v. Scotland - Richard Gordon & Murdo MacLeod with Chick Young pitchside
Interesting that they are using Richard Gordon, No David Begg the last two weeks, no Paul Mitchell either as Liam macLeod is doing the TV.
BBC Radio Nah Gaidhael also have coverage but I can't determine who the commentators are I'm afraid.
Danny Kelly presenting Kick-Off: International Special alongside Stan Collymore (from Wembley) and Bobby Gould
Euro 2012 Qualifiers
England v Bulgaria - John Anderson and Stan Collymore, with Mike Parry on the gantry
Lithuania v Scotland - Mark Donaldson
Montenegro v Wales - Nigel Pearson
Slovenia v Northern Ireland - Graham Courtney
Armenia v Republic of Ireland - David Brady
Under-21 Euro 2011 Qualifier
Portugal Under-21s v England Under-21s - Andy Clarke
BBC Radio Wales - Steffan Garerro hosting from Llandaf with commentary from Rob Phillips and Kevin Ratcliffe (All platforms)
BBC Radio Cymru - Dylan Griffiths and Iwan Roberts
Radio Cymru went to the game about 30 seconds from kick off :eek:
BFBS Radio: Andrew Cheal
IRN: Lee Stott
Begg is probably too old now to do Scotland away games.
Richard Gordon presenting Sportsound from Firhill, with Chick Young.
Partick Thistle v Ayr Utd - Billy Dodds
Queen of the South v East Fife - Sandra Brown
Jim Traynor also presenting 'Paper Talk' from 3pm, with (supposedly) updates from the above games.
Steffan Garerro hosting Radio Wales Sport from the Mochyn Ddu pub, with guests Rob Phillips, Jason Perry (to talk last nights Montenegro V Wales game), Edward Bevan, Steve James and Adrian Shaw (at Taunton, but spent most of the time talking about the Pakistan Betting Scandal), Brent Pope (Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey season), Adrian Hadley (Crusaders RL), and Gareth Lewis (Magners League preview). phew!
Carmarthen Town V Bangor City - Jeremy Davies
Aberavon V Pontypool (Principality Premiership RU) - Phil Steele
European Masters Golf, Switzerland - Nick Dye
BBC Radio Cymru
Eleri Sion hosting
Carmarthen Town V Bangor City - Gareth Blainey and Waynne Phillips (commentary)
Llanelli V The New Saints (1545BST KO) - Dafydd Roberts and Osian Roberts (commentary)
Llanelli V Llandovery (Principality Premiership RU) - Keith Davies
Swansea V Tonmawr (Principality Premiership RU) - Bethan Clement
BBC Bristol / Somerset
Geoff Twentymann hosting
Oldham Athletic V Bristol Rovers - Ed Hadwin and Keith Brookman (94.9FM / 104.6FM)
Notts County V Yeovil Town - Richard Hoskin and Chris Spittles (95.5FM)
Bath City V Barrow AFC - Andy Howard and Andrew Kerslake (Online)
Esher V Bristol (RFU Championship) - Andy Champion and Mark Hoskins (DAB / Online)
Somerset V Glamorgan (CB40 Cricket) - Phil Toppal and Pete Simson (1566MW / Online)
Northamptonshire V Gloucestershire (CB40 Cricket) - Bob Hunt, Julian something, Rob Scanlon and Dean Ryan (1548MW / Online)
Swansea Sound
Swansea V Tonmawr (Principality Premiership RU) - Gaelon Downes (updates)