DS Forums

 
 

Radio Football Commentators and Reporters 2010/11


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 26-06-2010, 10:42
The Difference
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,209
Bad times for talkSPORT when it comes to their co-commentators, by the sound of it.

I wonder if Stan is being linked to ESPN in California in light of the talk of them retracting their contract offer for Robbie Earle (he had previously agreed to leave ITV Sport to join ESPN in the States from the start of next season until the ambush marketing episode).

Stan's not the only talkSPORT pundit linked with a move away from the station.

Alvin Martin will be flying back from South Africa this weekend having done his final World Cup co-commentary on Chile v Spain last night, which is much earlier than I for one had expected given his prominent role in the coverage so far.

I'm beginning to think his premature return to England may have something to do with his reported appointment as part of Avram Grant's coaching staff at West Ham United:

Avram Grant has rejected Roman Abramovich's invitation to return to Chelsea despite being offered more money than he stands to earn as manager of West Ham.

Grant's former Chelsea No 2, Steve Clarke, is expected to leave Upton Park once agreement is reached on his £1.2m-a-year deal, which has three years to run.

West Ham legend Alvin Martin is expected to join the coaching staff.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz0rwtgF08D
Now events around Alvin's work at talkSPORT lead me to believe this story is true.

Alvin is flying back to the UK at a similar point in time to the likes of David Moyes and Robbie Savage, who have been working as summarisers in SA but have had to return home in order to begin pre-season training in the next few weeks. Is this the reason for Alvin's early exit too?

Also, rumours of his impending appointment at West Ham haven't been touched upon by talkSPORT's sports news team or indeed by anyone at the station. If this story was untrue, I reckon Alvin himself would have been happy to deny it, but seeing as it's not been mentioned either way it leads me to believe there is something in this one.

If Alvin is to become a coach at Upton Park then this would surely see the end to, or at least limit, his work on talkSPORT.

For a start his co-presenting role on Football First on Sunday would have to come to an end given the amount of times West Ham play on Sundays during the season. This would also rule him out of doing Premier League co-commentaries.

He may be able to continue with working for the station in midweek, as Ron Atkinson and David Pleat did at ITV during their various managerial jobs in the 1990s and 2000s, although with Stan having replaced him as Champions League co-commentator it doesn't seem there is much of an opening for him.

I listened to part of the phone-in last night and noticed Alvin wasn't given a send-off at all - could this be because his coaching job is still in the balance, ie he's due for an interview next week and it could be that he doesn't manage to tickle Gold and Sullivan's fancy?

If talkSPORT were to lose both Collymore and Martin after the World Cup, it would be a real blow to them going into the start of their biggest season yet in terms of commentary rights.

They would surely have to sign up at least one new big name pundit. Perhaps there could be a return at weekends for Ian Wright (please no), maybe Alan Brazil could be moved into a regular co-commentary role after the experiment with him being used in this capacity on the League One Play-Off Final or maybe they could even pick up Robbie Earle if he is now be available (that would guarantee them some pre-season publicity).

Then there are a number of jobbing pundits who've been appearing on talkSPORT with some frequency in recent months - Ray Parlour, Bobby Gould, Stewart Robson, Tony Cascarino, Matt Holland, Phil Parkes, Lawrie Sanchez etc - some of whom could be asked to step up to the mark on a regular basis.
The Difference is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 27-06-2010, 10:09
Gurj73
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 594
Does anyone know the latest situation with regards to BBC Radio Leeds covering Leeds United games again ? Have Yorkshire radio got the exclusive local radio commentary rights for this year too ?
Gurj73 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-06-2010, 13:27
wns_195
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Dewsbury, England
Posts: 8,684
Does anyone know the latest situation with regards to BBC Radio Leeds covering Leeds United games again ? Have Yorkshire radio got the exclusive local radio commentary rights for this year too ?
I would expect the current situation regarding Leeds United to stay the same. This creates a problem for Radio Leeds now Leeds are the biggest team in the area in terms of league status.

In the last two seasons, putting the Leeds United and Huddersfield Town coverage on the same platformhas made sense, because they've both been in the same league. It makes less sense now.

I think that there will either be one sports programme with coverage of all three local teams (how it should be), or there will be two separate programmes. If there are two separate programmes, I think that if the situation is unchanged regarding commentary rights for Leeds United and Bradford City, it would make more sense to pair them, because on weeks when Bradford are at home, Radio Leeds won't be able to do commentary. Pairing them would save Leeds fans who listen to Radio Leeds the hassle of retuning from FM to AM in areas where there is poor or no coverage of 103.9 FM.

We'll find out in the next four weeks what rights Radio Leeds will have. It'll be interesting to see if Bradford allow stations to cover home games after last season. If they do, it'll be interesting to see if the Pulse tries to obtain rights for Bradford and Huddersfield now Pennine FM has closed. Rob Edwards was a good summariser.
wns_195 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-06-2010, 17:24
Adam619
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 191
With the prediction competition ever popular for commentators and there being no equivalent here for radio commentators I am wanting to see if there is enough interest in me running a prediction competition for Radio commentaries next season .
Adam619 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-06-2010, 17:31
bwfcol
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 10,280
With the prediction competition ever popular for commentators and there being no equivalent here for radio commentators I am wanting to see if there is enough interest in me running a prediction competition for Radio commentaries next season .
With which stations?

Due to commentators on 5Live being assigned mainly with geography it's not that hard to guess IMO
bwfcol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-06-2010, 22:10
The Difference
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,209
With the prediction competition ever popular for commentators and there being no equivalent here for radio commentators I am wanting to see if there is enough interest in me running a prediction competition for Radio commentaries next season .
It's a nice idea Adam, but I'm not sure how well it would work.

As Col says Five Live's commentators are mostly assigned due to geography, and what with the loss of some weekly games I could imagine that certain higher ranking commentators will start to always do games in certain timeslots (Alan Green on Saturdays at 12.30pm and Sundays at 4pm, John Murray on Saturdays at 3pm for example).

Likewise with talkSPORT, unless someone is on holiday or has another commitment, it's usually pretty easy to guess their commentators as they tend to have consistent pairings on particular games (Nigel Pearson and Stan Collymore on Saturday afternoon Premier League games, Jim Proudfoot and Collymore on Champions League games). I imagine Absolute's way of organising commentators will be similar, they should pick a pairing at the start of the season and stick with them for most of their Saturday 3pm games.

Local radio stations who mix up their commentators from one club/game/timeslot to the next might work, but then you are reliant on our regular posters in the specific regions (me on BBC WM and the Orion Midlands stations, Ian C on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, Ian F on Radio London etc) to be around and able to listen each weekend for a competition to work. Plus most of us won't know one commentator from another on stations outside of our local areas.

I'm really sorry to rain on your parade Adam but I'm not sure how workable a prediction competition for radio commentators is. Five Live and talkSPORT are not like Sky or TWI, who keep details of their commentators close to their chest and mix the pairings up from week to week.
The Difference is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-06-2010, 22:10
Thebenster
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: England
Posts: 5,407
Just heard an advert on Absolute Radio with Jon Champion (amongst a couple of others) calling a goal - great if they have signed him up. I didn't catch the other commentators in the advert but probably would if I heard it again.
Thebenster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-06-2010, 22:44
The Difference
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,209
Just heard an advert on Absolute Radio with Jon Champion (amongst a couple of others) calling a goal - great if they have signed him up. I didn't catch the other commentators in the advert but probably would if I heard it again.
I heard that as well during Baddiel & Skinner earlier. It was a trailer for their 2010/11 Premier League coverage with their Saturday games being sold as not being available on TV among other things.

There were a few Jon Champion clips along with, I think, a soundbite of Chris Waddle. I'm guessing they took clips of ESPN commentaries from last season which leads me to wonder if they've signed some kind of tie-in with ESPN UK.

Last season, ESPN had a promotional slot on talkSPORT's Saturday Sports Breakfast and on their Drivetime shows on weeknights when they were showing live games, however despite Ray Stubbs appearing on talkSPORT's World Cup launch show, there's been no promotion for their South Africa Nightly highlights show on the station during the World Cup.

Could it be that ESPN have switched stations to Absolute, perhaps in light of talkSPORT buying radio rights to their live Saturday 5.30pm TV games?

This could make sense for both parties, Absolute could use their interviews with players from shows like Talk of the Terrace, while ESPN get a platform to promote their coverage as they did on talkSPORT in 09/10.
The Difference is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-06-2010, 08:47
Gurj73
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 594
I would expect the current situation regarding Leeds United to stay the same. This creates a problem for Radio Leeds now Leeds are the biggest team in the area in terms of league status.

In the last two seasons, putting the Leeds United and Huddersfield Town coverage on the same platformhas made sense, because they've both been in the same league. It makes less sense now.

I think that there will either be one sports programme with coverage of all three local teams (how it should be), or there will be two separate programmes. If there are two separate programmes, I think that if the situation is unchanged regarding commentary rights for Leeds United and Bradford City, it would make more sense to pair them, because on weeks when Bradford are at home, Radio Leeds won't be able to do commentary. Pairing them would save Leeds fans who listen to Radio Leeds the hassle of retuning from FM to AM in areas where there is poor or no coverage of 103.9 FM.

We'll find out in the next four weeks what rights Radio Leeds will have. It'll be interesting to see if Bradford allow stations to cover home games after last season. If they do, it'll be interesting to see if the Pulse tries to obtain rights for Bradford and Huddersfield now Pennine FM has closed. Rob Edwards was a good summariser.
Thanks for the information mate, watch this space for the next few weeks then I guess !
Gurj73 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-06-2010, 11:12
The Difference
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,209
Anyone know if BBC WM has signed a commentary deal with West Bromwich Albion yet?

I've not listened recently, but it had been said on-air that they were hoping to reach a new deal with the club for 2010/11 after only having had reporting access to Baggies matches last season. Has this new deal been struck yet?
The Difference is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-06-2010, 14:10
wns_195
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Dewsbury, England
Posts: 8,684
Thanks for the information mate, watch this space for the next few weeks then I guess !
The news today is that Yorkshire Radio and Minster FM have renewed their partnership. This makes a deal between Leeds United and Radio Leeds which would enable the BBC station to broadcast Leeds matches unlikely.

In other news, Dearne FM are continuing their coverage of Barnsley. It will be the same as in previous seasons.
wns_195 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2010, 05:55
4-4-2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,233
talkSPORT, who have a double package of Premier League games next season, are losing one of their big football names. Andy Townsend, who co-presents the weekend breakfast show, is leaving the station because he no longer wants to commute from his Midlands home to the London studio.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...#ixzz0sP3zOF6m
4-4-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2010, 19:22
Ian Cleverly
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Caerphilly, South Wales
Posts: 9,465
First football of the 2010-11 season:-

Llanelli A.F.C V FK Tauras Tauragė (UEFA Europa League First qualifying round) - Simon Davies for BBC Radio Wales
Ian Cleverly is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 11:13
4-4-2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,233
Sky Sports and ESPN have released details of which games they’ll be covering live in the Premier League over the next few months, so we now have a better idea of what’ll be on BBC Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT and Absolute Radio.

These are the fixtures (IN BOLD), which seem likely to be on talkSPORT given they have rights to matches on Saturday teatime (17:30), Sunday lunchtime (usually 13:30) and some Wednesday evening matches:

AUGUST
Sat 14 Tottenham vs Man City 12.45pm
Sat 14 Chelsea v West Brom 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 15 Liverpool vs Arsenal 4pm
Mon 16 Man United vs Newcastle 8pm

Sat 21 Wigan vs Chelsea 5.15pm
Sun 22 Newcastle v Aston Villa 1:30pm (ESPN)

Sun 22 Fulham vs Man United 4pm
Mon 23 Man City vs Liverpool 8pm

Sat 28 Blackburn vs Arsenal 12.45pm
Sat 28 Manchester United v West Ham United 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 29 Bolton vs Birmingham 1.30pm

Sun 29 Aston Villa vs Everton 4pm

SEPTEMBER
Sun 12 Everton vs Man United 1.30pm
Sun 12 Birmingham vs Liverpool 4pm
Mon 13 Stoke vs Aston Villa 8pm

Sat 18 Stoke vs West Ham 12.45pm
Sat 18 Sunderland v Arsenal 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 19 Man United vs Liverpool 1.30pm
Sun 19 Chelsea vs Blackpool 4pm

Sat 25 Man City vs Chelsea 12.45pm
Sat 25 Bolton v Man United 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 26 Wolves vs Aston Villa 2pm

Sun 26 Newcastle vs Stoke 4.10pm

OCTOBER
Sun 3 Man City v Newcastle 1:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 3 Chelsea vs Arsenal 4pm
Mon 4 Wigan vs Wolves 8pm

Sat 16 Aston Villa v Chelsea 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 17 Everton vs Liverpool 1.30pm

Sun 17 Blackpool vs Man City 4pm
Mon 18 Blackburn vs Sunderland 8pm

Sat 23 Tottenham vs Everton 12.45pm
Sat 23 West Ham vs Newcastle 5.30pm
Sun 24 Stoke vs Man United 1.30pm

Sun 24 Man City vs Arsenal 4pm

Sat 30 Manchester United v Tottenham 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 31 Bolton vs Liverpool 1.30pm

Sun 31 Newcastle vs Sunderland 4pm

NOVEMBER
Mon 1 Blackpool vs West Brom 8pm

Sat 6 Bolton vs Spurs 12.45pm
Sun 7 Arsenal vs Newcastle 1.30pm
Sun 7 Liverpool vs Chelsea 4pm

Tue 9 West Ham vs West Brom 8pm
Wed 10 Man City vs Man United 8pm

Sat 13 Aston Villa vs Man United 12.45pm
Sat 13 Stoke v Liverpool 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 14 Everton vs Arsenal 2pm

Sun 14 Chelsea vs Sunderland 4.10pm

Sat 20 Liverpool v West Ham 5:30pm (ESPN)
Sun 21 Arsenal vs Tottenham 1.30pm

Sun 21 Fulham vs Man City 4pm
Mon 22 Sunderland vs Everton 8pm

Sat 27 Aston Villa vs Arsenal 12.45pm
Sun 28 Newcastle vs Chelsea 1.30pm
Sun 28 Tottenham vs Liverpool 4pm
4-4-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 11:43
bwfcol
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 10,280
I would say that there are 5/6 games that 5Live would be bothered about not beimg able to commetate on

Let's face it, Bolton vs Birmingham isn't exactly one for the neutrals
bwfcol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 12:12
The Difference
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,209
I would say that there are 5/6 games that 5Live would be bothered about not beimg able to commetate on

Let's face it, Bolton vs Birmingham isn't exactly one for the neutrals
You can say that, I couldn't possibly comment!

Seriously though, I totally disagree with your initial statement about Five Live not being too bothered about the majority of the games that talkSPORT have.

OK, over that four month period talkSPORT only have four Premier League commentaries that I'd consider as being "blockbusters" (Manchester United v Liverpool, Everton v Liverpool, Manchester City v Manchester United and Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur) but most of their games look pretty good to me.

19 of the 24 highlighted games involve at least one of Sky's "Big Four" (that's including Liverpool but not Spurs), the teams Five Live would always want to do commentaries on whenever possible under previous circumstances. Remember, we are talking about the station that prioritised a routine Manchester United v Middlesbrough fixture over the Super League Grand Final on a Saturday night at 5.30pm a few years back.

Of the other five games not involving the "Big Four" you have a West Midlands derby between Wolves and Aston Villa plus three Newcastle United fixtures with them playing Villa, Manchester City and West Ham United. These are the sort of matches talkSPORT would have considered picking if they were available in the Saturday 3pm timeslot over the past few seasons, so they should easily be able to command an audience for them.

In Bolton v Blues, you have cherry picked the least glamorous game of the ones that have been emboldened. Maybe that one isn't the best, but that apart you have a far better selection of games than the Premier League fixtures talkSPORT were able to commentate on in the corresponding four months of last year.

I think talkSPORT will be very pleased with the way the TV games have been divided up, as most of their matches are ones which Five Live would normally deem worthy of commentary and heavy on-air promotion if they had access to them.
The Difference is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 12:29
bwfcol
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 10,280
I take your point, I don't think 5Live will suffer too much on Saturday evenings. Will be interesting to see if they do FL commentaries or concentrate on Sports Report/606. Possibility is a full Sports Report followed by 2nd half comms on FL and then 606 but we'll see

Sunday afternoons and I think they will suffer, other than F1 I do wonder how they will fill the time. Maybe some RU club commentaries but that's not going to bring in too many listeners and neither is 4 hours of chat.

Do 5Live have rigths to games rearranged fue to the Europa League? That will help if they do.
bwfcol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 12:33
4-4-2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,233
5 Live have already said what they're going to be doing:

There's a new look weekend schedule for BBC Radio 5 Live: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pre...08/5live.shtml

HEADLINES

* Sports Report returns for its full hour netween 1700-1800 on a Saturday.
* Mark Chapman and Robbie Savage present 606 on a Saturday between 1800-2000.
* Alan Green presents the Sunday edition of 606 from 1800.
On that first Sunday, they'll be able to do commentary of Nottingham Forest v Leeds. That kicks-off at 13:15, which can precede commentary of Liverpool v Arsenal at 16:00.
4-4-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 12:37
bwfcol
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 10,280
Oh yes, I forgot about that announcement!
bwfcol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 12:42
The Difference
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,209
As I understand it, Five Live will be doing Sports Report (5-6pm) and then 606 (6-8pm) on most Saturday evenings next season. The evening Football League commentaries will most probably air in full on Sports Extra, with some exceptions. (EDIT - I see 4-4-2 has beat me to this!)

Sundays will be more of a problem for them. Due to the terms of their contract with the FIA, they have to prioritise F1 Grand Prixs ahead of everything else (which I think was a big factor in why the Sunday 1.30pm contract was one they chose to drop - it makes sense to give up a contract they couldn't properly justify due to another commitment rather than one they can) but on some non-race weekends deciding what to do could be a headache.

I'm not 100 per cent certain on this one, but logic dictates that the re-arranged Europa League fixtures would simply fall into the lap of whichever broadcaster holds the package covering the timeslots they are each played in.

So if Manchester City's first post-Europa League match is to be played on a Sunday at 3pm it would come under Five Live's jurisdiction, while if Liverpool's first post-Europe game is due to take place at 2pm on a Sunday it would come under talkSPORT's remit.

In these instances, judging by what's happened over the past few seasons, Five Live and talkSPORT could opt to commentate on these games ahead of the TV fixtures or even do two commentaries, with one going out in part/full on Sports Extra/their digital platforms. But Five Live couldn't pick up a re-arranged Europa League fixture and put it directly against a talkSPORT commentary or vice versa.
The Difference is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 13:03
4-4-2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,233
So if Manchester City's first post-Europa League match is to be played on a Sunday at 3pm it would come under Five Live's jurisdiction, while if Liverpool's first post-Europe game is due to take place at 2pm on a Sunday it would come under talkSPORT's remit.
Yeah, talkSPORT's rights are for games kicking-off before 15:00 on Sunday, whereas 5 Live's are for games kicking-off at 15:00 or after.
4-4-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 13:09
4-4-2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,233
I've also seen this:

Sunday, 26 September 2010
Bolton v Man Utd, 12:00 - I'd imagine they'd go with this over Wolves v Villa.
Wolverhampton v Aston Villa, 14:05

Sunday, 31 October 2010
Aston Villa v Birmingham, 12:00 - Is this bigger than Bolton v Liverpool in terms of general audience appeal?
Bolton v Liverpool, 13:30
Newcastle v Sunderland, 16:00

Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Aston Villa v Blackpool, 19:45
Chelsea v Fulham, 19:45
Newcastle v Blackburn, 19:45
Everton v Bolton, 20:00
Man City v Man Utd, 20:00 - My money would be on this one to be on TS.
Wolverhampton v Arsenal, 20:00

Would talkSPORT perhaps pick a different game than the one being shown on TV those days?
4-4-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 13:13
mw1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Coventry
Posts: 3,401
What's the situation with Orion Media, Do they still have a deal in place to Cover Coventry City Matches starting August 7th on Mercia?

I'd imagine BBC Coventry and Warwickshire will still be doing live Commentary of Coventry Games in August
mw1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 13:15
4-4-2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,233
Not sure, but The Goalzone button remains on the Mercia FM site: http://www.mercia.co.uk/sectional.asp?id=17703

Or maybe give 'em a ring and just ask:

Ring the studio: 02476 555 444
Tel: (office) 024 7686 8200
4-4-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2010, 13:17
bwfcol
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 10,280
I've also seen this:

Sunday, 26 September 2010
Bolton v Man Utd, 12:00 - I'd imagine they'd go with this over Wolves v Villa.
Wolverhampton v Aston Villa, 14:05

Sunday, 31 October 2010
Aston Villa v Birmingham, 12:00 - Is this bigger than Bolton v Liverpool in terms of general audience appeal?
Bolton v Liverpool, 13:30
Newcastle v Sunderland, 16:00

Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Aston Villa v Blackpool, 19:45
Chelsea v Fulham, 19:45
Newcastle v Blackburn, 19:45
Everton v Bolton, 20:00
Man City v Man Utd, 20:00 - My money would be on this one to be on TS.
Wolverhampton v Arsenal, 20:00

Would talkSPORT perhaps pick a different game than the one being shown on TV those days?
ESPN have picked us vs Man Utd for the Sat at 5:30
bwfcol is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 19:04.