Originally Posted by toon geordie:
“I respect your opinion The Difference and maybe I am being over-critical of Graham Courtney who has a big fan in Harry Redknapp who loves his voice. I also believe Graham Courtney gives good appraisals of the North East clubs when contributing to the Alan Brazil show in the mornings.I suppose I have listened intently to his reports for some years now being a Toon fan which has maybe made me more focused on his reports than anyone else's. However, I stand by my opinion, I just think his reports lack description and are unconvincing.”
Good to hear that you took my response in the spirit it was intended. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on Graham Courtney - what I like about him is not just that he has a distinctive radio voice (as Harry Redknapp said as much in that infamous interview from last season) but he has a strong delivery for exciting passages of play, his voice and manner audibly changes when the ball is around the goalmouth and he is well capable of stringing together a lot of information in a short space of time.
I've never heard him commentate before although I know he did cover Newcastle and later Middlesbrough games for Metro and then TFM prior to becoming Newcastle's press officer in the mid 1990s and, more than ever after the big games he reported on at the end of the season, I'd be really keen to hear how he'd sound over the course of 90 minutes these days.
Originally Posted by toon geordie:
“Re your question about commentators from within Talksport, I would like to see Tony Incenzo given a chance. He has covered some high profile games this season in the Premier League and is fluent, descriptive and accurate. I think you mentioned John Temple as being under-rated and I like him too but apart from one Newcastle game I cant remember him doing a Premier League game, so he seems to be an unlikely choice. You may know if they have done commentaries but I dont think so.
I thought Talksport's coverage of the final days of the Championship and Premier League were generally very good and I agree Graham Lloyd did well, though generally I feel his references to nicknames are a bit schoolboyish and he regularly hesitates so he is not among my favourites.
Talksport brought in one or two new reporters towards the end of last season who seemed a bit below the station's normal level, though Naz Premji impressed.
As I have said before, what makes the station so much better than 5 Live for me on match days is Adrian Durham, whose depth of football knowledge far surpasses any other football media presenter.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree re Graham Courtney but it's all about opinions and we both seem to like Talksport so we are on the same side!”
The reason that John Temple doesn't get as many Premier League games to cover as certain other reporters do will be based on his geography more than anything else, he typically covers games in Yorkshire and Humberside, areas which don't have any Premier League teams at the moment, although surely he'll get the chance to cover his fair share of Hull's top flight matches next season. The same is true of a few other reporters - Geoff Peters, who I rate very highly as their Championship correspondent, is the same given the state of East Midlands football these days (although hopefully that will change in the next few years with Derby, Leicester and Forest all looking like they are moving in a positive direction).
Geoff would also be high on my list of talkSPORT reporters that I would like to hear given a chance to commentate again, he has had a few opportunities in the past (during their last FA Cup contract over a decade a go and during the 2006 World Cup) where I thought he did well and I've been impressed by what I've heard of his commentary work for UEFA.com. Dave Rowe's description of the late drama in the Watford v Leicester play-off game was pretty breathless and I know he's got a track record in commentary with The Wolf and Signal 2, so I wouldn't mind hearing him getting a go too. Simon Humphreys is another commentator at local level with a very distinctive voice and of course I'd like to hear a bit more of mainstays Nigel Pearson and Ian Danter, who have received less frequent opportunities in recent seasons but IMO are just as good if not better than some of the newer commentators.
Tony Incenzo is an interesting one. His reports are always well constructed and full of information but he's one of the few members of the talkSPORT reporting team who does not have any commentary experience to my knowledge - prior to joining the Matchday Live team he was only ever a reporter on LBC and Capital Gold in London I think. Grahame Lloyd is another one of those reporters who puts together really descriptive and thoughtful pre- and post-match pieces. I can see what you are getting at with the schoolboyish comment but personally I like the element of whimsical humour he adds to his updates, it is something different but at the same time he is not to in-your-face with it. As with Roger Hughes, I have heard him commentating for BBC Radio Wales on a fair few occasions and wouldn't mind hearing either of them getting the chance to do a full game on a UK-wide basis.
I think I may have tipped about half a dozen of talkSPORT's regular reporters as potential national radio commentators - it just goes to show what strength in depth I think the Matchday Live team has. It's good to read the thoughts of someone who is of a similar opinion to me generally and can put their thoughts into words well.