Originally Posted by Readingfan:
“I'm not sure if the BBC do have enough depth to cope on the football front currently. They're probably ok for the regular season but in terms of the 2014 World Cup for instance I think they might have to rejig things a bit. I remember in the past they seemed to have a strong team of commentators for major tournaments even with 2 main commentator but now they tend to mainly use just 1 commentator during the group stage and they look a bit short to me. Presuming Ingham and Dennis mainly concentrate on England reporting duties, you've only really got Green, Murray, McNamara and Bruce-Ball as obvious contenders for radio commentary (the latter of which I really don't rate.) This will be even more the case whenever Green and Ingham retire.”
Personally, if it is correct that Darren Fletcher and Alastair Eykyn are moving to BT Sport (I'm not one to overly doubt Charles Sale, as I think he has a good track record with personnel moves, but neither has confirmed this report on Twitter yet), it would not surprise me if Radio 5 Live brought back Mike Sewell on a contracted basis as a direct replacement for Fletcher on the football commentary/reporting front.
From around the midway point of the season onwards, both Sewell and David Oates until his sad and untimely passing has been/were freelancing as reporters on 5 Live a semi-regular basis, with Sewell having done the odd commentary too. I suspect Nigel Adderley would have been as well had he not found his feet on talkSPORT from about October onwards. It must have been a wrench for 5 Live's bosses to choose to not renew the contracts of those three and others last summer but seeing as they are still on friendly terms with Sewell, it might just be a case that if Fletcher is going they will table another contract offer his way. That would seem sensible to me.
Of course, they could offer something to Adderley instead, but he might feel that he is happy at talkSPORT and would rather be their second/third choice football commentator with a chance of commentating on club finals and quarter/semi-finals at the big tournaments than go back to 5 Live and at best find himself being fifth or sixth in their pecking order even after the retirement of Green and/or Ingham.
Originally Posted by shaun_d:
“I think Fletcher will be mostly missed from the NFL coverage as there doesn't seem an obvious replacement. That show has been really unlucky in its short life, that'll be the fourth man they've lost to TV.”
Two of the other three being Arlo White and Neil Reynolds - I'll probably kick myself when you mention the name, but who is the third person 5 Live NFL has lost to TV?
I think the most probable successor to Fletcher on 5 Live NFL is Tony Husband - he's covered for him on quite a few occasions over the past two years and has TV experience as well on South Today, so could fill his shoes on the Red Button's coverage of Monday Night Football as well. It's worth mentioning that Husband has commentated on football for both 5 Live and BBC Radio Solent, so he could be an option as a replacement for Fletch in both roles.
As for Alastair Eykyn, could someone like James Burridge from BBC Radio Northampton step up to replace him as their secondary rugby union commentator full-time? Burridge has had an increasing presence on Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra, commentating as well as reporting, this season. Or to put another name out there, I'm not sure if Jason Harris (the Saracens commentator on BBC Three Counties Radio) has been heard on 5 Live before but he must be highly rated at local level as he'll be commentating on the British & Irish Lions tour for Swansea Sound this summer, so if he impresses in Australia, 5 Live bosses could look to bring him into their team (perhaps doing what Burridge does now if he steps up to replace Eykyn).