I doubt that ITV would go fir Champion, he hasnt been on ITV for a while and the fact that he hasnt been part of their coverage for the last couple of major international tournaments somewhat suggests that he wouldnt be a replacement. Then that only leaves two... Matterface and Speight. I know that most, myself included would like Speight to take over from Tyldesley but you somewhat sense that ITV want Matterface to be the long term voice of Football on ITV.

Hoddle is a decent pundit, i dont know why ITV dont just switch Hoddle and Dixon around. I know it has been said many times but it really is a simple solution.

Ive not listened to Channel 9's cricket coverage for a while. Isnt Mark Nicholas a part of their coverage. I havent heard any bias from him before, although he would be the only english member of an australian team! Nicholas is one of the best broadcasters across all sports for me.

Young blood in Matterface would be a good choice for ITV after all he is clear number 2 at the moment and probably will be come Russia 2018.

If there is any shift between now and then, then why not Joe Spright?, Jon Champion would be a long shot for me.

As for Clive tonight well to be honest nothing more than we really expect from him on nights like these made so much worse as he will persist in trying to make decisions for the referee in Englands favour, for me not called for, off course he is going to want a England victory but like Readingfan has already pointed out no need for all the "should of been" "this time surely" etc etc just think thats poor commentary all round.

Matterface is a much better TV commentator than he is on the radio. In fact, he seems to adopt a completely different style. On the TV, he goes into "professional mode" whereas on talkSPORT he has the tendency to make some ridiculous comments and not do a very good job. Hopefully anyone who has listened to him on the radio will know what I'm talking about.

Clive Tyldesley won't be going anywhere for quite some time I suspect so any talk of a replacement using the current set up as a guide is wildly off the mark. ITV football is ruthless, just ask Gabby Logan, Steve Rider, Adrian Chiles, Peter Drury, Jim Beglin et al. Not bad while they need you but the moment you're number one the pressure is on and if you're not good enough you'll get replaced.

When the time comes that they need a new number one, and I can't see that being required for a few more years minimum, they will bring in anyone they want rather than just make do with whoever the number 2 is. Matterface is not at the level previous #2 Drury was in terms of assignments; Drury got live semi finals, Euro 08 final highlights and a larger share of big games that the current #2 simply doesn't.

Having said all that I thought Clive was annoying tonight with one-eyed pleading and faux appeals to the referee. Bitter, desperate and unnecessary because he is still among the best in the country.

European Qualifiers highlights (ITV)

Jacqui Oatley MBE presenting with Ally McCoist and Robbie Fowler.

Slovakia v England - Clive Tyldesley and Glenn Hoddle with Gabriel Clarke conducting interviews.

Malta v Scotland - Sam Matterface commentary with Paul Barnes conducting interviews.

Lithuania v Slovenia - Sue Thearle reporting

Czech Republic v Northern Ireland - Joe Speight

The Northern Ireland edit was only 3 minutes suggesting its presence is a continuation of the informal agreement between ITV and Sky during the first two years of this tournament.

I think it will be Matterface - but would prefer Speight. I just think he's far better - great voice and very consistent and for me frankly the standout commentator of the Euros.

I'm never been particularly impressed when I've heard Matterface - on TV or radio.

Think it will be one of those two who succeeds Clive on ITV - with their current live football portfolio being limited to internationals and CL highlights I can't see them poaching new commentators especially as Matterface and Speight have done 2 tournaments for ITV now.

Of course it's been a while since ITV have had to appoint a new main football commmentator so goodness knows whether I'm right or not with the above.

I'd have to slightly disagree with Seagull_Mark though on Drury and Beglin. Both were used for several years for ITV -Beglin at least 8 years and Drury around 14 years so ITV were fairly loyal to both.

Bar the presenter role (which really does seem to be a revolving chair of hosts) ITV do actually stay quite loyal to their football personnel - sometimes too loyal for me, Clive (just kidding Andy)

I don't think he's great either, it just seems that when he's on TV he comes across as something resembling a credible commentator. When he's on the radio he is anything but.

Does anyone know his history? He used to be a newsreader on Sky Sports News so I was surprised when I first heard him doing commentary, but maybe he does in actual fact have a commentary background that I didn't know about.

He was a radio commentator for The Quay in Portsmouth in the early noughties. Not sure what he did between that and SSN.

World Cup 2018 Qualifiers (Sky Sports):

Malta v Scotland (Sky Sports 1 & 5):

David Jones presented with Neil McCann and Shaun Maloney. Luke Shanley reported.

Commentators - Ian Crocker and Davie Provan



Czech Republic v Northern Ireland (Sky Sports 2):

Graham Little presented with Steve Lomas. Paul Gilmour reported.

Commentators - Daniel Mann and Gerry Armstrong



Norway v Germany:

Sky Sports 3 - Kevin Keatings and Andy Walker



Romania v Montenegro:

Sky Sports 1 Red Button/World Feed - Gary Taphouse

Though I believe - England aside - that C9 don't invite a guest commentator from the touring country and a number of Aussie cricket fans don't like their one-eyed commentary and they would like to hear a voice "from the visitors' perspective", to balance things out.

Lithuania v Slovenia- Paul Walker for the world feed
Wales v Moldova- Tony Jones for the world feed
Cyprus v Belgium- Ian Crocker for Sky
Russia v Ghana- Dan O'Hagan for the world feed
Peru v Ecuador- Dan O'Hagan for the world feed

I'd have to disagree on this one. Ive found Matterface better on Talksport than when he is on TV with ITV. The issue with Matterface's TV commentary is that he often misidentifies players, more often than any other commentator, and he always seems to be slightly behind with play. He has now had a few years with ITV doing TV commentary and hasnt really improved that much since when he first started with them. I would agree with BFGArmy that Speight is better and more deserving of taking over from Clive Tyldesley.

Speight is seemingly impressing ITV as he had much more high profile matches over the Euros than he did during the last World Cup and he is a very good commentator that has had a good rapport with whichever co-commentator he has been paired with whether it be Iain Dowie or Lee Dixon.

They did have Ian Smith last winter when New Zealand were touring, but the point stands, they use fewer 'visiting' commentators than pretty much any cricket broadcaster. Sky for example always have one, plus a couple of neutral voices

Georgia v Austria - Sky Sports 1.

Commentators: Gary Taphouse and Neil McCann

I've seen Tyler described as being bias towards United, Liverpool, Arsenal and City and almost every other club in the league at some point. Which to me sugests he must be doing something right.

I think sometimes he does have a tendency to follow a narrative though..

Serbia v Ireland - Rob Hawthorne & Ray Houghton on Sky Sports 2, Jon Champion on the world feed

World Cup Qualifiers – Monday 5 September (Sky Sports 1)

Group D – Wales v Moldova

Simon Thomas in the studio with Dean Saunders, Mark Bowen and (briefly) Niall Quinn.

Commentators: Bill Leslie and Barry Horne

Reporter: Bryn Law

Monday 5th September - Sky Sports 1

FIFA World Cup Qualifier Live: Wales v Moldova

Simon Thomas presented from the studio alongside Mark Bowen and Dean Saunders

Commentators: Bill Leslie and Barry Horne

Reporter: Bryn Law


Sky Sports 2

FIFA World Cup Qualifier Live: Serbia v Republic of Ireland

Pete Graves presented from the studio alongside Niall Quinn

Commentators: Rob Hawthorne and Ray Houghton

Reporter: Patrick Davison

Just to tie tonight's home nations details together in one post. As OMc mentions, Niall Quinn joined the Wales panel for the first segment of their coverage, which started at 7pm with things getting underway at 7.30pm on Sky Sports 2. They also spoke to Barry Horne and Ray Houghton in-vision during that portion of the build-up.

S4C's highlights of Wales v Moldova presented by Dylan Ebenezer, with commentary from Nic Parry and Malcolm Allen.

ITV's highlights on the Iplayer from Sunday's programme seem to be missing the 2nd half of the Scotland game..!

http://www.itv.com/hub/world-cup-qua...ts/2a4649a0001

Gibraltar v Greece- John Roder
Switzerland v Portugal- Tony Jones and Danny Mills

Sweden v Holland - ITV4.

Jacqui Oatley presenting coverage with Ronald De Boer and Glenn Hoddle.

Commentators: Sam Matterface and Iain Dowie.

Cyprus Vs Belgium - Ian Crocker and Garry Birtles

Belarus Vs France - Daniel Mann and Andy Walker

Switzerland Vs Portugal - Bill Leslie and Don Goodman

Just to put the info in yet another format, here's the personnel for all the home nations in this round of fixtures...

Slovakia vs England - Introduced by Mark Pougatch with Lee Dixon and Ian Wright, commentary by Clive Tyldesley and Glenn Hoddle
Malta vs Scotland - Introduced by Dave Jones with Shaun Maloney and Neil McCann, commentary by Ian Crocker and Davie Provan
Czech Rep vs Northern Ireland - Introduced by Graham Little with Steve Lomas, commentary by Daniel Mann and Gerry Armstrong
Wales vs Moldova - Introduced by Simon Thomas with Mark Bowen and Dean Saunders, commentary by Bill Leslie and Barry Horne
Serbia vs Ireland - Introduced by Pete Graves with Niall Quinn, commentary by Rob Hawthorne and Ray Houghton

And the weekend's club football was...

Peterborough vs Swindon - Introduced by George Gavin with David Prutton, commentary by Gary Weaver and Garry Birtles
Torquay vs Lincoln - Introduced by Matt Smith with Chris Hargreaves and Jim Harvey, commentary by Steve Bower and Adam Virgo
The Football League on Sky Sports - Introduced by George Gavin with Keith Andrews and Peter Beagrie, Northampton vs Franchise commentary by Rob Palmer and Don Goodman, Gillingham vs Sheff U commentary by Gary Weaver and Danny Higginbotham


Well, ITV had a lot more football in those days, and certainly a lot more live football. They certainly seem to share out the highlights pretty fairly between Tyldesley and Matterface, he gets a decent amount of big games. But as you say, when it comes to picking Tyldesley's replacement, it would seem more likely to be hiring someone from outside. ITV number one is a bit different to the number one role on other channels in that it involves a small number of high profile games, so it may well be the case that they get in a high profile freelancer - maybe even Jon Champion - who has name recognition and can juggle it with their other work.


Indeed, I assume it was agreed because it would have looked bizarre to have England and Scotland in it and not the other home nation playing that day. Scotland got a good long edit, about fifteen minutes or so, and lots of chat, which meant that there was actually a point to this programme and it wasn't just a straight retread of the live coverage, which is normally what we get in these shows.


Indeed, and many of the people who have departed have come back as freelancers - people like Jim Rosenthal and Andy Townsend - so it's clear that they have a good experience at ITV and they're happy to work with them. It also suggests that many of the big decisions might have come from higher up at ITV, and ITV Sport themselves have no real problem with them, and vice versa.

As you say, Drury especially was there for a long time and got lots of high profile work (despite the criticism often thrown at him) so it's clear ITV Sport liked his work. Just so happens that sometimes a new person at the top comes in and some people's faces don't fit, but that happens in all parts of TV. Certainly in the case of the presenter role, it's often been the case that someone big has come on the market and they want to snap them up, regardless of whether there was someone in situ. When Adrian Chiles fell out with the BBC, for example, there was an obvious opportunity for ITV to sign him up because he was a hot property. They could sort out Steve Rider after.