'We want Jamo'.


I don't want to be too harsh but Jake really does make some cringeworthy statements at times when he goes into 'BT Salesman' mode. I get that every company 'sells themselves' to a degree but Jake doesn't exactly do it subtly.

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They're not that great tbh. Much of the original criticism concerned the mere idea of using two co-commentators; that BT were being different for the sake of it. NBCSN have followed and they get lauded

I think there's an element of bashing the local broadcasters here.

As I said (and mistyped) NBCSN's screen is incredibly busy for the whole 90 minutes; the scorebar is huge, and they have onscreen commercials yet they get praised.

Compare and contrast the meltdown in this thread when BT have the temerity to promote their own upcoming programming - which they do twice a half I think. Although their use of the BT Box is OTT (a shame because if used correctly it would be a massive bonus) but if you were to watch BT and NBCSN side by side you;d see the difference and never complain about BT again

Of course, being American, the pre- and post- match punditry is given no room to breathe thanks to the frequency of commercial interruption.

On the other hand, their overflow Extra Time channels take the world feed and are at the game usually around ten minutes before kick off, so you are able to get a feel for the game without commercials interrupting (which I still cannot believe our premium subscription channels do).

It seems he's now appearing on coverage of the conference as I caught him giving his views on the game earlier today. Well at least BT have got something right as far as Jamo is concerned. On the subject of 3 man commentaries, I think Fletcher, Savage and Jamo could potentially be the worst combination known to man, though I doubt BT could ever stoop this low !

Poor Matt Smith - going from CL coverage on Tuesday to Jamo on Saturday.

Not very often this happens but you could hear the female stadium announcer over Darke's commentary asking everyone to remain seated and that the safety is on kids.

The same duo are on Everton v Middlesbough at the moment. With Champion also commentating tomorrow on Spurs v Sunderland this makes it a very busy weekend for him with 3 commentaries in 3 days (and a very busy week if we also add in his CL/EL commitments for BT - 5 games in 5 days!).

Darke fantastic so far tonight, really good on the Everton calls. Have to add as well that BT have brought in Howard Webb well in this game with the rather controversial referring.

The use of Webb in this game has been excellent, well used in this game so far.

Again the same old question do they really need a 3 man commentary line up? Darke and Mcmanaman would of been excellent on their own instead Mcmanaman and Hoddle trying to get words in over each other.

Hoddle made a rather bizarre comment about 'foreigners making a meal of situations' where as a British player would just get on with it. Social media swooped in on this particular comment. Rather embarrassing and further evidence Hoddle really doesn't offer too much on commentary other than comments that don't really mean a great deal.

Impressive workload by Jon Champion.

Seems like quite a lot of people have had a busy week - Darren Fletcher will have had 4 games during the week (Arsenal in CL, MU Europa League, presenting Chelsea/Liverpool for 5Live and Watford/MU tomorrow), Jermaine Jenas 3 games in 3 days earlier this week and today is Hargreaves's 4th game of the week.

Probably a few I missed there too.


Whenever I listen to Hoddle on commentary, it does make me wonder how anyone thought a few months back he should be England manager/England saviour. I get being a good commentator doesn't make you a good manager etc. but at the same time I do wonder how anyone can listen to him and think 'that's the guy that should be England manager'

I remember Ray Wilkins actually suggesting Glenn Hoddle should be made England manager because of his commentaries. Nearly spat out my coffee when I read that.

Thought your comment on him and Francis recently was brilliant Jonny.

While I don't mind Fletcher, nice to hear Darke on what I've seen of the game. I'm sure casinoman will agree.

110% mate, such a shame BT didnt keep the game sharing between the 2 of them the same as in previous seasons.

Darke was good tonight and seemed to really enjoy being there, how long now untill his next prem game?
Probably Chelsea Everton.

This thread in a nutshell:

- I hate Jake Humphrey.
- I love Ian Darke.

Oddly I think part of the reason BT moved Arsenal-Spurs to Sunday was so that Darren Fletcher could cover both games. There was no reason to move the game from 12.45 Saturday in the first place.

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Woah, stay on your feet Ray !
I think Ray has fallen into that category though of over the hill pundits in all fairness. I know there was a bit of a love in for Wilkins when BT first got the CL rights and lots of people on the thread wanted them to snap him up. But the few times that I've seen him doing any form of punditry he seems a little out of his depth.

There was some tackle involving a Boro player and Williams - which the latter just got up from so he said an overseas player would be rolling around etc but Hoddle didn't talk about the fact they were all crowding around the ref asking for a card...

Have you never heard that? It's pretty much a given you'll hear that whenever the TV cameras are at Goodison.

Hargreaves showing what an excellent pundit he is today on the BT match. He was articulate and thorough in his analysis alongside Paul Ince. It's a shame BT don't have a regular no 1 commentator because while I think he is alright on comms, he really is being wasted there. I'd much prefer it if they shifted Jenas into the role if it meant it gave Hargreaves more punditry time.

Don't know how you got that impression.

Though to be fair to Jake this post-match stuff was very watchable - the studio team interviewing Koeman was well done- and *whisper it* I sort of enjoyed PL Tonight (I will accept my lashings as punishment).

First time I've seen it and the pally stuff was less forced than I'd been led to believe and that it had the potential to be given Jake, Ince and Mcmanaman are involved and it's a separate show from the main coverage so a different tone is fair enough.

Though I guess it very much depends on the pundits.
They're not on together often but I enjoy Hargreaves and Mcmanaman as a partnership. Both seem to get along without it descending into 'bantz' like some people on BT do.
Not sure I'd enjoy Savage on a show like this though. Have I just been lucky viewing it this week ?

That said using a Piers Morgan tweet was poor form. The show is meant to be about normal fans- if people want to hear Morgan's views (and goodness knows why anyone would want to) I'm sure they could find themselves.

Probably doesn't help that I loathe Morgan more than casinoman does David James.




I'd have to agree. He seems to have appeared on 'Sky Sports Now' a bit too - which is never a good sign. That seems to be the home of the likes of Alan Curbishley and co.

I do love a good 'young man' and 'my word' though.

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This i will agree with you on, he was very good tonight and far better suited in the pundit role unlike last week when he was just simply shocking in the commentary box.

Just a shame BT can't look a little further and put viewers first rather than their ego's.

Humphrey in the past has forced the issues on himself really. The whole pally nature that BT wanted is very badly contrived. It was as if they were trying to force the friendships on. Although it is different the old Top Gear trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May allowed the friendship to build over time on the show without being forced upon, and that is what made the show work so well. BT obviously want a relationship like that with their presenters and pundits but if they just let it develop slowly it would probably work alot better.

Using Piers Morgan tweets is fairly low really. Morgan just spurts out tweets for attention. If everyone just ignored him he would eventually go away. Sadly that isnt the case! Could you really loathe Morgan that much BFG? . That said i really dont like Morgan that much either. For me I dislike Morgan as much as casinoman dislikes David James. Although the Tennis commentaries of both Andrew Castle and John Inverdale are rapidly trying to accelerate past Piers Morgan.

To be fair I can imagine some of the pundits do get on rather well on BT. I've no problems with them having a few laughs or jokes as long as the focus is still mainly on the football or that they don't do it so often that it becomes irritating. Sadly some at times don't seem to realise where the line is.

I loathe him as much as Stewart Robson does Arsene Wenger (Robson does even more so than Morgan).

Not a huge fan of Castle here -think we all discussed him on here a few weeks ago actually.
Inverdale I'm also not a fan of - his presenting style really isn't for me - but I do feel at times there's a bit of a feeding frenzy in terms of the reaction to his presenting where any small mistake is torn apart. That may be true of Jake on here to be fair but Inverdale is a better presenter than Jake.

The Morgan thing aside though I did enjoy PLTonight. That Manchester City kid made me smile and had the Jake Humphrey interview technique down to a tee


Have to agree. The punditry tonight was very good - bar an odd statement or two from Ince. This has been said a lot about the other Owen by others but Hargreaves really is so much better in the studio. BT should use where he's best.

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