On Carragher, as you said about BT's program let's wait and see.

As you say maybe BT's program may be a big success (and we'll obviously have to wait and see) - but I'd say it's more likely it'll be a failure.
Setanta tried to do a rival to Soccer Saturday and did abysmally, BT have abandoned a number of studio-based shows already and viewers I imagine are already very loyal to the results shows they listen to (whether that be Final Score, Soccer Saturday or 5 Live).

On the studio based shows point, even Fletch and Sav which was constantly mentioned by BT only got 50k of viewers I think. So I can't see this show toppling Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara.

If it keeps 'Arry and David James away from live matches though then I hope it stays around for years to come.

Duane Dell'oca is with Roger Tames on the Portugal v Argentina match

Ta!

Sweden v Colombia - Richard Drew and Glen Larmer

No, no it's not a figment of your imagination....it really did happen. I was about to mention it when I saw MOTD2 Extra as ITV's Monday show was very similar....well, the final season.

I didn't like much of the first series, hardly remember the second (was Gabby still presenting by then?), but the last season was very distinct. Usually a commentator, a journalist, an ITV pundit and Matt Smith having a look at the Monday game and the weekend's action.

In an era when football was becoming a lot more statistical, I thought ITV did an OK job with incorporating data into their coverage. The press panned Prozone, which was a shame because they were on to something that the BBC hadn't explored. MOTD did however nick the 'pop-up scorebar facts' which made ITV's coverage a bit more interesting.

Steve Robilliard

Colombia v New Zealand- Kevin Keatings for OBS on Saturday

Very much looking forward to reading it Peter.

I think I mentioned on here about Sky launching their PL coverage on Monday. Souness, Redknapp, Carragher and Henry will all be in attendance at Sky Central for it. I'll let you all know any details that may be of interest but I think we already know most of what's to come. New EFL titles too, which you may have seen this week.

Robbie is doing Saturday 606 so not sure how much he'll be on BT Score?

He also announced he's back on MOTD this season which I know will delight everyone

It's not on this Saturday, they are starting it with the Premier League thus ignoring the EFL kickoff.

I suppose, but they certainly aren't every week of the season. I think the situation we have now, where we get MOTD2 moved to Monday for matches of huge signifiance, is probably the best way to do it, because the Monday matches often aren't particularly spectacular - especially given they mostly do them in Champions League weeks and they can't have any Champions League teams in them. Whereas we have Sunday matches every week of the season and they're usually big games.


Well, indeed. And you can hardly argue against BT's pundits when Soccer Saturday has Paul Merson as a regular, one of the most inarticulate and error-prone pundits on the telly. They did do a bit like a scores service on their first ever Premier League weekend in 2013 where after the main game the pundits carried on giving scoreflashes and dipping in and out of the rugby on BT Sport 2, which was pretty unconvincing. Presumably this will have a bit more investment in it. As mentioned, there used to be three goals services on a Saturday, with The Goal Rush on ITV and Setanta's effort, although the other two have a lot more reporters these days - certainly a decade or so ago you didn't have reporters at every Championship game, as the Beeb do now.


Yes, the Premiership Parliament was only in the first season, 2001/02, with Gabby and Ally and a studio audience, with guests and features and lots of comedy items that fell flat on their face, and nobody liked it. Then the other two seasons it was as you say, Matt Smith marshalling a panel of pundits, a bit like MOTD2 Extra indeed but with the goals, and it was a million times better. The regular bits included Fact Or Fiction where Matt would ask the panel to ponder the likelihood of the latest rumours, and the Champagne Moment where they'd pick the best thing that happened that weekend from a shortlist of three.

The problem was that on Monday it was always on really late, during the Rugby World Cup in 2003 it ended up at 12.30am a few times, and Matt ended one of those by saying "Send us an email, we'll send you a medal".


Well, they are a bit distracted with some other sport.

Only a short straightish bit, Mark, for the programme, but I'll probably do another blog for the Brighton website soon, and I'm in "discussions" with the Argus about possibly writing a regular column. We'll see..........

Can't believe Roger Thames is still going, as I've seen on here!
Used to work with Roger god knows how many decades ago!
Lovely guy.

Retire?......some commentators will need an operation to separate them from the microphone!

Although with Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea not in the CL there's a better chance of big Monday nights games this year.

What other sport is distracting them?

Saturday's schedule is:

Silly Little Game (ESPN 30for30 documentary about fantasy sports)
FIA F3 European Championship (highlights)
Lurgan Park Rally (Highlights)
NBA Playoffs (Highlights)

It's giving Soccer Saturday a 1 week headstart and viewers will fall back into the habit of tuning in, they will be less likely to sample.

Looks like Ian Darke covering West Ham v Juventus on Sunday night for BT Sport.

Indeed he is, amazingly he has chosen this over attending my annual barbecue!

I f you are referring to the BBC, I think they might just mention the Olympics occasionally....

Thought you were referring to 606 there, where along with Final Score there are obvious other distractions on the BBC.

As for BT starting their score service next week, presumably this is because they'll only be able to have feeds for the Premier League (as rights holders), so a bit like when Final Score only has the Football League, they won't have anything to watch and it'd just be the presenter reading out scores with the pundits not being able to offer much as they can't see anything, so it would be boring and unrepresentative of what they'd be doing for the rest of the season. They'll want to start it when episode one is how it's going to be every week.

Also, most of the casual audience will be hanging on until the start of the Premier League season anyway. The point of the BT show is to build it around the Premier League coverage.

TBH, I think I ready bwfcol's post in the wrong way, really shouldn't comment until i've put my glasses on.

I do think though that if BT are going to ignore the EFL they will be limiting their audience. I do admit that I have a vested interest due to Newcastle's abysmal performance last season.

If they aren't going to dispatch reporters to matches across the country and use the feeds they have access to it certainly won't be a comprehensive service and I'm unlikely to tune in. Will however wait and see what the first edition is like before passing further comment.

My invite must still be in the post

I agree we should all wait and see. Who would have thought their CL goals programme would be such a success? In fact I would say was the best part of their coverage last season. I think it is fair to say we all wrote G Neville off when was announced be joining Sky but look how that turned out.

Well, they probably will cover the Football League, presumably by sending reporters there, but the point is they'll do that as a supplement to the Premier League coverage. They probably won't have any access to Football League feeds as they're not a rights holder, so there is a limit to how much you can do with it.

I know it would be nice to do it every week including when there's no Premier League but it's the Premier League access that'll drive it and the Premier League stuff that'll bring in the biggest audiences. At the end of the day the show has to justify its place in the schedule. No point starting it when it won't look or feel anything like it will for the rest of the season and hardly anyone is watching.

Dont worry Peter it was agreed i would attend on his part!

Actually, anyone who had seen Gary Neville on MUTV knew how good he was

Whats your name? Richard Keys?

As insults go...

Gary had appeared as a co-commentator on MUTV's reserve coverage. His qualities were obvious. It was also obvious that he was wasted there!

On another note Phil Neville also appeared on the channel in the exact same capacity. Again, his infamous BBC appearance came as no surprise to viewers of the channel