Don't want to give people too much credit for simply doing their jobs but Owen Hargreaves and Michael Owen certainly putting in the hours these last few days.

Between the international Premier League coverage and BT, I think both have covered a game every day so far this week.
Both down to appear on Saturday for BT too.

Interesting line-up on BT Score too. Certainly can't remember seeing Kieron Dyer much on TV before.

Have to say do feel sorry for Gary Lineker. He's being ridiculously treated by some rags (who frankly with their history have no right to judge others) for having an opinion.

Suggesting he should step aside from MOTD in particular is just beyond ludicrous.

I thought Owen and Hargreaves were very good last night, Hargreaves 100 times better as pundit than in the commentary box and to be fair again i thought Savage was good with Darke who had a good game with 2 very good goal call's, also proved that even though the goals were brilliant you still dont have to scream and yell them in, very controlled and described the whole events and Van Persey's goal extremly well, little biased maybe but one of his better games this season.

Swansea v Watford- Alistair Mann for MotD
Liverpool v WBA- Steve Bower for MotD

Scottish League Cup,Semi FInal: Morton v Aberdeen (Saturday,12:15pm) - BT Sport 1.

Darrell Currie to present coverage from Hampden Park with Chris Sutton. Eilidh Barbour reporting.

Commentators: Derek Rae,Stephen Craigan and Michael Stewart.

Scottish League Cup,Semi Final: The Rangers v Celtic (Sunday 2:15pm) - BT Sport 1.

Darrell Currie to present from Hampden Park with Stuart McCall, John Hartson,Michael Stewart and Stephen Craigan. Eilidh Barbour and Emma Dodds reporting.

Commentators: Derek Rae,Chris Sutton and Terry Butcher.

Arsenal v Boro- Jonathan Pearce for MotD
Burnley v Everton- Simon Brotherton for MotD (Ian Crocker for Sky)
Hull v Stoke- Martin Fisher for MotD
Leicester v Palace- Guy Mowbray for MotD
West Ham v Sunderland- Mark Scott for MotD
Bristol City v Blackburn Rovers- Paul Walker for the world feed

Forest v Cardiff- Dan O'Hagan for the world feed

A good read regarding football presenters (and a reader vote on the best ones if that sort of thing interests you)..
http://www.football365.com/news/foot...ite-presenters

I'd agree with the article that we really are in an age of fantastic football presenters. Bar one or two exceptions, the majority are very strong and it's certainly an improvement on 5-6 years back.

Though without getting into speculation, I did find this bit fairly interesting

Man City v Soton- Steve Bower for MotD
Chelsea v Man Utd- Steve Wilson for MotD
Merstham v Oxford Utd- Adam Summerton for BT
John Motson article http://sports.yahoo.com/news/voices-...101801363.html

Hmmm make's you wonder what really goes on behind the scenes.

Does anyone have the rating's for last night's Man Utd game?

Wouldn't mind betting it beat the Man City game the night before.

To put all the info in one place:

BBC Match of the Day - Saturday 22nd October

Bournemouth v Tottenham - Steve Wilson
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Jonathan Pearce
Burnley v Everton - Simon Brotherton
Hull City v Stoke - Martin Fisher
Leicester v Crystal Palace - Guy Mowbray
Swansea v Watford - Alistair Mann
West Ham v Sunderland - Mark Scott
Liverpool v West Brom - Steve Bower

BBC Match of the Day 2 - Sunday 23rd October

Man City v Southampton - Steve Bower
Chelsea v Man United - Steve Wilson

Howard Webb also involved on the Rangers-Celtic game.

Westfields v Curzon Ashton- John Roder for MotD

Friday 21st October - Sky Sports 1

Live EFL: Burton Albion v Birmingham City

Scott Minto presenting from pitchside at the Pirelli Stadium alongside Darren Wassall and Peter Beagrie

Commentators: Daniel Mann and Andy Hinchcliffe

Reporter: David Craig

Commentators - Jonathan Pearce and Sue Smith

Burton Albion v Birmingham City - world feed - Jon Champion

Hamburger SV v Eintracht Frankfurt - BT Sport 1 - Ben Andrews and Don Hutchison
Monaco v Montpellier - BT Sport 3 - Oliver Wilson and Kevin Davies
Osasuna v Real Betis - Sky Sports 5 - Kevin Keatings and Gerry Armstrong

AFC Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur- Jon Champion and Kevin Kilbane
Arsenal v Middlesbrough- Gary Taphouse and Keith Andrews
Swansea v Watford- Phil Blacker and Ray Houghton
Burnley v Everton- Ian Crocker and Andy Walker
Hull City v Stoke- Jonathan Beck and Garry Birtles
Leicester v Crystal Palace- Jim Proudfoot and Matt Holland
West Ham v Sunderland- Joe Speight and Tony Gale
Manchester City v Southampton Peter Drury and Jim Beglin

Must admit really looking forward to listening to Derek Rae calling the Rangers Celtic game, must be the first time for many a long time someone other than Ian Crocker has called a game involving those two teams, will make a decent change.

Liam McLeod in the same competition 2 seasons ago

ok point taken, show's how much Scotish football i watch

But in terms of a UK-wide audience, did Bill Leslie get a chance to cover an Old Firm Scottish Cup game when Crocker was at Setanta? If not, then it would be Jock Brown in the early days of Setanta.

Awnserd my own question, Man Utd average 891k, Barcelona got 741k.

Really does show the pulling power of Man Utd considering it;s still in the qualifying group and the Europa league.

Out of interest, has Derek Rae covered a Celtic-Rangers match for British television before? I imagine he's done a fair few of these derbies during his radio career, for ESPN in the USA and for the international feed, but am I right in thinking that this will be his first opportunity to cover this fixture for a UK audience since joining ESPN UK in 2009?

That's right.

Every Old Firm derby since Sky and ESPN bought the SPL rights in 2009 has been on either Sky (League and Scottish Cup) or BBC Scotland (League Cup).

Tomorrow's semi-final (Morton v Aberdeen) will be the first time BT have shown a game from Hampden in its capacity as the national stadium (as opposed to the home of Queen's Park - they showed a Rangers league game there).