Regarding Richard Connelly, from what I have found about him on the internet, he was BBC Radio Lancashire's Blackburn Rovers commentator last season, however he doesn't seem to be listed in their football coverage details this season. It might be that he's switched BBC local radio stations, as I don't think he's going to be a regular Five Live commentator.
I've heard Connelly on Five Live only once before, reporting on a Saturday lower league 'Game Of The Day' for them a couple of weeks ago, but from what I heard of him today he did sound fairly good. That said, I'd have prefered to have heard the excellent BBC Radio Derby commentator Ross Fletcher used in this slot, who has also been called upon as a reporter by Five Live in recent weeks.
Anyway, on too some commentary/reporting details from today:
BBC Radio Five Live:
Arlo White presenting 2.30pm commentary on the rugby union with Alistair Hignell, Ian Robertson & co.
Football commentaries:
Man City v Fulham - Conor McNamara (reports and partial first half commentary as Ian says)
Sheff Utd v Man Utd - Ian Dennis (reports and partial second half commentary as Shaun says)
Middlesbrough v Liverpool - John Murray, Alan Green & Don Goodman (full commentary)
Reports:
Arsenal v Newcastle - Darren Fletcher
Chelsea v West Ham - Jonathan Legard
Everton v Bolton - Stuart Hall
Portsmouth v Watford - Mike Sewell
Reading v Charlton - John Southall
Birmingham v Wolves - Simon Mann
Leicester v Preston - Rob Nothman
Luton v Derby - Jonathan Overend
Rotherham v Forest - Peter Slater
Macclesfield v Boston - Juliet Ferrington
Celtic v Inverness - Roddy Forsyth
BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra:
Howard Bentham presenting with Paul Parker in the studio.
Man City v Fulham - Nigel Adderley, Richard Connelly & Dean Saunders
Chelsea v West Ham - Jacqui Oatley, Alistair Bruce-Ball & Mark Bright
talkSPORT:
Nigel Pearson presenting, with studio pundits Alvin Martin and Gary Stevens watching Sheffield United vs Manchester United and Arsenal vs Newcastle United on their monitors respectively. Their reporters were:
Man City v Fulham - Dom McGuinness
Arsenal v Newcastle - Andy Clarke
Chelsea v West Ham - Ian Abrahams
Everton v Bolton - Chris Cooper
Portsmouth v Watford - Paul McDowell
Reading v Charlton - Tony Incenzo
Sheff Utd v Man Utd - Tim White
Middlesbrough v Liverpool - Graham Courtney
Birmingham v Wolves - Ian Danter
Leeds v Southampton - Eamonn Watson
Leicester v Preston - Geoff Peters
Sunderland v Colchester - John Temple (who also did this game for Soccer Saturday)
West Brom v Burnley - Grahame Lloyd
Today FM:
Man City v Fulham - Jake Katborg
Arsenal v Newcastle - Ron Jones & Paddy Mulligan for the commentary game
Chelsea v West Ham - Ian Beech
Everton v Bolton - Steve Roberts
Portsmouth v Watford - Graham Miller
Reading v Charlton - Mike Lawrence (?)
Sheff Utd v Man Utd - Tom Tyrrell
Middlesbrough v Liverpool - Gordon Cox
Capital Gold/IRN:
Man City v Fulham - Peter Smith
Arsenal v Newcastle - Russell Hargreaves
Chelsea v West Ham - Mark Scott (linking things together for Capital Gold - not sure who the IRN man was)
Everton v Bolton - Tom Parker
Portsmouth v Watford - Peter Hood (ex Power FM commentator)
Reading v Charlton - Paul Ashton
Sheff Utd v Man Utd - Nick Johnson
Middlesbrough v Liverpool - ? - Ian, a question for you, which stations use the IRN reporters on the late games? Capital Gold London or Birmingham don't.
Capital Gold Birmingham commentators:
Birmingham v Wolves - Tom Ross & Walsall legend Martin O'Connor
West Brom v Burnley - Nathan Alleyne & Tony 'Bomber' Brown
BBC WM:
Birmingham v Wolves - Mark Regan & Paul Franks
Hereford v Walsall - Mike Taylor & Daz Hale
West Brom v Burnley - Andrew Dawkins (reports only)
BBC Radio Wales:
Steve James presenting, so still no sign of Oliver Hides on Sportstime!
Port Vale v Swansea - Rob Phillips & Kevin Ratcliffe
Notts County v Wrexham - Roger Hughes & Jason Perry
Arsenal v Newcastle - Iwan Roberts with reports
(So, by proccess of elimination, John Hardy & Ian Walsh probably did last night's Cardiff vs QPR game. I know Ian Brown & Barry Horne did second half commentary on that game for Five Live, with Gareth Williams reporting on talkSPORT).
For those of you interested in rugby union, doing the England-South Africa game were Andrew McKenna for talkSPORT, Sky Sports commentator Simon Ward for Capital Gold/IRN and Alan Jenkins (a Welshman!) for BBC Radio Wales.
Last edited by Walsall_Chris : 18-11-2006 at 18:22