I've just stumbled over this thread... it's an anorak's dream... yet incredibly detailed... good work, people !!

IRN:


Sheffield United v Charlton Simon Watts

Arsenal v Tottenham Russell Hargreaves
Blackburn v Fulham Tom Parker
Middlesbrough v Manchester United David Easson
Portsmouth v Aston Villa Paul Ashton
Reading v Bolton Jamie Hill
Wigan v Liverpool 1500 Peter Smith

RUGBY UNION
Northampton v Leicester Andrew Titheridge

RALLYING

Rally of Wales Greg Strange reporting

HORSE RACING

Meeting from Sandown -- Kel Mansfield reporting.

SUNDAY
Everton v West Ham 1600 Liam Blyth

Right, today's commentary/reporting details...

Firstly, whilst Aphrodite's IRN list is spot on, there are a couple of things of interest to note from Capital Gold's coverage of events today. Firstly, rather than just using reports from Russell Hargreaves, I noticed how they also inserted commentary clips from him into the first hour of their programme. So it appears that he was reporting in the style a Five Live reporter would do, in that he was doing bits of commentary on the key moments that would be used later on 606.

Secondly, it was Phil Blacker who presented the sports output on Sports Saturday today. This is because not only was there no game today for Newcastle United (who he usually covers on Saturday for Century FM), but because apparently regular host Mark Scott is in Australia reporting on The Ashes for Capital Gold (is he doing so for IRN as well?). In this case, I imagine that it'll be Russell Hargreaves anchoring Sports Saturday's sports bit next week.

Right, onto the reporters/commentators:

BBC Radio Five Live:

Arsenal v Tottenham - Alan Green, Mike Ingham & Graham Taylor (commentary)
Blackburn v Fulham - Stuart Hall
Portsmouth v Aston Villa - David Oates
Reading v Bolton - Nigel Adderley
Sheff Utd v Charlton - John Murray & Steve Claridge (3pm commentary)
Wigan v Liverpool - Peter Slater
Middlesbrough v Man Utd - Ian Brown, Ian Dennis & Chris Waddle (commentary)

Leeds v Barnsley - Juliet Ferrington
Birmingham v Plymouth - Mike Sewell
Cardiff v Colchester - Simon Mann (who was delayed on the train so didn't do early reports!)
Coventry v Stoke - Alistair Durden (BBC Radio Bristol)
Luton v Preston - John Southall
West Brom v Derby - Pat Murphy
Rushden & Diamonds v Tamworth - Mark Clemitt
Celtic v Aberdeen - Roddy Forsyth
St Mirren v Hearts - Andy Gillies

Arlo White was presenting, whilst over on BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra, Howard Bentham anchored coverage of Wigan v Liverpool, with commentary from Conor McNamara, Dave Woods and Nigel Martyn.

talkSPORT:

Arsenal v Tottenham - Andy Clarke
Blackburn v Fulham - Tim White
Portsmouth v Aston Villa - Andrew McKenna (Gary Stevens' game in the studio)
Reading v Bolton - Mike Bovill
Sheff Utd v Charlton - Chris Cooper
Wigan v Liverpool - Eamonn Watson (and Alvin Martin in the studio)
Middlesbrough v Man Utd - Graham Courtney

Leeds v Barnsley - Jon Keighren (UTV station Imagine FM's Stockport County commentator)
Birmingham v Plymouth - Ian Danter
Cardiff v Colchester - Gareth Williams
Hull v Southampton - John Temple
Ipswich v Burnley - Kev Lawrence
Luton v Preston - Ian Abrahams
West Brom v Derby - Geoff Peters

Today FM:

Arsenal v Tottenham - Ian Beach
Blackburn v Fulham - Steve Roberts
Portsmouth v Aston Villa - Graham Miller
Reading v Bolton - Alan Tolley
Sheff Utd v Charlton - Jake Katborg
Wigan v Liverpool - Tom Tyrrell & David Fairclough (commentary)
Middlesbrough v Man Utd - Gordon Cox

BBC Radio Scotland commentaries:

Celtic v Aberdeen - John Barnes & Murdo MacLeod (Plus Chris MacLaughlin doing pitchside reports on the main MW game)
Hibernian v Dundee Utd - Jim Spence & Allan Preston
Inverness CT v Motherwell - Scott Davie & Craig Paterson
Kilmarnock v Dunfermline - Chick Young & Jim Duffy
St Mirren v Hearts - Kheredine Idessane & Gordon Smith

All Saturday SPL matches available online, plus one of those games would have been on BBC Radio Scotland FM, one on BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal plus perhaps others on FM in selected local areas such as Aberdeen, Inverness etc.

BBC Radio London 94.9FM:

What with both the early kick-off and the relegation crunch match being online today on their Spurs and Charlton's commentary, I tuned in for a rare listen, and I have to say I was impressed with the no-nonsense, Tom Watt fronted coverage. This is the kind of standard other BBC local stations should be looking at.

Arsenal v Tottenham - Nick Godwin & Bradley Allen (early kick-off commentary)
Blackburn v Fulham - Mark Taylor
Sheff Utd v Charlton - Phil Parry & Scott Minto (94.9FM & online 3pm commentary)
Crystal Palace v QPR - Steve Houghton & ??? (MW & DAB 3pm commentary)
Barnet v Northampton - Barry Swain
Torquay v Leyton Orient - Dave Victor

BBC Radio WM & BRMB/Capital Gold Birmingham details in the specific thread.
Last edited by Walsall_Chris : 02-12-2006 at 18:38

Thanks Walsall_Chris. I was out for much of the day amd missed some of the action.

RTE Radio used Pete Smith (of IRN) at Wigan, Nick Johnson at Sheffield United and Mike Bovill (of Talk Sport) at Reading. No reports that I could detect from the other matches.

Seems a bit strange that, mixing and matching reporters like that - not just from IRN and talkSPORT who you'd presume would be their main suppliers, but using Nick Johnson as well who was there for another station/group presumably. Can't say I've ever listened to RTE Radio's football coverage, will have to check it out one of these days.

Just to complete the picture from the weekend, here's how BBC Radio Five Live and talkSPORT covered the Sunday/Monday games:

BBC Radio Five Live commentary teams:

Salisbury v Notts County – Alistair Bruce-Ball, Nigel Adderley & Leroy Rosenior (commentary included reports from Andy Gillies at Falkirk-Rangers)
Everton v West Ham – Conor McNamara, Alan Green & Jimmy Armfield
Man City v Watford – Ian Dennis, Dave Woods & Bryan Hamilton

talkSPORT reporters:

Salisbury v Notts County – Nigel Pearson
Everton v West Ham – Graham Beecroft (who'd presented the Weekend Sports Breakfast via ISDN earlier in the day)
Man City v Watford – Dom McGuinness

I'll whack details of last night's Champions League coverage along with tonight's next time I'm on.

RTE Radio tend to mix and match reporters. It uses John keith (BBC Radio Merseyside and ex-Daily Express) for Liverpool and Everton, and John Anderson (the Irish ex-footballer who summarises for BBC Radio Newcastle) on Tyneside. Other reporters who were used previously included Phil Mugford (Derby County) and Julian Gaunt (Leeds United).

That's strange - I presume they asign some of those ex-producers on an exclusive basis, as I can't imagine someone like John Anderson filing reports during his BBC Radio Newcastle co-commentaries. Sounds like a very messy situation to me.

Right, as promised, details of this week's Champions League radio coverage:

BBC Radio Five Live:

On Tuesday they didn't actually go for a Champions League commentary, instead the 8pm Premiership kick-off at The Valley. There was no game on Sports Extra either.

Charlton v Blackburn - Ian Brown, Simon Brotherton & Gavin Peacock
Tottenham v Middlesbrough - Nigel Adderley

Chelsea v Levski Sofia - Jonathan Legard
Galatasaray v Liverpool - Peter Slater (most probably not at the Ataturk Stadium)

Plus in the Football League:
Bournemouth v Nottm Forest - Tony Husband
Scunthorpe v Tranmere - Juliet Ferrington
Macclesfield v Rochdale - Jacqui Oatley.

Over on talkSPORT...

Chelsea v Levski Sofia - Jim Proudfoot (presenter of the coverage, plus provided commentary reports)
Galatasaray v Liverpool - Nigel Pearson & Alvin Martin (commentary)
Barcelona v Werder Bremen - Chris Cooper

Charlton v Blackburn - Tony Incenzo
Tottenham v Middlesbrough - Mike Bovill.

From tonight...

BBC Radio Five Live came from Old Trafford, with Mark Saggers presenting from the stadium:

Man Utd v Benfica - Mike Ingham, Alan Green & Graham Taylor on commentary
FC Copenhagen v Celtic - Roddy Forsyth (reports only)
FC Porto v Arsenal - Conor McNamara (reports only)

Newcastle v Reading - Ian Dennis
West Ham v Wigan - Darren Fletcher.

Over on Five Live Sports Extra, Howard Bentham presented live commentary (from the BBC Hereford & Worcester studios, not the Dragao) of Porto vs Arsenal. Only a rare two-man commentary team for this game, in David Oates & Steve Claridge, who seemed to have problems with their lines and equipment during the parts of the first half I caught.

talkSPORT provided the most interesting, and in my opinion, most listenable coverage of the night. Having rights to both Manchester United and Arsenal in the Champions League, they decided to flick from match to match, having commentary on large portions both the key games, taking in considerable periods of one game before switching to the other. They started and ended in Portugal, but spent long periods with presenter Jim Proudfoot at Old Trafford commentating on Manchester United alongside Frank Stapleton, in the first co-commentary he's done for the station since he and JP were talkSPORT's second-choice commentary pair at Euro 2000.

Their commentary teams were:

Man Utd v Benfica - Jim Proudfoot & Frank Stapleton (presenter and his after match phone-in co-host)
FC Porto v Arsenal - Chris Cooper & Alvin Martin (the latter was also a phone-in co-host)
FC Copenhagen v Celtic - Nigel Pearson (reports only)

Newcastle v Reading - Graham Courtney
West Ham v Wigan - Andy Clarke.
Last edited by Walsall_Chris : 07-12-2006 at 00:07

The RTE reports with John Anderson etc were match reports rather than in-flight reports.

Saturday 09 December 2006
Early commentators and reporters: Man Utd v Man City
BBC Radio Five Live - Ian Brown, Alan Green and Chris Waddle
Talk Sport - Chris Cooper (reports)
BBC Radio Manchester - Stewart Gardener, Ian Cheesman, Arthur Albiston and Fred Eyre
Today FM - Tom Tyrrell (reports)

Watford v Reading 1500 Elliot Cook
Blackburn v Newcastle 1500 Tom Parker
Bolton v West Ham 1715 Matt Hardman
Liverpool v Fulham Liam Blyth
Manchester United v Manchester City 1245 Peter Smith
Middlesbrough v Wigan 1500 Stuart Boyd
Portsmouth v Everton 1500 Andrew Cheal
Tottenham v Charlton 1500 Jamie Hill

RUGBY UNION Heineken Cup

London Irish v Ulster 1530 Andrew Titheridge

RACING
Kel Mansfield reporting.

RTE has announced that Peter Smith will also be at Bolton tonight. Busy man.

RTE Radio's correspondents:
Man Utd v Man City - Peter Smith
Blackburn v Newcastle - Tom Parker
Liverpool v Fulham - John Keith
Middlesboro v Wigan - Graham Courtney
Portsmouth v Everton - John Hughes
Tottenham v Charlton - Andy Clark
Watford v Reading - Ian Abrahams

Talk Sport
Man Utd v Man City - Chris Cooper
Blackburn v Newcastle - Eamonn Watson
Liverpool v Fulham - Dave Rowe (plus Alvin Marin in the studio)
Middlesbro v Wigan - Graham Courtney
Portsmouth v Everton - Andrew McKenna
Tottenham v Charlton - Andy Clark
Watford v Reading - Ian Abrahams
Birmingham v Preston - Jack Woodward
Cardiff v Ipswich - Gareth Williams
Norwich v Sheffield Wed - Kev Lawrence
Sunderland v Luton - David Craig (Sky)
Wolves v Leiceser - Geoff Peters

- - - more to follow

BBC Radio Five Live (continued)
Blackburn v Newcastle - John Murray and Jimmy Armfield (commentary)
Liverpool v Fulham - Peter Slater
Middlesbrough v Wigan - Ian Dennis
Portsmouth v Everton - Nigel Adderley
Tottenham v Charlton - David Oates
Watford v Reading - Jacqui Oatley
Bolton v West Ham - Juliette Ferrington
Birmingham v Preston - Pat Murphy
Cardiff v Ipswich - John Southall
Leeds v Derby - Stuart Hall
Boston v Wrexham - Mark Clemitt
Hearts v Motherwell - Brian McLaughlin
Rangers v Hibernian - Roddy Forsyth

BBC London 94.9FM
Liverpool v Fulham - Mark Taylor
Tottenham v Charlton - Phil Parry and Bradley Allan (FM commentary)
Bolton v West Ham - Nick Godwin (DAB commentary - also BBC Essex)
Watford v Reading - John Marks
Crystal Palace v Colchester - Steve Houghton
Stoke v QPR - Kevin Hand (DAB commentary)
Leyton Orient v Huddersfield - Dave Victor
Millwall v Bradford - Andrea Tennant
Wycombe v Barnet - Barry Swain

BBC Radio Manchester (continued)
Middlesbrough v Wigan - Paul Rowley
Bolton v West Ham - Mark Allen and Alan Gowling
Chesterfield v Oldham - John Gilder
Mansfield v Bury - Andy Firth
Stockport v Darlington - Brian Clarke
Rochdale v Peterborough - Mike Brooks

BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra commentaries
Tottenham v Charlton - Ali Bruce-Ball, Darren Fletcher and Mark Bright
Bolton v West Ham - Dave Woods, Connor MacNamara and Dean Saunders

Real Radio Wales
Cardiff v Ipswich - Mark Threadgold (normally a Rugby Union reporter)
Blackpool v Swansea - Mark Poyser

Aphrodite and Ian, thanks again for the radio details from today.

In addition to the IRN reporters Aphrodite gives us, one more detail of note from Capital Gold London's coverage. As predicted by myself last week, it was Russell Hargreaves who presented the sports output on Sports Saturday, what with Mark Scott apparently out in Australia for Capital/IRN covering The Ashes. Over on Capital Gold in Birmingham, and BRMB, we had Tom Ross & Kevan Broadhurst providing commentary on Blues vs Preston.

Just to confirm, all of the details Ian gives from Five Live, talkSPORT and Sports Extra are correct. You're spot on as regards both of the BBC stations, however you missed out a couple of details from talkSPORT. Alongside Nigel Pearson and Alvin Martin (who was watching Liverpool-Fulham) in the studio, was Gary Stevens watching Portsmouth vs Everton on his monitor. The only reporter you missed out was Grahame Lloyd, who was at Elland Road for Leeds United vs Derby County.

One more thing on talkSPORT...


David Craig wasn't actually doing the game "for talkSPORT" as well as Sky Sports as such, although it has been known for some reporters in The Championship to 'double up' as it were. talkSPORT have an arrangement with Sky Sports which allows them to use 'Goal Reports' from the Soccer Saturday reporters who are at Championship/FA Cup games that the station haven't sent their own reporters too.

They take them directly from the Soccer Saturday programme, and are exactly the same ones that Sky Sports viewers will have heard just moments before talkSPORT listeners. They have been doing this as long as I remember.

Amongst the reporters used today were, as you say, former talkSPORT Breakfast Show newsreader David Craig, and at Southend-Sunderland, regular talkSPORT reporter Tony Incenzo (although in this case he wasn't 'doubling up', although another reporter used by both broadcasters John Temple often does).

Speaking of talkSPORT, their former Chief Football Correspondant Jon Driscoll was Today FM's commentator today for their featured game of Liverpool vs Fulham. This is the first time I've heard Driscoll - now a freelancer commentator/reporter for various TV channels plus Five Live - on 'Premiership Live' for a few seasons, and first full stop as a commentator. By my count, Today FM have used 4 commentators in total this season - regulars Ron Jones and Tom Tyrrell most often, but Driscoll and his fellow Five Live colleague Charlie Lambert have done a couple of games between them.

The full Today FM list is as follows:

Man Utd v Man City - Tom Tyrrell
Blackburn v Newcastle - Jake Katborg
Liverpool v Fulham - Jon Driscoll & Ronnie Whelan
Middlesbrough v Wigan - Gordon Cox
Portsmouth v Everton - Mike Lawrence
Tottenham v Charlton - Ian Beach
Watford v Reading - Paul MacDowell (usually of talkSPORT)
Bolton v West Ham - Steve Roberts

On BBC Local Radio:

BBC Radio WM:

Birmingham v Preston - Mark Regan & Paul Franks (commentary)
Wolves v Leicester - Mike Taylor with Colin Gibson
Walsall v Swindon - Andrew Dawkins with Mick Kearns

BBC Radio Wales:

Steve James presenting, although the MW focus was on the Ospreys and Scarlets European Cup rugby games. FM commentators:

Cardiff v Ipswich - Rob Phillips & Jason Perry
Blackpool v Swansea - Roger Hughes & Kevin Ratcliffe
Boston United v Wrexham - Phil Steele & Iwan Roberts

BBC Radio Scotland:

Rangers v Hibernian - David Begg & Gordon Smith (plus Chick Young at pitchside on the 810MW game)
Hearts v Motherwell - Kheredine Idessane & Allan Preston (plus Chris McLaughlin at pitchside on the main FM game)
Aberdeen v Falkirk - Scott Davie & Steve Cowan
Dundee Utd v Inverness CT - Jim Spence & Murdo MacLeod
Kilmarnock v St Mirren - John Barnes & Billy Dodds

I should have been more precise. When I put "(Sky)" after a reporter, I mean that the station (Talk Sport) is relaying the Sky Sports News report.

I noticec Jon Driscoll being used as a commentator on Today FM for the first time today. He is certainly getting around!

I haven't been able to confirm exactly who is covering Bolton's game for IRN. Aphrodite7 mentioned Matt Hardman (which is a name I do not know) whereas BFBS said that Pete Smith was doing double duty today. Who will cover Chelsea v Arsenal for IRN tomorrow?
Last edited by IanFergus : 09-12-2006 at 18:44

I thought that might be the case and you knew what the situation is anyway - although I thought I'd just clear up the situation as it had been brought up just in case you didn't or anyone else was interested.

Just to clarify, my list was from the IRN prospects which were released this morning. There could well have been a few changes since then, so you may be right.

The list is terrific information, Aphrodite7, and I, for one, am extremely grateful to you for supplying the information. Long may it continue.

Cheers mate, I must admit the anorak in me has been brought out in this thread (and the Martin Tyler one). Well done to everyone who contributes.

Today's commentators and reporters for Barnsley v WBA
BBC Radio Five Live - Alistair Bruce-Ball, Mike Sewell and Brian Little (commentary)
BBC Radio Sheffield - Paul Walker, Seth Bennett, Derek Parker (?) and Dave Cooper (commentary)
BRMB - Tom Ross and 'Bomber' Brown (commentary)
Hallam FM - Ian Fenton

Aphrodite7, when you are able, can you post details of the IRN man at Stamford Bridge this afternoon please? I shall try to find out other commentators and reporters (including John Murray for BBC Radio Five Live).

I think it's Simon Watts, I'll check it out for you though.

Chelsea v Arsenal

BBC Radio Five Live (commentary) John Murray, Alan Green and Mark Lawrenson

Talk Sport - Mike Bovill

BBC London 94.9FM - Emma Jones

Smooth FM (commentary) Gary Taphouse and David Lee

Good work chaps, you are completely spot on with all the details you've given from today.


That's right, and in addition to that - rival regional station BBC Radio WM didn't have commentary, just reports from Rob Gurney. I wonder why this was - do BRMB have exclusive West Midlands radio rights for certain Albion fixtures? I can't imagine that rights for games of clubs that are covered throughout the season are negotiated on an individual basis - however I could be wrong. Then again, maybe WM management just didn't want to provide live commentary on this game.

Just a few more details in addition from today:

In addition to the commentary team Ian gives us, BBC Radio Five Live have Eleanor Oldroyd presenting coverage from Stamford Bridge, with Jonathan Legard doing touchline reports.

Tim White was at Oakwell for talkSPORT covering Barnsley vs WBA.

On BBC Radio Scotland's commentary of Dunfermilne vs Celtic today, the commentary team was Paul Mitchell, Jim Duffy & Craig Paterson (two summerisers), who were joined by presenter Richard Gordon and touchline reporter Chick Young at East End Park. Andy Gillies was the Five Live reporter at this game.

Very surprised Mike Ingham wasn't at Chelsea today, I do really enjoy both Murray and Green though

I told that over the past few seasons, he has tended to have an extended 'winter break' around this time of year, dissapearing off the airwaves in late November and not returning until FA Cup Third Round weekend in January. Lucky for some...

Good to hear John Murray though, and even when Ingham is available, Five Live Sports bosses have regularly shown over the past few seasons that their not afraid of using Murray alongside Green for all big matches bar the biggest of showpieces (FA Cup Finals, World Cup Finals etc). I think this is a good thing, as Ingham's 56/57, has been a proffesional commentator for 30 years and seems to be taking more and more time off, doing fewer games each season. Something tells me that Ingham doesn't have much left in the tank, and won't be around as a top line commentator for that much longer - so to groom Murray as his success is a natural, progressive step.

Some commentary teams from tonight's Sheffield United-Aston Villa game:

BBC Radio Five Live: Conor McNamara, Ian Dennis & Kevin Gallacher.
talkSPORT: John Temple (reporter).
BBC Radio WM: Mike Taylor & Daz Hale.
BRMB: Tom Ross (his third live commentary game in three days!) & Pat Herd.

I wondered whether he might be having a break, Murray is one of my favourite commentators, Ian Brown is 5 Live's Hawthorne in my opinion (A bit dull etc). Last nights two commentators I am big fans of, although I didn't hear them last night