Ian Wright (and TV pundits in general)

[OwlsFan]

Dunphy et al should be able to realise the irony of them earning a living off a league which is muck in their own words

I thought the RTE panel's reaction to the English game last night was a national disgrace. Scoffing and jeering has now taken over from analysis. Dunphy said he enjoyed the first 80 minutes of the game. Could you imagine our reaction if Wright or some other clown on the BBC said they were enjoying a match because Ireland were doing badly. Then they play snippets of interviews with Beckam and Sven and totally jeer and scoff at their remarks. Sven says they haven't beaten Sweden for a while now and Laughing Bill says, sotto voce, "and I doubt if you will for a while yet". Very professional and unbiased. Incidentally, Dunphy who of course jeered the most, seemed to have forgotton than on his radio programme the day before the WC began had tipped England to do well because they had such "great players as Lampard and Gerrard".

England were poor but they have 6 points out of 6 and have qualified for the next round. They started very badly in Italia 90 and lost in the semis to penalties to Germany (another team Dunphy loves to scoff at). As I also predicted earlier Giles attacked the Premiership, the league he makes his living out of commentating on.

Attack the performance like any other bad performance from any other team but the jeering and scoffing does our national broadcaster no favours at all.

[OwlsFan]

Oh and by the way anyone see Dunphy say after the Sweden game that if England and Sweden draw, England will finish top on the basis of the most goals scored. The clown had forgotten that in such circumstances England would have more points than Sweden and Laughing Bill didn't or wouldn't contradict him.

[LeixlipRed]

OwlsFan, you expect those slip ups from RTE. They never have a clue how many points people are on or how to work a Tv camera or how switch over to Giles's little stop 'n' go clips. Their production is 2nd rate at best sometimes but its still the most entertaining of the 3 main stations coverage. And for football purity, I dont think you can look further than RTE either. They've stuck together a great crew of pundits (I'm warming to Souness which makes me feel dirty) who analyse games in more depth than anything on the other 2 channels. Whats the deal with the BBC ending their post match coverage 5 minutes after a game? Maybe its a subconscious attempt on the BBC's part to keep the ramblings of Wrighty to himself

[tetsujin1979]

For some reason unknown to me, work decided to show the ITV coverage of the England game yesterday. Having now sampled all 3 main teams of commentators (I'm not even contemplating checking out amateur hour over on UK TV G2) I can safely say that RTE are actually streets ahead of both BBC and ITV in terms of analysis and knowledge of the game.
Tyldsley (sp?) at the end of the first said that "England were finishing strongly" whereon T & T promptly had the best chance of the game!
All his commentary seemed to focus on was "wave after wave of England attack", nothing was made of the organisation and discipline of the opposition and their efforts to frustrate the English.

[LeixlipRed]

I'm not even contemplating checking out amateur hour over on UK TV G2

Wasn't even aware they had WC coverage. I'm just imagining the line up now. Steve Claridge will be there. Perhaps, Dave Basset too. And Rodney Marsh is out of a job these days too so I'd imagine he's there all day everyday. Are they covering all the games or what?

[tetsujin1979]

Wasn't even aware they had WC coverage. I'm just imagining the line up now. Steve Claridge will be there. Perhaps, Dave Basset too. And Rodney Marsh is out of a job these days too so I'd imagine he's there all day everyday. Are they covering all the games or what?

Rodney Marsh is on TalkSport, or TalkNONSENSE as Football365 refer to them as.
UKTVG2 are covering all the games, I think DJ Spoony is one of the commentators, can't remember who the other one is, check the website?

[LeixlipRed]

DJ Spoony?? I checked their site and can only find mention of some guy called Stuart Hall who they have on it. No one else. Maybe they don't need pundits or any of that stuff. Why are they even bothering showing the games? Surely their audience would be way less than 100,000 people? probably way less than 50k too

[tipp man]

some guy called Stuart Hall

If you haven't heard of Stuart Hall then all I can say is .....Christ I feel old. The guys is a legend. Crap commentator mind, but a legend nonetheless.

[tetsujin1979]

DJ Spoony?? I checked their site and can only find mention of some guy called Stuart Hall who they have on it. No one else. Maybe they don't need pundits or any of that stuff.

Can't find him on the site either, but according to the telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...6/09/btv09.xml - him and David Seaman were the commentators for the opening game

[LeixlipRed]

Who is DJ Spoony? I dont normally judge a person by their name but this guy sounds like a fool

[beautifulrock]

Stuart Hall will have to check that out, a legend. Still does some BBC 5 live match reports. Over the top but highly enjoyable. I suppose if I said he used to do Its a Knockout as well that wouldnt help these young uns

[LeixlipRed]

I know what Its a Knockout is. Ive never seen it of course . What was the French version of that called? Something "sans frontieres" afaik. Must have seen that on some Channel 4 special

[OwlsFan]

I can safely say that RTE are actually streets ahead of both BBC and ITV in terms of analysis and knowledge of the game.
Tyldsley (sp?) at the end of the first said that "England were finishing strongly" whereon T & T promptly had the best chance of the game!
All his commentary seemed to focus on was "wave after wave of England attack", nothing was made of the organisation and discipline of the opposition and their efforts to frustrate the English.

He was correct though. They did finish strongly.

"Streets ahead in terms of analysis and knowledge of the game" Dunphy who only has biases not knowledge. This second rate footballer has the audacity to attack players like Lampard and Gerrard. I can accept it from Giles, Brady and Souness - all great players in their day but not him. I repeat there was very little "analysis" of the England vs T & T game last night. Jeers and scoffing were the order of the day. I think it's embarassing to see that kind of glorying in England's woes (that aren't really woes at all). Considering that a lot of English people are working here now and probably tune into RTE's coverage, they must find it odd and probably a few find it upsetting. I think even Souness is taken aback by the attitude, especially that of Dunphy. As WB Yeats said, we've disgraced ourselves again. Analysis yes - jeering, sniggering and scoffing no. It was pathetic. I almost want England to do well now but even if they do, it will of course be down to the shortcomings of the opposition.

I also find it ironic bearing in mind that Giles apeared on the RTE saying that this old anti-English bias is a thing of the past. Hypocrite.

The national broadcaster has to be objective - alas the RTE panel from the Charlton, McCarthy and current era it never has been. It has just carried on with the poison dwarf entertaining the great unwashed with his vitriol aided by Laughing Bill - ah sure it's all great craic. Yet when the BBC get their buffoon in the shape of Wright, we see him for what he is.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed is king.

[LeixlipRed]

I dont think Dunphy and Giles scoffing is aimed at the English people in general. Its aimed at the English media. They've frequently joked about the hype behind what is, at best, a mediocre team. And Souness might be taken aback but he has the most bigoted history of the 3 of them so I dont understand why he would be shocked. This is the man who wore t-shirts proclaiming his "love" for the Irish and refused to play certain irish players during his career in management

[Pauro 76]

DJ Spoony?? I checked their site and can only find mention of some guy called Stuart Hall who they have on it. No one else. Maybe they don't need pundits or any of that stuff. Why are they even bothering showing the games? Surely their audience would be way less than 100,000 people? probably way less than 50k too

I suppse he'd be one of those 'celebrity' fans then. have to say Stuart Hall's commentary is a good laugh... certainly a better option than Motson. thank God for that red button!

[bluemovie]

some guy called Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall is a legend teetering on the edge of insanity. He used to present It's a Knockout and does BBC football reports in the same style - no difference to Stuart between a Premiership match and two sets of eejits dressed up as animals carrying buckets of water over a bouncy castle.

I gave ITV a chance for the England game yesterday because I couldn't face Ger Canning's "Beckham lofts it into the parralleogram". Was doing fine until they showed Rooney on the big screen after about 25 minutes: "Our Freddie Flintoff...our Johnny Wilkinson...our gamebreaker". Uughh. They just don't do humility. Having been humiliated for 80 minutes, Tyldsley spent the last few patronising T&T about how 'they'll have enjoyed their day out'. Sickening.

[OwlsFan]

Stuart Hall used to present a international TV game called "Jeux sans Frontiers" and is one of those radio football commentators who uses 8 words when 1 would do.

[gustavo]

'they'll have enjoyed their day out'. Sickening.

If he actually said that , it's incredible!

[drinkfeckarse]

I gave ITV a chance for the England game yesterday because I couldn't face Ger Canning's "Beckham lofts it into the parralleogram".

Now that brings back memories...

[Plastic Paddy]

I gave ITV a chance for the England game yesterday because I couldn't face Ger Canning's "Beckham lofts it into the parralleogram". Was doing fine until they showed Rooney on the big screen after about 25 minutes: "Our Freddie Flintoff...our Johnny Wilkinson...our gamebreaker". Uughh. They just don't do humility. Having been humiliated for 80 minutes, Tyldsley spent the last few patronising T&T about how 'they'll have enjoyed their day out'. Sickening.

I likewise watched ITV and can vouch for your assessment. I too found Tyldesley's commentary stomach-churning.

I can't say I'll derive a great amount of satisfaction from England's exit when it happens - Christ, I must be mellowing in my old age - but when it happens I'll have to tune in particularly to Tyldesley just to listen to him squirm. The least impartial, most little-Englander commentator of the lot, and that's saying something. That said, I can't see him accepting defeat graciously. And as for Ian Wright's anticipated response? God help us...

PP