That means 'Manish, bye'

[wittoner]

That means 'Manish, bye'

My present day self is mightily shocked to discover the The Football League Show's format was apparently so terribly wide of the mark.

[Toby Gymshorts]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Well that's me and TLMG missing our Saturday night bet then.

[Jobi1]

That means 'Manish, bye'

ingoldale wrote: Anyone who lives in the Yorkshire-Lincolnshire region can surely back me up here in that the highlights programme we were treated to was pretty good. Featured game, all the regional goals plus a classic match at the end.

It was ace, even if the featured game was almost always either Grimsby or Sheffield United. I used to love John Helm's commentary.

[pebblethefish]

That means 'Manish, bye'

I never had a problem with Claridge. I hardly noticed him, which I count as a good thing in a pundit. Whereas I can't stand Rosenior, although I've never heard the end of one of his sentences because of me shouting IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL WHY WERE YOU SUCH A FUCKING HOPELESS MANAGER?

[Jah Womble]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Yep, this sounds like it could wind up as some awful hybrid of Top Gear and Soccer AM - ie, baying lads in replica shirts cheering every passing mention of their team and guffawing wildly at anything within several galaxies of a double entendre. Hopefully it won't.

...and the BBC's recent 'Today at Wimbledon' disaster.

I was in the US during Wimbledon, so cannot begin to imagine what must've befallen a highlights show that has existed since at least the early seventies. Pray, enlighten me...

[Ray de Galles]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Wimbledon2day

[Jobi1]

That means 'Manish, bye'

pebblethefish wrote: I never had a problem with Claridge. I hardly noticed him, which I count as a good thing in a pundit. Whereas I can't stand Rosenior, although I've never heard the end of one of his sentences because of me shouting IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL WHY WERE YOU SUCH A FUCKING HOPELESS MANAGER?

There was never a great deal of punditry involved beyond commenting on a team/player's current form, based almost purely on stats. As has been mentioned, there is far too much football for a pundit to sit through before the show to be able to give proper MotD style analysis. With the amount of action to cram in, there really isn't any need for studio presentation/punditry at all for the FL show.

My personal favourite highlights show currently is ITV4's Premiership Rugby package. It's presented by a presenter and a pundit, with their bits recorded at one of the grounds, with brief comment on each team/game that's not in any way dressed up as analysis. The programme flows quickly, is nicely compact within its hour, the guys presenting are quite entertaining while being adequately informative, and you see all the action you need to see.

[Various Artist]

That means 'Manish, bye'

To me, that was The Football League Show, in that the ratio of highlights (i.e. goals) to punditry was so greatly in favour of the former, compared with say MOTD, the latter felt practically negligible. Given the impossibility of commenting knowledgably on all the games it meant that the brief interludes from Messrs Claridge or Rosenior generally amounted to little more than an observation that such and such club was "on a good run now, they've got a manager in who knows how to get the best out of these players and they're flying at the moment" (or the polar opposite of the above), and hence I never minded either man. Although admittedly I've never had either do a terrible job of managing my club. I always thought it was rather neat having someone (Claridge) who'd played for about 83% of the clubs featured, so there was at least a simulacrum of first-hand knowledge.

The new show, however, sounds horrific from the synopsis, and no less so for being entirely predictable: it only needed the still picture for that embedded video to tell all you need to know about the inevitable presence of a live studio audience and bucketloads of witless bantz. Was there ever the remotest chance they'd stick to even approximately the current ain't-broke-don't-fix-it format; keep Clem and carry on, so to speak? And there'll be adverts. Give me strength.

The only consolation is that, as with Wimbledon 2Day (again, a show you only needed to see the new title of to know what had happened to it), there will be a gradual but perceptible calming-down over the initial course of the run as they realise all the bells and whistles just aren't necessary. I fear though that the irresistible narrative of this being the "people's football show" with "proper" fans and "real" banter will be too strong to overcome.

Edit: I haven't watched the video, by the way, so those aren't meant to be direct quotes. Someone please tell me they don't actually use those phrases...?

[Jah Womble]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Wimbledon2day

It sounds/looks grim. Clare Balding, y'know.

...a show you only needed to see the new title of to know what had happened to it...

Yeah, that kind of did it for me, too...

[HORN]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Jah Womble wrote: I was in the US during Wimbledon, so cannot begin to imagine what must've befallen a highlights show that has existed since at least the early seventies. Pray, enlighten me...

Ha. The Wimbledon highlights show in the USA in the 1990s used to feature backing music during the rallies that sounded as though it was lifted straight from a 1970s porno.

[Benjm]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Electro Velvet Android wrote: Was there ever the remotest chance they'd stick to even approximately the current ain't-broke-don't-fix-it format; keep Clem and carry on, so to speak?

Good work, sir!

[sw2borshch]

That means 'Manish, bye'

I can't believe I missed so many potential Clem gags over the past few days.

[kiwicherry]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Jesus, that Channel 5 thing looks horrific. How long is the contract?
I assume almost certainly longer than our sojourn in the Premiership, so I will be forced to watch it.
Claridge has not once said anything of interest, but has at least the advantage of not being Robbie Savage. For that we should be grateful

[Patrick Thistle]

That means 'Manish, bye'

He's also not Mark Lawrenson, which is another point in his favour.

Claridge wasn't a particularly insightful pundit. But I can forgive him that mainly because he is the only person I know of who gave anti-football guru John Beck a black eye.

Also he never pretended to be gifting the world profound insights unlike the inanities offered by Shearer et al.

[Jah Womble]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Ha. The Wimbledon highlights show in the USA in the 1990s used to feature backing music during the rallies that sounded as though it was lifted straight from a 1970s porno.

Presumably they left all the grunting in.

[DCI Harry Batt]

That means 'Manish, bye'

I am deeply, deeply concerned about the Claridge apologism on display here.

[3 Colours Red]

That means 'Manish, bye'

TonTon wrote: I am deeply, deeply concerned about the Claridge apologism on display here.

Nice to know I'm not going crazy (at least not in terms of punditry opinions, anyway). I found it tricky enough staying up past midnight as it was without that droning sending me into a near catatonic state.

[David Agnew]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Jongudmund wrote: He's also not Mark Lawrenson, which is another point in his favour.

Claridge wasn't a particularly insightful pundit. But I can forgive him that mainly because he is the only person I know of who gave anti-football guru John Beck a black eye.

Also he never pretended to be gifting the world profound insights unlike the inanities offered by Shearer et al.

Yet he's still the biggest proponent of the "you can't understand the game unless you've played it professionally" bollocks.

[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Claridge showed extraordinary insight when he questioned Alex Neil's appointment at Norwich saying that Scottish managers are pretty much untested at that level.

The willful ignorance of over a century of English footballing history takes some doing.

[3 Colours Red]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Geoffrey de Ste. Croix wrote: Claridge showed extraordinary insight when he questioned Alex Neil's appointment at Norwich saying that Scottish managers are pretty much untested at that level.

The willful ignorance of over a century of English footballing history takes some doing.

Facepalm? No...
Headdesk? Still no...
We're gonna need a new term here.

[Patrick Thistle]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Haha, yeah alright. You guys have made some good points.

It goes to show how generally terrible football pundits are that I was willing to stick up for him.

[longeared]

That means 'Manish, bye'

I approve of their choice of the featured match, though that's the only positive thing I can say about the programme right now.

[3 Colours Red]

That means 'Manish, bye'

longeared wrote: I approve of their choice of the featured match, though that's the only positive thing I can say about the programme right now.

I just started a thread about this...

[Ray de Galles]

That means 'Manish, bye'

So, looking at the EPG, Channel 5 now appear to have an hour long programme at 9pm called 'The Championship' solely about D2 and a half hour show called 'Goal Rush : Football League Tonight' for D3 and D4.

Is this a new development? Are the two lower leagues losing any coverage or does this just formalise the amount of time previously split between the divisions from the previous show (I generally just forwarded through to Wimbledon's goals anyway).

.

[stenic]

That means 'Manish, bye'

Southport Zeb wrote:

R.I.P. Clem.

Plenty of people complained when ITV had it on sunday morning.

True but it was on at 9 or 10 am if I remeber rightly. Dinner time slot is the key. Anyone who lives in the Yorkshire-Lincolnshire region can surely back me up here in that the highlights programme we were treated to was pretty good. Featured game, all the regional goals plus a classic match at the end.

I enjoyed the Granada version which included "Team of the Week", in which a Sunday League game was given the full highlights treatment, including replays from the "other camera".

the Granada highlights show also contained some of the most bizarre moments in the history of football on TV like the time George Weah was a guest and didn't seem to get along with Elton Welsby.