At half time in England v USA on Radio Five, BBC production staff can (in my imagination) be heard moving all sharp objects away from Graham Taylor.
Presenter: In defence of James Milner's performance, he did miss three days training with illness this week,
Taylor: SO WHY DID HE GET SELECTED.
Everyone: [Ten seconds of silence.]
Presenter: Right, time for the news...
I wasn't able to process this in time to mention it at half-time, but among Graham Taylor's angry ranting was a bizarre interlude where he began complaining of "some woman who keeps writing to me, complaining that I always support Robert Green for England goalkeeper." Taylor continued, "I imagine she's feeling pretty smug right now, but as I keep telling her, it isn't me that thinks Green should be number one; I have always said it should be David James. So if she's listening, I hope she takes note: she might have a point, but stop writing to me about it."
If anybody can explain what the fuck all that is about (excusing my paraphrasing, too), I'd appreciate it.
Over on RTE the usual suspects have been wheeled out. Oh the irony of two Irishmen and a Scot (Giles, Dunphy and Souness) commenting on England's abject performance. Actually they weren't as scathing as usual, so something must be going right for England.
Unintentionally funny exchange between Dunphy and Souness:
DUNPHY: "Blah, blah, blah... now let me finish Graeme, let me finish"
SOUEY: "I haven't said anything"
DUNPHY: "Oh right... blah, blah, blah... now please, let me finish Graeme."
Oh the irony of two Irishmen and a Scot (Giles, Dunphy and Souness) commenting on England's abject performance
Do you think they should have had three English pundits on the panel to avoid this?
I was listening to the France- Uruguay game on BBC Five Live, while watching the pictures. Big ups to Limerick's own Conor McNamara, who struggled manfully to 22'30" without mentioning you-know-what, before gormless Geordie John Murray took over and waded in within two seconds. Bah.
It's not telly, but let's not overlook this sterling contribution by Mike Parry on Talksport last Friday;
This is the time that the country of South Africa finally pulls itself together and becomes the Rainbow Nation, a rainbow of peace and...(pause, thinks)...quiet"
Have to nominate anyone from Sky: They are just interviewing random people in SouthAfrica, and wondering if they support England... and if not, ask them why they are in SouthAfrica.
can't believe nobody's mentioned Lawrenson yet, the man who thinks his job is making unfunny childish jokes instead of actually doing any analysis.
still not as bad as Shearer though.
can't believe nobody's mentioned Lawrenson yet, the man who thinks his job is making unfunny childish jokes instead of actually doing any analysis.
I was wading in just to nominate Lawro, its not just that his jokes aren't funny but they have a sort of catty quality which is just bizarre, like a jealous lover who has to try and ridicule all rivals. Very fucking annoying, and as you say, consumes all of his time rather than analysis.
The pre-match BBC chat for Algeria - Slovenia was painful and disgraceful in equal measures. It's bad enough when they now nothing about one side, but the blatant lack of knowledge and interest was frightening.
can't believe nobody's mentioned Lawrenson yet, the man who thinks his job is making unfunny childish jokes instead of actually doing any analysis.
I was wading in just to nominate Lawro, its not just that his jokes aren't funny but they have a sort of catty quality which is just bizarre, like a jealous lover who has to try and ridicule all rivals.
There was a great moment yesterday when the commentator said of a centre forward (I can't remember, it's all starting to blur already) "he scored a lot against Liverpool." There was a silence from Lawrenson that was venomous.
Another major annoyance about Lawrenson is that he seems to deride his co-commentator for being knowledgable about the teams playing or providing statistics, as though they are 'sad'. As opposed to professional.
Lawrenson/Mick McCarthy Dream team, then: McCarthy strolls in two minutes before kick-off, casts an eye over the commentator's team sheet, remarks "that's a coincidence, there was another Juan Veron used to play for Argentina couple of World Cups ago," and spends next ninety minutes incessantly lauding teeth-gnashingly negative defensive play.
I wish there were pundits here. During the matches, there's nothing at half time - they stick five minutes of ads on, then show the goals from the first half (once), then go for another ad break, then the second half starts. There's barely any build-up either, unless Argentina are playing, in which case TyC Sports and Telefe both dedicate four hours to the ramifications of what might happen.
Sylkies Horizon wrote:
I wasn't able to process this in time to mention it at half-time, but among Graham Taylor's angry ranting was a bizarre interlude where he began complaining of "some woman who keeps writing to me, complaining that I always support Robert Green for England goalkeeper." Taylor continued, "I imagine she's feeling pretty smug right now, but as I keep telling her, it isn't me that thinks Green should be number one; I have always said it should be David James. So if she's listening, I hope she takes note: she might have a point, but stop writing to me about it."
If anybody can explain what the fuck all that is about (excusing my paraphrasing, too), I'd appreciate it.
My guess is that Graham Taylor's been mistaken for someone who thinks Robert Green should be first-choice for England.
MyOldMansADutchman wrote:
Have to nominate anyone from Sky: They are just interviewing random people in SouthAfrica, and wondering if they support England... and if not, ask them why they are in SouthAfrica.
Given that Sky don't have the rights to show any matches, and given their usual behaviour when a tournament comes around to which they don't have the rights to show any matches, I'm impressed they're acknowledging that the World Cup's even happening.
I was gonna nominate Grame Souness, but I like how he talks shit and tries to dominate the panel. Better than the say-nothings on the BBC. Still not as good as Giles, Brady and Dunphy though.
You can watch RTE coverage through www.eurovisionsports.tv I don't think it works in the UK but it works in a number of countries in Europe (all the ones with channels listed as TV channels in the menu on the site).
Comment