Can the BBC honestly not do any better than their current commentary team of Paul Mitchell and Billy Dodds?
This surely has to be the worst duo I’ve ever had the misfortune to tune into, and this comes barely a year after I said the same thing about Mitchell and Ian McCall!
I suppose there’s a common denominator here isn’t there – the completely lifeless droning of Mitchell. I don’t think I’ve heard such a dull, monotone voice behind the microphone – even the infamously bored sound of Arthur Montford had a certain amount of character to it in comparison.
It perhaps wouldn’t be quite so bad if Mitchell actually appeared to be knowledgeable about the game, but if anything the opposite is true, and subsequently his ramblings tend to annoy as much as they bore, which means that you just about manage to stay awake!
He’s not exactly helped by his colleague Mr Dodds though. God, I thought Ian McCall was bad! Well, he was, but at least he appeared to give an honest opinion about what he was seeing out there. Dodds on the other hand consistently falls into the trap that most of the tabloid journalists do and tends to comment on what he expects to see rather than what is actually happening. Just compare and contrast his comments on the respective ‘dives’ of Mikoliunas and Darcheville throughout the night for a case in point. Miko was being ‘a bit light on his feet’, whereas Darcheville ‘had the right to go down’….the pictures I watched told a very different story indeed, but Dodds was still adamant even after several replays.
Then there was Dodds’ assertation that referee Mike McCurry was ‘sensible’ not to book Charlie Adam was deliberately knocking the ball out of Hearts goalkeeper Steve Banks’ hands with his hand. It was the most obvious booking of the night but wasn’t given, and even Mitchell had to correct him on that one, which says a lot!
Scottish commentators have never been the greatest, but it wasn’t that long ago that at least they appeared to get excited and genuinely appeared to like what they did.
These days it seems like more of an ego trip for these guys to get their voices and occasionally their faces on TV, and they put absolutely nothing into it.
Even the likes of Archie MacPherson and Jock Brown, back in the ’80s and ’90s at least, were listenable and had some knowledge of the game. And if you go a bit further back I remember a guy called David Francey on the radio also being quite good.
But these days it’s lamentable in Scotland. Rob McLean is almost as boring as Mitchell, Archie has just completely lost it now and as for Ian Crocker on SKY, words fail to describe just how annoying he can be!
And before this rant is drawn to a close, what is it about the BBC that they always seem to want to hire pundits who speak through their noses? Just listen to Dodds – get a hanky out and give that nose a good blow, son! Deary dear….then we’ve got John Collins and to a lesser extent Pat Nevin in the studio comparing nasal blockages! Who will it be next week – Hugh Keevins?!
Come on BBC. It’s bad enough having to watch the garbage currently on offer in our league at the moment without the guys telling us about it making it seem even worse. Get it sorted!
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I like Ian Crocker, I think we should get Peter Martin to commentate on all SPL games 😛
My solution: pictures through BBC / Santa; sound through Hearts World. It’s not ideal because they are slightly out of sync (HW being about 20 seconds behind) but with careful use of the Sky+ pause button it works well. I haven’t heard a BBC or Setanta commentary for years as a result.
Reasonable ploy, but who’s on Hearts World? Mark Donaldson? As for Peter Martin, not sure about him as I haven’t heard him very often – he is apparently a Jambo though!
Usually it’s a “dream team” of Mark Donaldson and Gary Mackay who do the commentary. Mark is currently sunning himself in Oz though, so he hasn’t been around for a while… his shoes have been filled by Lawrence Brodie, who isn’t quite in the same league (but still infinitely better than the BBC or Setanta alternatives!). Last night they were scraping the barrell in fact with Lawrence Brodie, Charlie Mann and Jimmy Sandison. But then it was only the diddy cup.
Aye that’s right – so it was!
Loved your comments about the nasal whine brigade – very true ! Unbelievably, Paul Mitchell has even popped up in Match of the day this season – presumably when BBC England have run out of commentators. For me, Bob Crampsie was (and will always be) the king of football commentators. A truly clever gent who made acute and wise observations and cloaked them up in wonderful flowery language and pronounciation – only a Queens Park fan could manage that !!
I loved Crampsie (is he still alive – he must be a good age by now). I don’t remember him as commentator as such (as in MacPherson, Montford etc.) more of a pundit, studio guest type guy. But he was intelligent and had an independent, thoughtful style. And a great voice. The current crop is embarrassing (and very boring) to listen to and full of stock phrases and clichés – how Paul Mitchell got the job amazes me. And the sidekick summarisers are worse still. I hate to say it but, barring a couple of exceptions (Motson being one), they do it much, much better down south?
They always have down there I’d say – very polished by comparison – I think Tyler and Gray are superb. As for Crampsey, great shout. Always an interesting man to listen to and was excellent when I saw him speaking at a Hearts shareholders dinner a few years ago. Apparently he was a great goalkeeper in his playing days too for a guy of his relatively small height….so there’s some non-interesting trivia for you!
Best commentator on the English channels IMO (and he’s more of a pundit really) is Gerry Armstrong. Always calls it bang on for me.
On the Spanish football? Yeah he’s ok, as is James Richardson on Italian football – supremely knowledgeable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1cUT-dXMgk << Peter Martin. If he is a Jambo I would love to hear him when Hearts score lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbFzu2VA7lA >> Sorry just had to post that one, Peter Martin again. Sounds liked a crazed fan.
Haven’t been able to open those links yet, but wasn’t he the guy who was commentating on the McFadden goal in Paris? Legendary stuff if so!
Well on Sky I think it was somebody else, but there are clips of him commentating on that goal by McFadden (also on youtube). And yes, it is legendary.