Entering the season's final furlong
- 10 Apr 07, 03:44 PM
The Champions League and FA Cup will rightly take centre stage for the next few days, but a what a finish there promises to be to the Premiership season. A few weeks ago, every major issue appeared virtually resolved. Manchester United for the title, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal to qualify for the Champions League, and Charlton, West Ham and Watford adrift at the bottom.
I wouldn't put much money on Liverpool not finishing third or fourth, and Watford's great win yesterday may well not save them. Otherwise, on all fronts, the season looks like going all the way. "It's up for grabs now," as a certain ITV commentator once famously said.
It certainly makes putting Match of the Day together a lot more fun when virtually every game is meaningful. Some Liverpool fans, in particular, have been in touch to complain that their team has been too low in the running order in recent weeks. We take the point, but both the last two Saturdays have seen them involved in the only game where neither side featured in the race for the title or to avoid relegation.
Manchester City's win at Newcastle, and Aston Villa's at Blackburn, for example, were both unexpected and took those famous old clubs out of immediate danger of the drop. Outside of the title race, a tight relegation battle tends to be next on our priority list, with the race for Europe of great interest, but third, all things equal. Liverpool have had two fine wins which have served only to cement them in third place. Unlike Arsenal, there appears to be no danger of them slipping out of a Champions League spot altogether.
As more teams find their way to mid-table safety, other matches will doubtless compete for last place on MOTD in the coming weeks. As I keep pointing out, at least the later games on the programme are given several minutes airtime, not the 30 seconds in the round-up that would once have been their fate.
Still, our upsetting Liverpool fans makes a change from the suggestion earlier in the season that we're "Big Four"- obsessed! Like our commentators and pundits, we editors can only call it as we see it, entirely honestly, in the certain knowledge that not everyone will agree.
This weekend sees us cover the live FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Watford at Villa Park in our first FA Cup programme since we and Sky lost the FA contract from the 2008-9 season onwards. I wrote about our disappointment on this website on the day of the announcement. In the week that followed, much was made of the FA's alleged disapproval of our coverage of the England team, but we'd all prefer to believe that the decision was simply financial. That's something we can accept with a certain resigned sadness: anything else is pretty unpalatable.
Any suggestion that a governing body, while receiving millions of pounds from a partner broadcaster, should also be protected from its criticism is, frankly, a non-starter. If you buy a club's matchday programme, subscribe to Chelsea TV or MUTV, or log onto the FA's website, you expect the editorial standpoint to praise the host organisation. The BBC's Charter - and public expectation - assigns us a different role.
We have been made aware, occasionally, of the FA's unhappiness with certain moments in our England coverage That's their prerogative as custodians of the national sport, just as it's ours to assert our editorial independence in return. It certainly never amounted to an Alistair Campbell v BBC News-style feud, nor did it affect our content in any way.
Anyone employed as a pundit by BBC Sport is expected to call it as they see it. If Michael Johnson occasionally upsets the athletics authorities, or John McEnroe the All-England Club, then so be it. Likewise, if Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, as ex-England captains, or the impartial Alan Hansen, decide to question an England performance or the manager's tactics, they have to be free to do so. Anything else would compromise not only our editorial independence, but also their professional credibility.
Anyway, we still have over a year to go on the current contract. Messrs Lineker and Shearer, along with all the English people behind the scenes, will be willing England to qualify in style for Euro 2008. And as for the FA Cup, we hope the semi-final and subsequent return to Wembley are classics to rival last year's final, and Chelsea v Spurs a few weeks ago.. However, if they're not, the pundits and commentators will be free to say so!
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I'm glad to hear you defend recent criticisms of England performances made by BBC pundits. If such stalwarts as Gary Linekar are being critical it is only because they are as upset as normal England fans. One thing that annoyed me about recent coverage from a 'rival broadcaster' was their pundit panel's lauding of Gerrard's world class display - against Andorra, and the strident defence of Frank Lampard - by his own cousin! If the FA really are unhappy with with reasonable criticism they should look at the cause and not 'shoot the messenger'. Perhaps they are as removed from the reality of being a fan as some of today's multi-millionaire footballers.
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I find some of the decisions regarding MOTD baffling. The latest one for me was this:
Why was the most important game of the Easter Monday fixtures- Bolton v Everton, a game that was crucial for both sides UEFA Cup prospects and the Champions League prospects of Arsenal the last pick of the show?
It certainly wasn't lacking in controversy with some flashpoints and dodgy ref decisions, a horrific injury for James Vaughan and two goals.
How can it possibly be justified as one of the last picks? It can't be anything to do with mid-table safety because neither side are in that situation. Because the clubs are not "fashionable" enough maybe?
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An open question to the editor's of MOTD regarding Monday's edition.
What was with the 7 seconds of aeroplane footage mixed in the middle?
No doubt a mix up in the post production department, just wondering if you could shed some light?
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And so the pundits should air their views.
What's the point in being a pundit if they're not allowed to criticise?
Continue the excellent coverage, the BBC FA Cup coverage will be sorely missed
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Well, Paul, I find it difficult to believe that your suggestions that the most entertaining games are put towards the start of the show. It may suprise you but most fans of Premiership teams don't support Manchester United or Chelsea (even added together, they don't compete to the masses of other fans).
This also implies that Manchester United and Chelsea play the most entertaining football, which, while has been more apparent in the former this season, there have been plenty of times where the top game featured has been one of the top two but there's been more important games.
On making this complaint to the BBC that the majority of shows are headed by the top 2, I was given examples of show front runners which weren't. However, on three of the five examples, neither of the top two played. Read into that what you will.
Now, I'm not going to tell which club I support because it would sound as if I'm bitter that we're not featured match a lot, but the football we've played this season hasn't deserved it. However, some other games have. So, what I say to the BBC is to stop pandering to the top two about "how good they are" and show the public the MOST ENTERTAINING games first.
You say:
"As more teams find their way to mid-table safety, other matches will doubtless compete for last place on MOTD in the coming weeks."
I assume these would be the teams that were already competiting for last spot by not being 1st, 2nd, 18th, 19th or 20th in the Premiership?
You say:
"Still, our upsetting Liverpool fans makes a change from the suggestion earlier in the season that we're "Big Four"- obsessed!"
That was never our accusation. Just "top two" obsessed.
You say:
"A few weeks ago, every major issue appeared virtually resolved. Manchester United for the title, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal to qualify for the Champions League, and Charlton, West Ham and Watford adrift at the bottom."
Yet the running order still persisted with Man Utd/Chelsea, followed by Charlton/WHU. Coincidence?
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Having watched some superb goalkeeping performances on Match of the Day this weekend (Green, Foster et al), it occurs to me that it is about time that MOTD offered a 'Save of the month' competition instead of, or as an occasional alternative to 'Goal of the month'. How about it?
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It is good to see you have taken up your writing again Paul. Yours is only one of three blogs I read regularly, the others being MP David Cameron and magician Paul Daniels (his recent trip to France for Debbie's Mum's birthday sounded great fun).
If I could just request one thing. Could you please give more commentary games to Barry Davies? He is a superb broadcaster and I believe I'm right in saying he has only worked on four live games this season (including Middlesbrough/Man Utd where he was back to his glorious best).
Keep up the good work, and if you're in a car, do drive safely.
FJ.
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If the BBC pundits are being deemed too critical the English management team should be glad they can't hear the RTE broadcasts from Ireland. The pundits there (John Giles, Liam Brady and Eamon Dunphy) are really telling it like it is making the BBC look like McClaren's biggest supporters.
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Barry Davies is retired no?
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"The Champions League and FA Cup will rightly take centre stage for the next few days..."
And with two English clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea, widely expected to clash in the semi-final of Europe's most prestigious cup competition, may I take this opportunity to remove any lingering doubt over the validity of Luis Garcia's 2005 winning goal, by presenting here previously unbroadcast video evidence that proves William Gallas failed to prevent the ball from crossing over the goal line.
http://tinyurl.com/ypnmej
Aha! 1-0.
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So Lawro reckons it's going to be a Watford v Blackburn FA Cup final, does he?
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