2% Villa - Radio 5 Live to axe second commentator for football matches

[Vanilla]

It has always baffled me why 5 Live always had two commentators, and not two pundits to balance out the allegiances to the teams being covered.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/25/bbc-radio-5-live-commentator

Also, watching the recent Rugby World Cup Final, ITV had 4 World Cup winners, 3 as pundits and 1 as co-commentator.

Does that happen in the Football World Cup?

[MarkM]

It is a bit stupid to have two, mind you it does give a break from listening to Alan Green

[Nev]

It's actually a good idea, it gives depth and variety to the coverage and with Green in particular, his style over 90 minutes will grate. He is universally negative and not a patch on Ingham.

But with the cuts being made there is no justification for it to continue.

As for ITV's world cup staffing, it's up to them how many people they use, they are a commercial company.

[garyshawsknee]

I was hoping Green would be up for retirement.

[Vanilla]

 As for ITV's world cup staffing, it's up to them how many people they use, they are a commercial company.
[/quote]

I was stating that in reference to the quality of the pundits they had, as opposed to the numbers. It always seems for the footy World Cup, you do hear the bottom of the barrel being scraped.

[lovejoy]

ITVs rugby coverage was crap. They presented it as if you'd never watched the game and went for tabloid views "Look at the passion of the all blacks" "that sending off was a travesty (depsite it being in the rules" "brave scotland" etc etc. It almost made me miss Eddie Butler (I did say almost).

Unlike many on here I don't mind Alan Green. He may be opinionated but better that than a sky sycophant.

[Somniloquism]

ITVs rugby coverage was crap. They presented it as if you'd never watched the game and went for tabloid views "Look at the passion of the all blacks" "that sending off was a travesty (depsite it being in the rules" "brave scotland" etc etc. It almost made me miss Eddie Butler (I did say almost).

Unlike many on here I don't mind Alan Green. He may be opinionated but better that than a sky sycophant.

But he is a Sky 4 sycophant. The thing is he is employed to commentate on a match for those who aren't there, not force feed his opinions and bias down every ones throat. It is different for TV commentators as the picture is in front of the viewer.

[derek.anon]

I will still prefer the beebs coverage to talkshite

[TopDeck113]

There should be the world of difference between a top radio and top TV commentator in terms of number of words spoken: radio is about using words to paint the pictures. The problem is that they've all started to go down the Alan Green route of expressing an opinion. Oh how I pine for another Peter Jones or Bryon Butler.

[olaftab]

Two commentators were required before they started having  "experts" in the live commentary.  Radio commentary was at it's best in Bryan Butler's day when they actually desribed the movement of the ball and play. So  it was necessary to have two commentators to maintain quality. Now days experts do quite a lot of talking so I thing it is a good idea to  have just one.

[olaftab]

Also, watching the recent Rugby World Cup Final, ITV had 4 World Cup winners, 3 as pundits and 1 as co-commentator.

Does that happen in the Football World Cup?

Ex Rugby players are a bit more eloquent than your average ex  footballer so it's easy to find good contributors.

[UK Redsox]

Ex Rugby players are a bit more eloquent than your average ex  footballer so it's easy to find good contributors.

Phil Vickery did his best to prove that theory wrong. ITV's commentary got a lot better when Dallaglio took over

[N'ZMAV]

Mike Ingham is excellent for the BBC. As for Alan Green, I can't stand that moron.

[darren woolley]

I think it will be better with one I listen to it on a regular basis and prefer listening to one commentator.

[CJ]

I can't stand Alan Green so only ever listen to 5 Live commentary on the way to a Villa game if there is no other match being covered. If forced to listen to radio commentary on a Villa away match (if no stream) I listen to WM or BRMB as it tends to be more kick-by-kick coverage rather than drivel, and you can actually picture the game.