Colin Murray is being dropped as presenter of Match Of The Day 2. Regular viewers of programmes like this often entertain surprisingly violent opinions of the people whose job it is simply to read the autocue and lob a few questions at the pundits without exhibiting any obvious bias towards any particular team.
I like Colin Murray. In leaving Radio One to go to BBC 5Live he showed he was prepared to take his chances as a general broadcaster and he's been equal to anything they've thrown at him. I'll listen to anything he presents and never miss "Fighting Talk" on Saturday morning or "Kicking Off" on Friday evening.
I read the news about him losing the Match Of The Day 2 slot just after watching, for the first time, Match Of The Day 3, a web-only post script which seems designed to offer a more discursive approach to the weekend's events. It had struck me while watching it that maybe his problem is he looks and acts just slightly too clever for a presenter. And there are two institutions which mistrust cleverness more than most. Telly is one. Football is the other.
Chances are the pundits thought his questions were too complicated ;)
ReplyDeleteThe problem may lie with the format, not to mention the people he finds himself talking to. I became much happier when I started treating the analysis on MotD like the comments on most websites (present company excepted); at best trite and uninformative, at worst actively irritating and depressing; all in all, safest ignored altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I watched anything apart from the actual highlights on MotD2 with the sound on, Colin Murray asked Robbie Savage what he knew about Arsenal's prospective signing Sebastian Squillaci; the reply was "I know he's got a funny name".
I doubt his discourse on undercarriage sweating helped his cause much. I can't imagine Mark Chapman ever getting into that situation and neither, I suspect, can the BBC.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with motd/motd2 is not the presenter. It's the pundits. Some of them are just idiots (Savage, Shearer, Crooks) others seem scared to offend any of their golf buddies (Hansen, Lawro, Owen). The bbc lost their only regular pundit who offered and genuine insight or tactical analysis (Lee Dixon) to ITV, who also have the (depending on his mood) excellent Keane. The reason Gary Neville does so well on Sky is that his presenter aks him the pertinent questions and lets him get on with his excellent unbiased views. Murray did occasionally take things too far into "comedy" territory but was generally fine at the job, as I'm sure Chapman will be.
ReplyDeleteI usually watch both motd & motd2 on sky+, allowing me to skip the chat and watch the action.
Murray's crime was to dare to have an opinion, and this is where many football fans have an odd mindset, believing that those covering their sport must either be devoid of opinion or at the very least have ones which correspond directly with their own.
ReplyDeleteContrast that with music, where the audience anticipates, nay expects, the critic to be approaching the subject with their own tastes, values and perspective and will absorb that as part of the discourse and adopt a position for or against accordingly.
Football fans for some odd reason cannot deal with this or have been so conditioned to accept the old school manner of gentlemanly sports coverage ("good shot Racey, play up Melchester") that they act with revulsion at the long overdue attempts of broadcasters to drag coverage into a new era and use events on the pitch as a sparking point for debate.
Until the vocal minority of fans move on from the view that the skills and conduct of someone dressed in their team colours are unimpeachable, then the likes of Colin Murray will raise hackles no matter what. I'm so glad I prefer to talk music.
Alternatively Murray is an annoying tw@t, he may well be intelligent but is also desperate to prove his misguided laddish credentials. At least Robbie Savage has been a player and at least on 606 has some interesting insights from that viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteMurray may have some annoying mannerisms but he isn't afraid to take the mickey out of the ex-players, and express his own opinions. Far better than the "we used to be quite good" love-in that goes on with Lineker, Shearer and Hansen.
ReplyDeleteI gave up listening to 5live yonks ago; the BBC seems to be staffed by people who have no genitals.
ReplyDeleteSo it's the last hour of Brazil & Irani and the first hour or two of Keys & Gray on Talk Sport for me. Better by far.
He divides opinion and he divides mine. A rude annoying intelligent twerp, keen, as AB said to nail his laddish credentials to the mast. On balance I think the right decision. All of his shows become about him and not the subject.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand him either. Good riddance to him as far as I am concerned. Much prefer Chappers and he'll make MOTD2 much more watchable.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for Murray it was clear he didn't really have any real chemistry with the pundits. They all seemed to hate having him on the show with his snide comments and constant interrupting.
I was really surprised by this post... and Fighting Talk is dire.
ReplyDeleteI wish they'd just make the Danny Baker show three hours long. Fighting Talk is just appalling now, a whole hour of witty banter without any wit and just tedious banter.
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