EPL Talk » BBC

Stabbing And Major Crowd Trouble Delay Play At Upton Park

Dominic Mather — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:27:27 +0000

In the build up to, and during, the West Ham/Millwall match violence took hold in and around Upton Park.

One man was stabbed in the chest, and a BBC reporter has heard that a second stabbing has occured. Another fan said that his father had to receive medical attention after having a dart thrown at his head. There have been five confirmed arrests so far.

The Metropolitan police say that the hooliganism is likely to have been organised beforehand.

These events have been responsible for interruptions to the play; riled fans invaded the pitch a number of times resulting in the players being taken off.

This is all after West Ham player, Calum Davenport, was stabbed earlier in the week whilst staying with his mother.

Update: Fans are being told to stay in ground whilst fighting continues outside

Tim Lovejoy’s Luck Finally Runs Out On The BBC

Paul Bestall — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:05:40 +0000

Over the weekend, the BBC gave football fans the length and breadth of the world the news that they’d waited years to hear. Finally, after 13 years of clueless ramblings, smug arrogance and a frighteningly poor knowledge of the game he professes to love, Tim Lovejoy is to be booted off as a regular presenter of 5 Live’s 6-0-6 football phone in show. A variety of failed shows on a multitude of channels have yet to deflate the ego of this man of football who’s speciality is replacing the idiot who stands next to you in the pub.

Now perhaps you’re not aware of the worst football pundit in Britain, but unfortunately fans in the UK have had to suffer his dreadful insights, punditry and attempts at comedy on a variety of channels. A man derided by fans the length and breadth of the country, he’s the kind of presenter that football in the modern era has given us, knowing nothing about the game pre-Premiership yet somehow became one of the most recognisable faces in televisual football journalism. A “new” Chelsea fan, who claimed to also support Watford, Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy, he encapsulated the worst of the cliche ridden muppets that began to corrupt the footballing airways in the mid to late 90’s.

He created Soccer AM, which became a cult hit when arrived back in 1996 on Sky, but as the show continued to regurgitate the same old jokes, boring features, sexist agenda’s (no women allowed on as fans of the week), banal features and having guests that knew even less about football than Lovejoy for 11 years , it became clear that Lovejoy had developed a messiah type complex. By moving from TV to radio, at least fans were spared his grinning lunacy as he rambled on like a chimpanzee on mogadon.

I would recommend that if you ever want to buy a book so unintentionally funny it’s hilarious, you’d be hard pressed to beat Lovejoy’s “autobiography” that was released in 2007. This reviewer clearly adored it, but his abysmal attempts at being a proper football presenter on 6-0-6 have really been a treat for anyone who likes a football presenter to know nothing unless it’s written down for them or available to click on a PC. Things he doesn’t like are “rubbish”, players he likes are “the best in the world”.

His radio show is the audio equivalent of having your teeth pulled with no anaesthetic as he berates callers who don’t think England are the greatest team in the world, sticking up for Ashley Cole (no really), and generally defending one of his celebrity mates who callers dare to think isn’t one of the greatest players in the world.He also had a lovely conversation last week where he showed his delightful arrogance for two minutes. He just never says anything of any depth at all, calls League One, League 3, and feels he actually has INFLUENCE on the Premier League.

It’s hard to find any pundit that evokes the same level of hatred amongst football fans in the UK regardless of the team they support, hell even Chelsea fans hate him. It’s a great day for football fans that the BBC have finally seen sense and given him the boot for next season. Thankfully we only have to put him with him for another 3 weeks at the most and he can go back to his cookery and lifestyle programme on Sunday mornings and his dreadful web channel that seems to have been designed by a 5 year old child high on skittles.

Thankfully, the BBC have brought Danny Baker back and stolen Colin Murray permanently, so if you want to listen to two of British media’s best shows, then you can do a lot worse than listen to Danny when he host’s the Tuesday night 6-0-6 or Colin when he presents Fighting Talk. Once you’ve listened to those two shows, then try and last more than 5 minutes listening to this drivel.

Thank you BBC, now you just have to get rid of Spoony and you may have a half decent football phone in show again.

West Ham Fans To Get A Surprise

Paul Bestall — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:54:31 +0000

When the final whistle went and those West Ham fans who’d spent most of Saturdays game against Chelsea abusing former old boys, Frank Lampard and John Terry, had disappeared to the pubs around and about, I bet they never thought they’d ever see either player back at Upton Park that soon. Obviously they were unaware that both players have agreed in principle to play for West Ham in a testimonial match for the Hammers’ academy director, Tony Carr as a celebration of his 36 years working for West Ham.

Now the West Ham fans have to swallow their pride after Saturday and think about how their actions toward those two former players reflects on Tony Carr’s night. Here’s a guy who’s given years of service to West Ham United and brought through countless players since he took over the role as Director Of Youth Development in 1973.There’s no doubt if Chelsea had played anywhere that weekend, they’d have got a lot of stick, especially Lampard and Terry and the chants weren’t that bad in the context of some of the things that are sung at football matches.

Yet, Lampard hasn’t helped himself before, with some comments about how his time was at West Ham, that he didn’t enjoy it as well, his family was badly treated by the club, he also said in a Chelsea supporters meeting he’d love to score the goal that sent West Ham down as well as the allegation that when he broke his leg playing for West Ham, some fans were cheering. I’d hate to think that was true, in fact I find it very hard to believe that West Ham fans would do that at all.So the abuse he got on Saturday was to be expected really.

People forget that Lampard has a history of slating West Ham whenever he seems to be interviewed but to say Lampard had a tough week last week would be an understatement, with the anniversary of his mothers death, an on air argument with a sad little shock jock and then the gauntlet of abuse he ran at Upton Park.

West Ham fans didn’t sing anything about his mother, but they did about the rant with the DJ and splitting up with his girlfriend, Terry got the same about his mother’s shopping indiscretion. That’s what happens at football matches, away players get rude songs sang at them, always have done, always will do. Some of the criticism the West Ham fans have received seems to be rather calculated in my opinion and I don;t think the stick they got was any worse than they would have received at Arsenal, Tottenham and Fulham.

I’m sure the majority of West Ham fans that attend Tony Carr’s testimonial remember it’s a celebration of someone that has brought through the calibre of Joe Cole, Lampard, Carrick, The Ferdinand brothers, Glen Johnson, Mark Noble,Tony Cottee, Paul Ince and the latest batch of Collinson, Tomkins, Sears and Stanislas. Let’s hope the minority don’t spoil a celebration of a man who would bleed claret and blue if you cut him, a more humble and proud Hammers fan you’d be hard pressed to find. Save all your singing for the next time you play Chelsea and give them the stick you feel they deserve, just don’t overstep the mark or spoil Tony Carr’s night.

Battle Of The Highlight Shows: Match Of The Day vs Premier League Review Show

The Gaffer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:28:14 +0000

Which is the better Premier League highlight show? BBC’s Match Of The Day or TWI’s Premier League Review Show?

Millions of people around the world watch the highlight packages that feature the best bits of each Premier League match, so the shows should be quite similar, right? Wrong.

Read on to learn the major differences between the two:

Match Of The Day
BBC
Running Time: 1 hour 24 minutes (with no commercials)
Player and Manager Interviews: 20
Pros: Classic opening and closing tune, better on-screen graphics, in-depth analysis by co-hosts, more impartial to clubs outside the Big Four, no commercials, more interviews, goal of the month segment and Gary Lineker.
Cons: Highlights from Saturday matches only, Mark Lawrenson states the obvious far too often and no interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson.

Premier League Review Show
TWI
Running Time: 1 hour (with commercials)
Player and Manager Interviews: 16
Pros: Interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson and Martin Tyler’s commentary. Plus it has highlights of all the matches through Sunday.
Cons: Some highlights feature voiceovers instead of actual commentary, too focused on the Big Four and includes TV commercials.

The above statistics are from this past weekend where I watched both shows side-by-side. Of course, we were treated to everything from Liverpool against Man United to West Brom versus West Ham.

TWI’s Premier League Review Show opens with the song “My Saturday Self” composed by Peter Lawlor. The visuals paint a picture of a futuristic space-age world where some of the top Premier League players beam a football from player to player.

In last weekend’s episode, the program began outside Anfield as it showed footage of the Spirit Of Shankly supporters union protesting against American owners Hicks and Gillett. After a lot of build up and hype, the producers then began to show the highlights of Liverpool against Manchester United, undoubtedly the biggest match of the weekend.

A big difference between both programs is that the Barclays Premier League Review Show always plays the biggest matches at the beginning of the match and winds its way to the smaller teams near the end of the show. While Match Of The Day began with highlights of the Liverpool match, it tends to mix things up quite a bit and often begins with the match that has the most interesting story. For example, when Hull played Fulham on the opening day of the season, that game was the opening one showed on Match Of The Day instead of the typical clash involving a Big Four club that the Premier League Review Show would highlight.

To me, the Premier League Review Show is a glitzy package that reinforces the belief that the Big Four is what really matters in the Premiership.

Match Of The Day, an important fabric of the English game, began in 1964 and hasn’t changed much over the years. The biggest thing going for the program and the true differentiator between it and the Premier League Review Show is the analysis provided by the co-hosts.

In last week’s episode, it was Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson on the seat. Hansen’s analysis was eye-opening. For example, there was good insight by Hansen where he showed onscreen the workrate of Robbie Keane in the game who, despite not achieving much up front, was chasing the ball and pressuring Man United’s midfield quite effectively, forcing them to make mistakes.

Hansen continued by showing excellent replays of Albert Riera in action during the game with some beautiful touches and Hansen pointing out how much of an impact Riera made down the left wing by floating in dangerous crosses into the Man United penalty area.

Hansen then turned his focus to Gerrard and Giggs, and how both of them made some awful mistakes after coming on the pitch as subs. Gerrard letting Giggs through who almost scored. And Giggs letting Mascherano through to pass the ball to Kuyt and then to Babel for the winner.

The list goes on and on. While Lawrenson wasn’t as insightful as Hansen, Lawrenson later provided some good analysis of Chelsea. He discussed how Scolari lets the full backs be more adventurous coming forward than Chelsea with Mourinho, and how Ashley Cole and Bosengwa had wonderful games down the wings.

When it comes down to it, it all depends what you’re looking for in a Premier League highlight show. If you want analysis to show you things that you might not have seen, Match Of The Day is your ticket. If you want highlights of just the goals and most of the focus and priority on the Big Four, then the Premier League Review Show is your cup of tea.

What are your feelings about either show? Share your feedback by clicking the comments link below.

[display_podcast]

EPL Talk Featured In The New York Times

The Gaffer — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:51:02 +0000

If you’re visiting EPL Talk after reading the article in The New York Times or International Herald Tribune, welcome.

The goal of EPL Talk is to provide you with daily news and analysis of the Premier League. We have a team of more than a dozen writers who bring a unique perspective on the world’s most popular sports league. As well as giving opinions on the storylines each day, we bring you with the news and inside scoop about the TV networks and websites that broadcast the EPL coverage you enjoy.

Be sure to check out our free weekly e-mail newsletter, the only Premier League interview show on the Internet, a live Premier League chat, an EPL community, a free EPL travel guidebook and much more.

In the past 12 months, EPL Talk has been featured in The New York Times, BBC World Football Phone-In Show and BBC World News TV.

By the way, today’s article in The New York Times is also featured in the print edition in the glossy magazine – named Play – inserted inside the newspaper.