Sportsound Watch

[Salvo Montalbano]

Liam McLeod anchored the Open All Mics show on Saturday, not great. Went off piste too often and tried to show his knowledge off but a few times came a cropper. Minor stuff but the old saying is apt - better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and prove it.

Indeed. I only heard the first half hour or so (mostly chat about the Scotland job, which was fair enough although the pundits didn't add anything new other than Tom English claiming to know the details of Michael O'Neil's Norn Iron offer) then a little bit of the Falkirk fall-out and then the last half hour from 5 p.m. til Off the Ball and I fair enjoyed that section. Normally we'd have three pundits blether about Celtic for 15 minutes (even if they'd played at lunchtime) followed by an interview with Brendan Rodgers and a wee one which whichever manager was up against him, maybe 5 minutes of Aberdeen and/or Rangers and a brief round up of the other Premiership games. Yesterday we had a much more balanced programme with interviews, comments and discussion from Falkirk, St Mirren, Dumbarton and Brechin and quite a long discussion on the League One title race. It once again showed how easy it would be to make Sportsound a decent programme most weeks. As you say, the only grating bits were when McLeod (who is a commentator and not a host) messed it up a bit, like when he thought that Coutinho going to Barcelona was for a much bigger fee than Neymar going to PSG. If course it will all return to shit when then Premiership comes back and the likes of Bonner and Thomson get their chairs back.

[cmontheloknow]

1 minute ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

1 hour ago, cmontheloknow said:

Liam McLeod anchored the Open All Mics show on Saturday, not great. Went off piste too often and tried to show his knowledge off but a few times came a cropper. Minor stuff but the old saying is apt - better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and prove it.

Indeed. I only heard the first half hour or so (mostly chat about the Scotland job, which was fair enough although the pundits didn't add anything new other than Tom English claiming to know the details of Michael O'Neil's Norn Iron offer) then a little bit of the Falkirk fall-out and then the last half hour from 5 p.m. til Off the Ball and I fair enjoyed that section. Normally we'd have three pundits blether about Celtic for 15 minutes (even if they'd played at lunchtime) followed by an interview with Brendan Rodgers and a wee one which whichever manager was up against him, maybe 5 minutes of Aberdeen and/or Rangers and a brief round up of the other Premiership games. Yesterday we had a much more balanced programme with interviews, comments and discussion from Falkirk, St Mirren, Dumbarton and Brechin and quite a long discussion on the League One title race. It once again showed how easy it would be to make Sportsound a decent programme most weeks. As you say, the only grating bits were when McLeod (who is a commentator and not a host) messed it up a bit, like when he thought that Coutinho going to Barcelona was for a much bigger fee than Neymar going to PSG. If course it will all return to shit when then Premiership comes back and the likes of Bonner and Thomson get their chairs back.

Like I say the stuff I picked up on was minor - describing Scott Shepherd as a 'former Falkirk player' - he's on loan to Edinburgh City. Leighton McIntosh stated as being on loan to Arbroath from Peterhead - got released in the summer to play in Iceland etc...

[DiegoDiego]

He spent a good couple of minutes wibbling on about English scores and scorers to the point where some Scottish goals coming through at the time were completely forgotten about.

Also, I found the "breaking news" of a rumour about a player moving clubs with no relevance whatsoever to Scottish football rather unnecessary.

He didn't seem that comfortable in the role and it gave me a new appreciation of Richard Gordon but I'm willing to cut him some slack due to his inexperience.

[Netan Sansara]

His constant calling Chick Young “Chico” was a bit grating I thought. Much better show than usual yesterday however. 

[Boghead ranter]

To be fair to MacLeod, he must've been gutted to not be spunking in his pants every time a Celtic player touched a football.  That's got to have hindered his performance.

[Hammer Jag]

They spent far too much time discussing the FA Cup. I tune into Sportsound to listen to Scottish football.  If I wanted to know about the FA Cup, I would have listened to BBC 5 Live, BBC Bristol, BBC Yorkshire, BBC Nottingham, BBC Tees, BBC London or any of the other numerous regional BBC stations afforded to English listeners. 

Edited January 9, 2018 by Hammer Jag

[Monkey Tennis]

6 hours ago, cmontheloknow said:

Like I say the stuff I picked up on was minor - describing Scott Shepherd as a 'former Falkirk player' - he's on loan to Edinburgh City. Leighton McIntosh stated as being on loan to Arbroath from Peterhead - got released in the summer to play in Iceland etc...

After the report at full-time on our game, he also concluded by reflecting on how Stephen Dobbie had once more come up with the goods, despite having just been told that Chris Kane had got the only goal.

He clearly hadn't been listening.

[Rednyella]

His constant calling Chick Young “Chico” was a bit grating I thought. Much better show than usual yesterday however. 

I got around to listening to podcast this weekend. To be fair I thought McLeod did well. He’s quite a punchy character and kept things moving well. One mistake which he dealt with well I thought.

I though ‘Chico’ was unbearable yet again. When is this guy going to properly retire? He’s the Prince Phillip of Scottish sports radio and TV. His awkward remarks, laughing at his own jokes etc. Him and McPherson need to just pack it in.

I thought the ex-player pundits and English are spot on with SFA and their dithering on a new gaffer and enjoyed listening to lower league discussions, so all around not a bad program at all.

However is it just me or are these guys lazy b*****ds? We’re on a 3 week break and the volume of programs has just dissipated. Don’t get me wrong we can’t discuss games as there aren’t any, but there is still plenty to talk about like:

- ins and outs.
- discussing each team in more depth. What they need for 2nd half of year to meet their objectives.
- best parts of first half of year.
- goals of season so far?
- How will season pan out?
- Championship and lower league analysis which i enjoy catching up on.

There is 6-8 hours worth of chat just above.

But i get it. Not motivated enough to talk about the diddy teams outside OF.

I totally agree that BBC take the rest of us for a ride. The bigoted glory hunting 50% of the country they are happy to appease but screw the rest of us who enjoy a ‘provincial’ team. I hate when they use that term.

It doesn’t matter how much you complain or challenge them on it they will just tell you to scarper.

[Darren]

40 minutes ago, Rednyella said:

The bigoted glory hunting 50% of the country they are happy to appease but screw the rest of us who enjoy a ‘provincial’ team. I hate when they use that term.

 

So do I. It doesn't make any sense.

[Rednyella]

I also think they don’t have the knowledge. Not all of them but majority.

 

I bet if you asked dinosaur Chick Young or even a more intelligent journo like Tom English to analyze and breakdown any team outside Celtic they’d be scared to death. They just don’t know the league well enough at that level.

 

Where as you watch MOTD or listen to England’s football daily on 5 live they can go through each team and talk about them interestingly for hours.

 

We don’t have the motivation or talent to do that. English I used to actually like. But the more you listen to him the more you realize his limited ability to discuss any team in depth outside the top 5.

 

I think they truly just see our teams as those that play against the big boys every week. Other than that...who cares?

 

Sad but I think true.

 

 

[fatshaft]

36 minutes ago, Rednyella said:

 

 

Where as you watch MOTD or listen to England’s football daily on 5 live they can go through each team and talk about them interestingly for hours.

 

 

 

Come on now?

[Rednyella]

Come on now?

Too English fans and supporters was the point I was trying to make. [emoji38]

[mjw]

The Monday night club on 5live is a far better listen than sportsound.
That's without having an allegiance to any club down there.

[Rednyella]

In terms of analysis and overall quality of programming it’s light years ahead. No doubt. Sad we don’t have ability to produce something similar.

[DA Baracus]

4 hours ago, Rednyella said:

However is it just me or are these guys lazy b*****ds? We’re on a 3 week break and the volume of programs has just dissipated. Don’t get me wrong we can’t discuss games as there aren’t any, but there is still plenty to talk about like:
 

 

 

 

 

There are plenty of games to talk about. It's only the Premiership who are on a break. Barring postponements there has been a full fixture list in the 3 divisions outwith the Premiership

[McDanger27]

I totally agree that BBC take the rest of us for a ride. The bigoted glory hunting 50% of the country they are happy to appease but screw the rest of us who enjoy a ‘provincial’ team.

The only clubs which are not provincial are Hearts, Hibs and Edinburgh City. This term does my nut in every time I hear it.

[Forest of Dean]

1 hour ago, Rednyella said:

In terms of analysis and overall quality of programming it’s light years ahead. No doubt. Sad we don’t have ability to produce something similar.

Too poor too wee to do that.

[HibeeJibee]

1 hour ago, DA Baracus said:

There are plenty of games to talk about. It's only the Premiership who are on a break. Barring postponements there has been a full fixture list in the 3 divisions outwith the Premiership

Indeed... a full Bank Holiday card last Tuesday in lower SPFL; a full card - right down Scottish football - both Saturdays; East Stirlingshire played yesterday; ICT v Falkirk tomorrow night; even Gretna playing on Wednesday. There would have been plenty material and stories to cover and talk about in the Championship, lower levels, and even non-leagues - indeed an ideal chance to do so.

[Rednyella]

There are plenty of games to talk about. It's only the Premiership who are on a break. Barring postponements there has been a full fixture list in the 3 divisions outwith the Premiership

I said that. If you read on. I only meant premiership. It was whole point of my point.

[forameus]

They haven't been helped by the fact that a handful of guys can now get together around a phone and record a podcast that people will enjoy more.  Just a few years ago that wasn't the case, and if you wanted coverage of Scottish football they were likely the only show in town.  People like the Terrace cover most facets of Scottish football, don't do it in a po-faced or biased way, and I don't think I'm taking a huge leap in saying they likely haven't got the budget that the BBC have.  It doesn't take money, it just takes a bit of effort and pride in what they do.