Off The Ball - Is it good?

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

3 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Not that I remember.

There was a Radio Scotland programme, following on from the live Saturday matchday  commentary, that had Greg and Ford presenting.  It's where the GREEE-TINGS! clip comes from. They were taking the piss out of Ernie Walker. Did I imagine that?

Oh please tell me I'm not going senile. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

8 minutes ago, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

There was a Radio Scotland programme, following on from the live Saturday matchday  commentary, that had Greg and Ford presenting.  It's where the GREEE-TINGS! clip comes from. They were taking the piss out of Ernie Walker. Did I imagine that?

Oh please tell me I'm not going senile. 

I know they started on the radio, but I was pointing out to the younger generation that OrB predecessors were a bit set in comparison at the time. There's also been the rise of PnB since it started and as we are all aware allows for Frank exchange with very few constraints.

[Lurkst]

2 hours ago, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

Didn't Off The Ball start with Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan?  Or is that just my dementia kicking in?

Yes. Greg and Tam Cowan were the original presenters. Sanjeev Kohli chipped in as well.

Ford and Lewis Macleod used to do the voices for the sketches which were a big part of the show as it was. Ford used to do a great version of Barry Ferguson as Gripper from Grange Hill bullying Lorenzo Amoruso.

View from the Terrace actually reminds me a lot of OTB in the early days.

 

Edited April 21, 2019 by Lurkst

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

1 hour ago, Lurkst said:

Yes. Greg and Tam Cowan were the original presenters. Sanjeev Kohli chipped in as well.

Ford and Lewis Macleod used to do the voices for the sketches which were a big part of the show as it was. Ford used to do a great version of Barry Ferguson as Gripper from Grange Hill bullying Lorenzo Amoruso.

View from the Terrace actually reminds me a lot of OTB in the early days.

 

Thanks. Not quite as I remember the show, certainly don't remember Cowan being the original presenter. Knew there was a Hemphill/Ford connection though. 

Also seem to remember it was very original and funny for the mid-eighties, as opposed to now, when it is  most definitely neither funny nor original. 

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

1 hour ago, Lurkst said:

Yes. Greg and Tam Cowan were the original presenters. Sanjeev Kohli chipped in as well.

Ford and Lewis Macleod used to do the voices for the sketches which were a big part of the show as it was. Ford used to do a great version of Barry Ferguson as Gripper from Grange Hill bullying Lorenzo Amoruso.

View from the Terrace actually reminds me a lot of OTB in the early days.

 

Ok, just indulge me here. According to Wikipedia,  Off The Ball started in 1995.  I'm pretty sure it was on the go before that. Was it?  I distinctly remember making the tea while  listening to it in the early years of my first marriage, which would place it mid to late eighties. 

Edited April 21, 2019 by oldbitterandgrumpy

[Crawford Bridge]

17 minutes ago, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

Ok, just indulge me here. According to Wikipedia,  Off The Ball started in 1995.  I'm pretty sure it was on the go before that. Was it?  I distinctly remember making the tea while  listening to it in the early years of my first marriage, which would place it mid to late eighties. 

Tam Cowan was a teenager in the 80's, he goes on about being 20 odd at the 1991 Scottish Cup Final on a weekly basis.

Off The Ball definitely started in the mid-90's.

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

Tam Cowan was a teenager in the 80's, he goes on about being 20 odd at the 1991 Scottish Cup Final on a weekly basis.
Off The Ball definitely started in the mid-90's.

Fair enough.
Seems I vividly remember something that never happened. That's a cheery thought.

[Florentine_Pogen]

Fair enough.
Seems I vividly remember something that never happened. That's a cheery thought.

Maybe that first marriage is just a figment of your imagination.

[Lurkst]

6 hours ago, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

 It's where the GREEE-TINGS! clip comes from. They were taking the piss out of Ernie Walker. Did I imagine that?

Btw the GREEE-TINGS clip was actually supposed to be Jim Farry.

 

[Highland Capital]

I'm sure they've gone over this in the past but was the first season not Cosgrove, Greg Hemphill and a couple of others?  It went to the Cosgrove/Cowan format after that.

[Lurkst]

6 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

I'm sure they've gone over this in the past but was the first season not Cosgrove, Greg Hemphill and a couple of others?  It went to the Cosgrove/Cowan format after that.

I think it was going for a year or so before Cosgrove appeared. Greg Hemphill didn't last long, it was a running joke how he knew virtually nothing about fitba. It was probably decided it would be better to get a presenter in who could talk about the Scottish game,  even if 90% of said chat was about St Johnstone. 

 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

I recall a comedy skit on Radio Scotland which pre-dates Off the Ball.

It was when Souness took over at Ibrox.

When asked by the players how they were going to win games Souness said ' Everyone run up the park with the ball and score' *Souness blows whistle* 'Not you Chris, you have to stay behind in goal'

On reflection it may have been Only an Excuse on the radio.

[sjc]

I would rather listen to my family being tortured that listen to Chick Young.

 

Spoiler

I fully understand that forcing my family to listen to Chick Young would amount to the same thing.

 

[sjc]

36 minutes ago, Zen Archer said:

I recall a comedy skit on Radio Scotland which pre-dates Off the Ball.

It was when Souness took over at Ibrox.

When asked by the players how they were going to win games Souness said ' Everyone run up the park with the ball and score' *Souness blows whistle* 'Not you Chris, you have to stay behind in goal'

On reflection it may have been Only an Excuse on the radio.

Had to be there, I'm guessing?

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

Just now, sjc said:

Had to be there, I'm guessing?

TBF it was a lot better than the shite they turn out at New Year, perhaps they should have kept it on radio.

[sjc]

1 minute ago, Zen Archer said:

TBF it was a lot better than the shite they turn out at New Year, perhaps they should have kept it on radio.

It should have been kept in the head of its inventor, more like!

[sjc]

On the subject of Chick Young:

If he really cared for radio listeners, he'd retire. But if he REALLY cared for Scottish football, he would do one final round of all 42 SPFL league Clubs, where he does the halftime lotto draw from the centre circle and is then waterboarded by the lucky winner.

Edited April 22, 2019 by sjc

[Rugster]

8 hours ago, Crawford Bridge said:

Tam Cowan was a teenager in the 80's, he goes on about being 20 odd at the 1991 Scottish Cup Final on a weekly basis.

Off The Ball definitely started in the mid-90's.

Yes, he turned 50 at the weekend

[The Mantis]

I remember Greg Hemphill and Sanjeev Kohli doing the original but can’t remember who else was on. I thought it was poor as Hemphill still had a strong Canadian accent and knew very little about Scottish fitba. The show was very self-congratulatory. I also remember it being dropped and there was a gap before Stuart & Tam relaunched the show.

[The Mantis]

7 hours ago, Zen Archer said:

I recall a comedy skit on Radio Scotland which pre-dates Off the Ball.

It was when Souness took over at Ibrox.

When asked by the players how they were going to win games Souness said ' Everyone run up the park with the ball and score' *Souness blows whistle* 'Not you Chris, you have to stay behind in goal'

On reflection it may have been Only an Excuse on the radio.

I have an old cassette tape I got from a guy at work, taped off the radio about 1986 when Souness arrived. It’s what OAE grew from. It was a spoof of a 3-part tv series called “Only a Game” which featured the voice of Hugh McIlvanney. The tv series was serious nostalgic stuff which I may just have somewhere. OAE ripped the pish out of it and eventually grew into Johnny Watson’s tv version.