The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #156

"Well they don't come much better than that..."
The 36 Winners Of The BBC's 'Goal Of The Season' Competition

1. Ernie Hunt (for Coventry City v Everton, 1970–71)
2. Ronnie Radford (for Hereford United v Newcastle United, 1971–72)
3. Peter Osgood (for Chelsea v Arsenal, 1972–73)
4. Alan Mullery (for Fulham v Leicester City, 1973–74)
5. Mickey Walsh (for Blackpool v Sunderland, 1974–75)
6. Gerry Francis (for Queens Park Rangers v Liverpool, 1975–76)
7. Terry McDermott (for Liverpool v Everton, 1976–77)
8. Archie Gemmill (for Nottingham Forest v Arsenal, 1977–78)
9. Ray Kennedy (for Liverpool v Derby County, 1978–79)
10. Justin Fashanu (for Norwich City v Liverpool, 1979–80)
11. Tony Morley (for Aston Villa v Everton, 1980–81)
12. Cyrille Regis (for West Bromwich Albion v Norwich City, 1981–82)
13. Kenny Dalglish (for Scotland v Belgium, 1982–83)
14. Danny Wallace (for Southampton v Liverpool, 1983–84)
15. Graeme Sharp (for Everton v Liverpool, 1984–85)
16. Bryan Robson (for England v Israel, 1985–86)
17. Keith Houchen (for Coventry City v Tottenham Hotspur, 1986–87)
18. John Aldridge (for Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, 1987–88)
19. John Aldridge (for Liverpool v Everton, 1988–89)
20. Ian Wright (for Crystal Palace v Manchester United, 1989–90)
21. Paul Gascoigne (for Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal, 1990–91)
22. Mickey Thomas (for Wrexham v Arsenal, 1991–92)
23. Dalian Atkinson (for Aston Villa v Wimbledon, 1992–93)
24. Rod Wallace (for Leeds United v Tottenham Hotspur, 1993–94)
25. Matthew Le Tissier (for Southampton v Blackburn Rovers, 1994–95)
26. Tony Yeboah (for Leeds United v Wimbledon, 1995–96)
27. Trevor Sinclair (for Queens Park Rangers v Barnsley, 1996–97)
28. Dennis Bergkamp (for Arsenal v Leicester City, 1997–98)
29. Ryan Giggs (for Manchester United v Arsenal, 1998–99)
30. Paolo Di Canio (for West Ham United v Wimbledon, 1999–00)
31. Shaun Bartlett (for Charlton Athletic v Leicester City, 2000–01)
32. Wayne Rooney (for Manchester United v Middlesbrough, 2004–05)
33. Steven Gerrard (for Liverpool v West Ham United, 2005–06)
34. Wayne Rooney (for Manchester United v Bolton Wanderers, 2006–07)
35. Emmanuel Adebayor (for Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 2007–08)
36. Glen Johnson (for Portsmouth v Hull City, 2008–09)

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #85

Masters of the Microphone
18 BBC 'Match Of The Day' Commentators Past And Present

1. Simon Brotherton (1999 - present)
2. Jon Champion (1995 - 2001)
3. David Coleman (1964 - 1981)
4. Barry Davies (1969 - 2004)
5. Tony Gubba (early-70's - present)
6. Stuart Hall (late-60's)
7. Des Lynam (early 80's)
8. John Motson (1971 - present)
9. Guy Mowbray (2004 - present)
10. Jacqui Oatley (2007 - present)
11. Dan O'Hagan (2004 - present)
12. Alan Parry (1973 - 1985)
13. Jonathan Pearce (2004 - present)
14. Gerald Sinstadt (mid-80's - late-90's)
15. Clive Tyldesley (1992 - 1996)
16. Alan Weeks (1964 - early 80's)
17. Kenneth Wolstenholme (1964 - 1971)
18. Steve Wilson (1998 - present)

Which of the above would you list as your favourites? Are there any you particularly dislike? Who would you add to the list? Leave us a comment and let us know...

SPAOTP Media Top Ten

So how much football do any of us actually watch in real life compared to what we watch on TV? And how much is our opinion informed through the football media lens rather than through our own personal experience and knowledge?

Much of what we know, or think we know, is based on the journalists, presenters, anchormen, and ex-professionals that populate TV, radio and increasingly podcasts. Clubs and players are aware of this and frequently use the media to propagate their position, whether it be by agitating for a move, criticising a referee, accusing another team of cheating or whatever. More and more, these arguments take place in the public arena and it is the job of the media to make sense of it all while at the same time carry forward their own agenda. In turn, the supporter is left trying to make sense of the media.

To that end Some People Are On The Pitch presents its completely arbitrary and in no way scientific top ten of the most influential (mostly) English football programmes.

10. Guardian Football Weekly (Podcast)
James Richardson (right) anchors this twice weekly Sony Award-nominated podcast with an assortment of Guardian Unlimited hacks. This has become as popular for the byplay between the contributors as it has for its funny and cynical analysis. Much of the regular panel also write The Fiver and the show is heavily informed by its narrative.

Regulars Paul Doyle and Barry Glendenning act as cult heroes/pantomime villains depending on your point of view, while chief football writer Kevin McCarra injects a more measured and insightful perspective. Correspondents include Sid Lowe in Spain and Rafael Honigstein in Germany.

The show has a feel of organised chaos which may or may not be by design and the inestimable Richardson manages to keep the animals reigned just enough to keep things coherent, barely.

9. The Game from The Times (Podcast)
Phil Jupitus (right) is the host for this season but previous incumbents were Guillem Balague with Gabrielle Marcotti and Danny Kelly before that. The show tries hard but has too many boring interviews and is way too corporate. You always feel that the pro-News Corps agenda is never far away (it took less than two minutes of last week's episode for the Setanta bashing to begin) and try as it might the show seems incapable of the necessary deprecation required of a low budget podcast. Despite this, it remains a popular show and essential listening for podcast junkies.

8. Sunday Supplement (Sky Sports)
Formerly known as Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement. This Sunday morning round table discussion programme used to go under the name of Hold The Back Page which was hosted by Brian Woolnough of the Daily Star. Woolnough continued as the host when it moved to Sunday and Jimmy Hill (right) was introduced as a sort of doyen figure pontificating on what's wrong with the game while a couple of other Fleet Street hacks would join in.

Hill retired two seasons ago but the show continues in the same vain. It's easy to dismiss this programme as nothing more than pissed hacks arguing the toss. However, the panel are made up of the top staffers on the English dailies. Regular contributors are Martin Samuels of the Times, Sean Custis of The Sun and Patrick Barclay of The Telegraph. These are heavyweight journalists with many contacts at the highest level of the game. They may be pompous windbags but they're always worth listening to.

7. Football Focus (BBC TV)
The daddy of all football magazine programmes. Focus has been a regular feature at Saturday lunchtimes since just before the birth of Christ. In fact, it's widely held that that time-slot was originally a pagan festival before it was taken over by the BBC.

Every time I think of the programme, I think of Bob Wilson (right) who anchored the show for many years. These days it's the amiable Manish Bhasin who looks after Mark Lawrenson and steers the viewer through a collection of highlights, features and interviews.

Most of the clichés that you ever heard in the game were probably coined by the likes of Jimmy Hill and others during the programme's halcyon days. The show remains a popular mainstay to this day.

6. Goals On Sunday (Sky Sports)
I was once told that this was the show the pro's watched just after they'd kicked their Page 3 girl of their hotel room. Chris Kamara (right), and this season Ian Payne, introduce action from Saturday while chatting to managers or ageing pros.

The team like to go over controversial decisions by referees and pass judgement, thereby highlighting the benefits of video evidence. The style and tone is a sort of one-of-the-lads cheery dressing room banter that can sometimes make you feel as though you are intruding.

5. Soccer AM (Sky Sports)
It's extraordinary how this programme has crept into football culture given its tiny audience share. It just goes to show the value of aiming a show at a specific target audience (male, 16-25).

The return of "easy easy" to football grounds can be attributed to Soccer AM. The 'Save Chip' campaign during the show's imperial phase (for me at least) resulted in that message being displayed in all sorts of unlikely places.

Series producer Tim Lovejoy (right) left to join Simon Fuller at 19 a couple of seasons ago. Like Lovejoy himself, the programme continues to polarise opinion. Is it mindless populist trash bordering on corporate propaganda or well observed skilfully written banter with its roots firmly entranced in the humour of the terraces?

4. Ford Football Special (Sky Sports)
The lynchpin of Sky Sports' schedules. These days it consists of a live double header of the two most popular fixtures.

Richard Keys (right) is your host with heavyweight pundits Andy Gray, Alan Smith et al plus a prominent player or manager. Alan Parry usually commentates the undercard, and the highly respected Martin Tyler the main 4pm game.

It's not for this that the programme is on this list though. It's for perennial pundit Jamie Redknapp. The ex-Liverpool and England player has the family connection with the venerated Harry Redknapp and is one of the men behind the elitist lifestyle periodical Icon Magazine. Redknapp Jnr may come across as a bit naff, but he has his fingers in a lot of pies and is set to become a real player in the world of football in the decades to come.

3. Sport On Five (BBC Radio 5 Live)
This Saturday afternoon commentary and results show pre-dates televised live football by some years. However, the advent of subscription TV was a shot in the arm for BBC Radio's football coverage.

When Sky took the inaugural Premier League contract in 1992 a whole raft of football fans missed out on all these new live football matches. Sport On Five filled the breach and has done so ably ever since. The programme is the home of respected journalists Mike Ingham (right) and Jonathan Ledgard, plus professional loon and minority botherer Alan Green.

The show has the added bonus of reminding the obsessed that other sports exist such as Rugby, Cricket and Horse Racing. However, at its heart Sport On Five is all about the football and is still holding up well in an age of declining radio audiences.

2. Match Of The Day (BBC TV)
Only free-to-air live matches get more viewers than this weekly Saturday night highlights show. If Focus is the daddy, then MOTD is the wizened old Grand Daddy.

Perhaps inevitably, being so popular it falls foul of the hard core. The regular team of Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Alan Hansen have been accused of banality, vacuity and infidelity (although not in that order). Oh for the days of Des Lynam, eh?

1. Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports)
Grown from the roots of Sports Saturday, the idea for this programme is both inspired and unsellable. Watching aging ex-pro's watching football and telling us about it? Nope sorry, no-one pitches an idea like that - it develops organically from something else.

Jeff Stelling anchors a motley crew of fading superstars who aren't good enough to be managers and cannot be employed in any other gainful manner. They spend two and a half hours jabbering about football, then the 3 o'clock games start and everyone dons their headphones while Jeff reads the latest scores from the news wires and that's it - the ultimate in low rent programme in the worst traditions of broadcasting.

The result is a national institution which has made Stelling one of the most respected broadcasters in the game. Walk into any pub in England on a Saturday afternoon and the chances are it'll be his face you see rather than Ray Stubbs on the BBC. After Digital Switchover happens and assuming Sky Sports News remains free to air, Stelling should become a true household name.

Soccer Saturday is also the showpiece of another broadcasting phenomena, Sky Sports News. To anyone who hasn't seen this TV channel, it's is exactly was it says it is: news about Sky Sports. The impact this thinly-veiled infotainment channel has had is yet to be properly assessed.

Honourable mentions should go to the fine work going on at Football Fancast. Setanta have two discussion programmes, The Friday Football Show and Football Matters which I believe are both hosted by James Richardson now. I haven't really gone into TalkSport either.

Dishonourable mentions go to the Football 365 podcast which is barely listenable.

So there it is - our Media Top 10 in all its glory, but we'd like to know your thoughts too. Which programmes and podcasts do you like or dislike and which do you watch or listen to? Leave us a comment or cast your vote here...

Which of these is your favourite football programme or podcast?
	Guardian Football Weekly
	Football Focus
	Ford Football Special
	Goals On Sunday
	Match of the Day
	Soccer AM
	Soccer Saturday
	Sport On Five
	Sunday Supplement
	The Game
Free polls from Pollhost.com

While I was away...

Many of you won't be aware but I've been feeling a little poorly of late, hence the lack of new articles going on recently. First of all, may I pass on my apologies for the temporary drop in service levels on our part, however I'm able to reassure you that my recent period of convalescence hasn't been a completely useless exercise.

While confined to my sick bed, I was at least able to view the goings-on in world football through my laptop-shaped porthole so that I can now report back to you as I begin the long road to recovery.

A couple of things to begin with, then. First of all, we have Sir Alex Ferguson, knight of the realm and all-round curmudgeonly messiah of Old Trafford. He's decided that it's about time he could choose from seven substitutes during a Premier League match rather than the current five. That, it would seem, would solve all his problems and help Man United retain their number 1 spot in England.

Excellent, except those of us wearing our far-sighted spectacles can discern right now that Mr Ferguson will only end up moaning again. That's because he'll need more players ready to send into battle alongside him on that draughty stadium bench that ought to be recuperating from injury in the comfort of their own home (or at the very least up in one of the executive boxes). There'll be more potential for even greater numbers of injured players because more will be available for each match.

So here's the rub: whatever happened to picking a starting XI that could win a match regardless of which subs might come on? If the subs are any good, why not pick them in the starting XI anyway?

Moving on, the BBC have made a shock announcement that from 2009/10, they'll be showing live games and highlights of Football League Championship matches, as well as those in the Carling Cup. My first reaction was 'why?' but this was easily explained by their failure to retain the rights to show England and FA Cup matches.

I was then filled with a feeling of optimism. Although Sky have done more than anyone by showing countless Football League games in all their exciting and fascinating glory over the last few years, the BBC will undoubtedly increase the potential audience and interest in the sub-Premier League levels for a number of reasons.

For a start, not everyone subscribes to Sky. The BBC's two main channels, on the other hand, are freely available and show the biggest football programme in UK TV history - Match of the Day. It was and always has been known as 'appointment-to-view' TV - the ability to make people sit down at the same times on the same days every week to watch a highly desirable programme. By getting fans of the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2 to watch a similar brand-leading show, a real sea-change in viewing habits could be on the cards.

The real question to be answered, though, is when would their programme(s) be shown? Saturday night is out of the question as that's when Match of the Day takes to the air. Sunday afternoons are out too - that's when Sky show their live games. Sunday nights are now where you'll find Match of the Day 2, the BBC's mopping-up exercise for the Premier League action that didn't happen on any given Saturday, so that leaves Sunday morning… which is when ITV pigeon-holed their weekly programme, and only seven people in the UK used to watch that.

Even then, we're talking about when to schedule a highlights programme. The BBC also has the rights to show ten live games too. I wonder when they'll be shown and on which channel?

All being well, we'll get the answer sometime in the next two to three years.

How To Undermine An English Institution

Bewildered and dumbstruck - that's how I felt when watching 'Match of the Day' on Saturday night. There I was, getting my regular fix of all the action from that day's Premier League matches when Gary Lineker announced it was time for the August 'Goal of the Month' competition.

Now at this point I should inform those of you visiting our site from overseas that the BBC's 'Match of the Day' is an institution in its own right. A weekly programme showing highlights and goals from England's top flight, it's been running for 43 years and since 1970 has held a 'Goal of the Month' competition.

What would typically happen is that a selection of the best goals would be shown, each one assigned a letter of the alphabet ('Goal A', 'Goal B', etc). Viewers would then be asked to write their top three in descending order on the back of a postcard and send it off to the BBC. If your postcard matched the opinion of an unnamed panel of Match of the Day experts and it was pulled out of the hat before anyone else's, you'd win a prize.

It's a harmless bit of fun, but one which has become part of the ritual of watching 'Match of the Day' over the last 37 years… until now. On Saturday night, Gary Lineker informed the British public that because of the BBC's current suspension on audience participation competitions, 'Goal of the Month' would this time take on a different form.

Though a selection of goals from August's matches would be shown, the public would not be able to send in their votes by text message (as is now the case). Instead, Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer would go off and decide which one was the best before announcing the winner in a week's time. No public involvement, no nothing.

How very strange. Yes I know it wasn't the public that actually decided which goal was the best according to the number of votes cast. The public were only voting in the first place in the vague hope they'd be selected as the winner of a pair of tickets to a Premier League game of their choice, but that's not the point. By allowing us, the public, to take part, it enabled us all to get involved and make our feelings known that one particular goal was the one which should go on to be considered 'Goal of the Season' the following May.

Apparently, 'Match of the Day's loyal band of viewers were no longer important. We would no longer have the chance to enter the monthly competition even though it was the BBC's fault for not regulating its audience participation contests correctly in the first place.

I feel somehow let down and cheated. Whatever next? Lottery numbers being drawn when no-one's bought a ticket?

What we learned from the weekend

Another weekend passes us by, but this one was different. A new Premier League season got underway, but what did we learn from all the hoo-hah and the nitty-gritty? Here's our thoughts on the matter...

1) Here in the UK, TV viewers tuned to Sky Sports for live coverage of the first game of the season, Sunderland v Tottenham, but something had changed. Yes, it was their on-screen graphics which always gets a new look at this time of the year, but this season Sky have opted to show the score in the corner of the screen using only two letters for each team instead of three. Whereas before you might have seen Aston Villa's scoreline against Blackburn Rovers depicted thus:

AST 1 - 2 BLA

...now it might look something like this:

AV 1 - 2 BR

Call me a pathetic little schoolboy if you like, but I'm looking forward to Sky's coverage of Cambridge United's home game against Northampton Town in the FA Cup...

2) Over on the BBC, Gary Lineker introduced the first edition of 'Match of the Day' from a studio which looked like one of the pods on the London Eye decorated to look like the shelving section at Ikea. Not the way to gain the trust of your viewers.

If anyone's listening at the BBC, here's my advice: sit Lineker behind a desk with the 'Match of the Day' logo on the wall behind him and give Mark Lawrenson the same treatment while you're at it. They'll be renewing their TV licenses quicker than you can say 'Tony Gubba'.

3) On the pitch, we discovered that Wayne Rooney's got a foot that's susceptible to injury. (Technically not something we learned at the weekend because we've had that discussion at least twice before - usually on the eve of major footballing events. Sorry to have brought it up.)

4) Sven-Goran Eriksson really does seem to know what he's doing. So where did he go wrong as coach of England? He guided a team made up of nothing but Englishmen. Simple when you think about it.

So what did you learn from the weekend? Did we miss anything? Leave us a comment and let us know...