Listening to Talksport yesterday on the radio on and off and their build up to the squad was just obsessionalism with a Yawnfest.
‘Choosing’ Qatar is the biggest dropped bollock since the Vikings bought a batch of helmets with horns on the inside, a bastard of a mistake, even if we won it.
It then struck me as the names of the squad were being gone through, that these players were mostly anonymous to me. One time you could know full well the England squad to a man in days of far less coverage on TV, but with the excess of better foreign players to dilute the pool it’s all much of a muchness, if it were paint it would be matt ‘beige’.
Southgate is like the Head Boy made good, still earning a crust doing the square root of bugger all in my eyes, not helped by bringing the shadow of politics into the game as well as being soooooooooooooo boring, …..the Reverend Southgate.

think its a case of the average lower league fan being turned off with the game at the top. its so far removed from div.2 as sunday leagues are at the opposire scale. once saturday used to be all about match of the day. well cannot remember the last time i watched it even on a sunday morning repeat. never listen to national sports channels as its all about the game and players at the top who over the years i also do not recognise most names. possibly i haved a situation where those with no interest at all in football know as much as i do about england and probebly care more. its not an old fart thing but down to many lads in their 20,s and thirty,s as well. know in my lads sunday league side some had no idea when it was starting.

Yes, the man's record in big tournaments is a disgrace. World Cup semi-finalists, Euro 2020 finalists... And avoiding politics for this World Cup has been impossible ever since the thieving bastards at FIFA were bought by Qatar.

knowing their love for money, if the winners were given the next world cup in there country then england would be favourites. arise sir jack grealish.

Think this is going to be the most forgetable WCup ever.

Silver lining NO Prem for a month, Doubt any of us will miss that also.

Going to be difficult if some fans get into trouble, The usual reply is respect the countrys laws, Which are a joke.

fans deserve what they get if they show disrespect there on anywhere else they go to. just because you do not like there laws in no excuse and if they bother them that much they should stay at home. its not the secret of the century that there way of life and ideas are different to ours.

Speak for yourself. I'm a football fan as well as a Hartlepool fan.

Doesn't really bother me that Premier League clubs and players may as well be in a different universe to the likes of Pools as far as money is concerned. Elite sportsmen earn ridiculous amounts of money in practically everything except the tiddlywinks league these days. I'm not going to switch all off because their wealth annoys me.

Couldn't agree mor Mr Accrington.

plenty go to the cinema, theatre and pop concerts where the artists are more wealthy than the audiance. possibly something they never think or care about even if they are into ameteur dramatics or music in an ametuer or semi pro way. however football wealth seems to be on a higher scale for so many and not just the odd few at the top of there proffesion.

Match of the Day was a not be missed ritual for me on a Saturday night, don’t watch it now, haven’t for a while.
When Lineker took over, (if he was chocolate he’d eat himsel) and hitched up with Shearer (who could be replaced by a scaffolding plank with a face crayoned on), the programme went into terminal decline for me. The need to be seen to dump knowledgeable ex pro’s commenting in exchange for a rainbow mix of ‘Yoof’ and Unicorns, lowered the appeal even further.

Very well put.

I wouldn't really care about the presenters if I could summon any interest in the games. Occasionally watch the goals from one or two matches on You Tube but that's about as far as my interest in Premiership football goes. As for England, I'll be supporting whoever they are playing so peed off and disillusioned am I by the current set up. Really enjoyed the Hungary game.

Yep and if those Laws were in force in this country we would all be happy.
I did say the laws there were a joke, Should have said they are a disgrace.

Regardless, the laws of Qatar are their laws. Football fans have a choice: go to Qatar and obey their laws or stay at home.

Nice to see Sepp Blatter clear his conscience just before the tournament starts by pointing his finger at his mate Platini..that's what friends are for eh.

You do come up with some snowy .

He has what could best be described as having ‘a poverty of personality’….you have to agree my friend.

Also, the panels/pundits on Sky especially with Jeff Stelling on a Saturday gone is the original panel to be replaced by a group of woke robots ho tick the box for sex/ colour and personality and ability no longer seem to come into it. The BBC will no doubt be sending Lineker and company out to Qatar at the license payer's expense. At least with Spy/ITV they are paid for by sponsors or adverts.

they are not overkeen on womens rights over there either so i wonder of we will still get the 50/50 mix of men and women commentators.

The original panels have nearly all gone…the fact they were knowledgable experienced pro’s with a sense of humour to boot has been replaced by frankly boring tedious nonentities whose opinion is no more relevant than mine on the topic. Even the so called professional ex players they employ are from the box marked ‘woke, boring, personality free drones’ that tick the box of the brave new agenda of broadcasting in the land of the Unicorns.

they just want box tickers who are real safe hands who will not have an outragious opinion on something. this does make the whole thing bland and i,m sure there are plenty of ex players around who are as knowledable as them but would drop the odd bollock here and there but would improve viewing figures.

Very true.

Oh at least 50% of the commentators and pundits will be female, that is almost certain. I gather Alex Scott is already out there.

Oh at least 50% of the commentators and pundits will be female, that is almost certain. I gather Alex Scott is already out there.[/quote]
hate to say it but the female ones are better than the men who do it now.

Nope, it is not about bland commentators and pundits not causing offence, its about box ticking. That matters to the BBC far more than the quality of the end product. They know they are guaranteed a decent sized audience for the World cup matches so its a perfect opportunity to force diversity down the throats of UK viewers.

its got so silly now and has become a joke where people take no notice of the licence fee rapists and their diversity. no one takes anything they do seriously anymore and know what there take will be on a subject before it starts.

The BBC pundits fit the BBC profile with their cardboard cut out interpretation of what they think the public want, but it just shows how out of touch with the viewing public they are.
It’s excruciating to watch, banal chatter from people whose opinions you care little for.
Best to watch the match and turn the volume down when the panel give their views, for what they’re worth.

I must say I have not bothered to look into it, but I can imagine Gabby Logan fronting everything and there will be a cadre of pundits compromising ex England women's players, chaired by Alex Scott. There may be the odd white bloke, but no one who has played for England in the last 20 years if at all. Of course, it wouldn't be the BBC without Gary Lineker. I may be a little cynical but I reckon I am not a million miles away from how it turns out. Agree with Snowy: any game I watch will be the game only.

The trouble is, the BBC actually believe everyone thinks like them and really can’t comprehend any other option.
They are out of touch…… or possibly think we are.

Or they are trying to brainwash us into thinking the way they do? It is true, half the population of the country are women but far fewer of that 50% are interested in football than in the 50% of the population who are men. Why start feminising the men's game?

its not as if the women who do watch demand or actually like female commentators. the mens game, especially if it continues to be played in winter, will always have far more men attending than women of all ages. same as with the bbc,s other main love ethnic minorities and the lgbt lot.

The BBC labour under the illusion that men and women are no different at all.

Still trying to figure out what exactly us football fans have lost by having more ex-black players and women commentating on games.

Back in the day it was managers earning a few more quid from 'the expert summariser' lark in between stealing big wages at another club on the manager merry go round. Can't remember the likes of Atkinson, Bruce, Rednap and Pardew ever saying anything about a game that was worth listening to. For that matter, is anyone really missing boring ex-pros like Alan Hansen or Mark Lawrenson?

Er, who employed those boring ex pro’s like Hansen and Lawrenson…..Oh, it was the…..BBC!
Who mentioned ex black players ….. there’s always been ex black players on the box.

Got to agree the BBC is more about diversity box ticking rather than genuine equality, which to me means your gender, race, class etc should be irrelevant to your job/educational opportunities (only your ability should be considered).

If we had a whole panel of men, women or lbgtq it should'nt matter if they were all fantastic at their job, but somehow on the BBC the best people are always one of each (or Alex Scott who ticks two boxes). It even applies to contestants on their game shows, which you would presume would be just randomly picked from applicants.

You missed comments like this then?
"I must say I have not bothered to look into it, but I can imagine Gabby Logan fronting everything and there will be a cadre of pundits compromising ex England women's players, chaired by Alex Scott. There may be the odd white bloke..."

watch Pointless regularly at 5.15 and that is so obvious nowadays. Pity diversity from them does not include the over 60,s that have become a rare sight now on that programme.

One opinion, not mine.
However, let’s see how it pans out eh? The trouble isn’t someone’s creed, sex or colour, it’s the banality of those brought in to replace experienced pundits in most cases.
It’s about ability, not suitability, to fill a void of social engineering and quota ticking.
Regarding the likes of Hansen and Lawrenson on the BBC, they were symptomatic of the recruiting that lumbers us with the likes Lineker and Shearer….Two loaves would get a better reception.

The vast majority of television football pundits for as long as I can remember have been banality personified. You get the odd one who makes you sit up and take notice with their insights. I've always liked Chris Waddle on the radio myself, and the late, great Jimmy Armfield. Another one not deemed suitable for TV by the suits.

again its horses for courses. just because you are an ex international footballer who was top of their game does not guarentee em being good managers. its the same as em not being good pundits. just because of them being household names is no reason to be given the jobs. not bothered what their careers were previously its another ball game and finding the best to do it should be theire main priority over anything else. if people want a career in broadcasting they should start at the bottom and work there way up the ladder not get to the top straight off. it would not bother me if the panal consisted of either sex who played for say exeter ciry mens and womens teams as long as they had the tools to do the job.

I made that comment and just to be clear it was an ironic take on a typical BBC commentating/punditry line up. The point I am making is the CONTRIVED nature of the BBC's potential line up. They appear to appoint these people people not on ability, England caps, intelligence but purely on gender and ethnicity. As has been said, The BBC and ITV have always had black players as pundits and this is entirely right and proper because the Ian Wright s Dionee Dublins and Chris Kamaras are eminently well qualified to talk about men's football. I have absolutely no problem with that. None. My problem is that it seems the BBC are deliberately excluding a certain gender and ethnicity in favour of another one because they have an agenda. People are given these jobs for reasons other than merit/qualifications. Hope this clears this up.

Sorry, what on Earth does a female player know about playing for England men? Yet they have them on our screens givng their two pennorth. Men's football is vastly different to women's but they BBC appear to think otherwise. If a bloke who has several England caps gives his opinion on an international match, you tend to respect his views because he has the 1st hand experience to support his views, particularly if he has played in the recent past.

so going by that you would have female commentators only for all ball games where women are playing and all men doing male ones as they all have differences. its all down in the end to getting the best person for the job who comes over to the listeners the best. the crisp man and his mates are certainly at the moment making it easy for the women to be a success.

Men's football is vastly different to women's but they BBC appear to think otherwise. If a bloke who has several England caps gives his opinion on an international match, you tend to respect his views because he has the 1st hand experience to support his views, particularly if he has played in the recent past.[/quote]

And I thought dinosaurs were extinct.

Why? I really don’t see anything in that statement to question.
What was said that was untrue….?

best thing to do really is switch the game on at kick off time. do something at half time and then switch off at the final whistle then you,d avoid most of the boring chat anyway. never found the need to watch a hour befores talk or the post match analysis thats close to being a forensic event.

Best thing about smart TVs. I usually pause programmes that I want to watch at the beginning, go off and do something else, then zap through ads and all the othering boring stuff at 30x normal speed. It's 'live sport' when I want it to be

Exactly right. It is about having the best person for the job. The BBC dont hold by this, so desperate are they to push their agenda. I accept it is slightly off topic, but have you noticed how the BBC national news is presented almost exclusively by women? Is that because all the applicants for news reading jobs were from women or maybe blokes did apply but they were all inferior to the women? Around 50% of the population are men so why are they virtually excluded from the BBC's flagship news programme?

And I thought dinosaurs were extinct.[/quote]

Feel free to expand.

Seeing as how 90+% of the average crowd at a league match is male, why aren’t women attending in a similar ratio at womens matches…….?