The BBC can actually f*ck off

[Royal Lady]

Why televise it again?

Demand from real supporters.

1000's of United fans couldn't get their hands on tickets for the game so the BBC do the right thing in showing it.

Havant get 400 fans a game, if you're a true Havant fan then you can go. Football isn't about 'interest' it's about passion, in in letting the real fans watch their clubthe BBC have done the right thing.

UNITED>rest of england

On the one hand they bang on about the magic of the FA cup and on the other ...

You say football is about passion and then completely exclude smaller clubs from having any.

I'm not saying they don't have passion, I'm sure the Havant 400 are just as passionate as any 400 match going United fans.

The difference is scale. Only 400 people are interested in Havant where as many thousands are about United.

I'd have actually thought that more people would have been interested in watching Havant (regardless of how many of their fans go to games) than they would Man Utd. I know very few people who think very highly of Man Utd (who are obviously not Man Utd fans).

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Why televise it again?

Demand from real supporters.

1000's of United fans couldn't get their hands on tickets for the game so the BBC do the right thing in showing it.

Havant get 400 fans a game, if you're a true Havant fan then you can go. Football isn't about 'interest' it's about passion, in in letting the real fans watch their clubthe BBC have done the right thing.

UNITED>rest of england

On the one hand they bang on about the magic of the FA cup and on the other ...

You say football is about passion and then completely exclude smaller clubs from having any.

I'm not saying they don't have passion, I'm sure the Havant 400 are just as passionate as any 400 match going United fans.

The difference is scale. Only 400 people are interested in Havant where as many thousands are about United.

I'd have actually thought that more people would have been interested in watching Havant (regardless of how many of their fans go to games) than they would Man Utd. I know very few people who think very highly of Man Utd (who are obviously not Man Utd fans).

proper fans would probably prefer to watch the Havent match. Couch potatoes, spoonfed premier league hype, would no doubt prefer the all premier match. The notion that a match featuring players of less quality might be a more enjoyable match wouldn't enter their heads.

[papereyes]

I was thinking on the way home today. What would neutral fans prefer to watch, in general?

An exciting game where the standard of football isn't great or a duller game with a better quality of football.

The cube's post earlier is also something I was getting at. For all the "magic of the cup" hype, they really only want to see the top half of the Premiership.

[Royal Rother]

Not sure about this. We don't seem to think like that so should we assume that all PL Cup ties of fair to middling teams will be more attractive to the masses?

I know BBC aren't as good at hype as Sky but if they really got to work on the attraction of the more traditional romance of the FA Cup might it not work equally as well as appealing to the lowest common denominator of the unimaginitive PL addicts?

Probably not I suppose...

[papereyes]

Not sure about this. We don't seem to think like that so should we assume that all PL Cup ties of fair to middling teams will be more attractive to the masses?

I know BBC aren't as good at hype as Sky but if they really got to work on the attraction of the more traditional romance of the FA Cup might it not work equally as well as appealing to the lowest common denominator of the unimaginitive PL addicts?

Probably not I suppose...

What's really annoyed me this season is because of the Kitson quote, they've really made a fuss over the "magic of the cup" and then resorted to 'we'll only show the big clubs like we always do'.

Also, RZR raised a point that I think has legs - they can show two games at once, or even use BBC 3 and give the potentially more romantic game an audience. I would have watched Havant last night.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[Jerry St Clair]

Like Sky are any different! If they had first choice they'd show ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool every time.

The difference being that Sky are a commercial organisation looking to maximise revenue, whereas the BBC has a public service remit and levys a tax on every viewing household in the country.

[TBM]

what annoyed me more (as I'm sure if the BBC had been able to see into the future they might have shown either the Havant or the Newcastle games) was that even after the Man City game finished, they wasted all the remaining time talking about Keegan taking over rather than showing the goals or even bothering with the Havant tie. You just feel the BBC don't give a shit about the other teams in the cup.

Yes they did - you obviously didn't press the red button and continue watching for the next half hour.

[Wokingham via Waterloo]

Away from the telly, it's getting to the point where I physically dread putting on the commentary match on five live in case Alan Green is involved. I don't have sky and enjoy sport on the radio generally as you get much better and varied analysis in general (e.g. Jimmy Armfield, Matt Jackson, Leroy Rosenior, Claridge and even Lee Dixon, who was a revelation on the Spurs Arsenal cup tie the other night - way better than on TV.) Alan Green though has gone way beyond self parody now. Just note how often he talks about "I" or "me" in a typical passage of commentary. Banging on about how Sir Alex won't talk to him, or Bolton fans hate him, or how he has a history with this or that referee. He's at his worst in phone-ins now, though thankfully they're trying out a few different faces, like Mark Bright and Lovejoy (anyone but Spoony please). Last week in the Newcastle stuff he was saying how annoyed he was about non-Newcastle fans calling in and criticising how the club was run because they didn't have any right to. Eh? It's a phone-in you self-satisfied moron.

[crossie]

Final Score summarised the game today and made it sound like Ronaldo and Rooney were fantastic! Nothing about Reading outplaying them for most of the game, just Man United scoring late on. Bastards.

[papereyes]

Neil Warnock agrees with me.

[Y21_Royal]

Final Score summarised the game today and made it sound like Ronaldo and Rooney were fantastic! Nothing about Reading outplaying them for most of the game, just Man United scoring late on. Bastards.

That'll be the MOTD analysis

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Final Score summarised the game today and made it sound like Ronaldo and Rooney were fantastic! Nothing about Reading outplaying them for most of the game, just Man United scoring late on. Bastards.

That'll be the MOTD analysis

It'll certainly be the tale of the highlights. With games condensed to about 5-10 minutes, you don't get much beyond the good chances, which often fails to tell the real story. A spell of pressure from us that results in a blocked shot won't get shown, yet a 25 yard shot sailing over the bar will.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Have to give credit to the pundits for their analysis of today's game, as from watching the highlights you'd have thought it was 90 minutes of total domination by Utd.

[bobbybottler]

Have to give credit to the pundits for their analysis of today's game, as from watching the highlights you'd have thought it was 90 minutes of total domination by Utd.

Nice words from Rooney as well

[From Despair To Where?]

Have to give credit to the pundits for their analysis of today's game, as from watching the highlights you'd have thought it was 90 minutes of total domination by Utd.

They showed more of us in 30 seconds of post match analysis than they did in the highlights. I was moaning about selective editing in the highlights and was accused of being partisan and then Rooney, Hansen and Shearer proceed to confirm that everything I said was correct.

[Kitsondinho]

Good pundits, no Lawro.......you make the link

[Ginger Ninjas]

Have to give credit to the pundits for their analysis of today's game, as from watching the highlights you'd have thought it was 90 minutes of total domination by Utd.

They showed more of us in 30 seconds of post match analysis than they did in the highlights. I was moaning about selective editing in the highlights and was accused of being partisan and then Rooney, Hansen and Shearer proceed to confirm that everything I said was correct.

Yep. Can't believe that Kitson's effort from 40 yards wasn't in the main selection of highlights, would have been one of the goals of the season and was an excellent bit of recovery defending from Ferdinand.

[Dirk Gently]

On this subject, a good item by Rod Liddle in the SUnday Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/rod_liddle/article3216761.ece

Own goal by the BBC
The BBC talk of the magic of the Cup then show the dullest ties: like Wigan v Chelsea, neither of whom want the FA Cup

[crossie]

I was confused as to why we were behind Newcastle v. Bolton (shit game, but Keean made it first game) and Fulham v. Arsenal, when everyone knew that Arsenal would win.

[TBM]

I was confused as to why we were behind Newcastle v. Bolton (shit game, but Keean made it first game) and Fulham v. Arsenal, when everyone knew that Arsenal would win.

You gotta see it from a Mr "i don't know any results" point of view - Newcastle v Bolton was Keegans first game incharge so was obviously on the mind of most people - then as Utd were top of the league before the game(s) a win for them would still see them top....if Arsenal win then they go top (in the mind of someone who doesn't know the scores) so will watch on to see how Utd got on...etc etc!