Phil Neville - Co-Commentator BBC Oh dear...where to start with poor Phil Neville. Often regarded as the lesser of the two Neville’s, Phil made his co-commentary debut in the England v Italy match on Saturday night and subsequently earned himself well over 400 complaints for his performance. This seems truly extraordinary on a number of levels given that a) he was so bad as to actually generate complaints about his role and the very fact that over 400 people in the UK have the time or inclination to actually bother to complain about such a trivial matter. Neville was however, almost stunningly bad and as I turned on my TV to watch the game, I almost instantly asked myself who the hell was this mono-toned dull man we were having to endure during one of the biggest games of the group phase. It was impossible to actually discern if Neville was offering insightful or relevant opinion because the tone of his voice was such that any interesting points were rendered obscelete because of his inability to communicate in a way that was even borderline listenable. I genuinely could not criticise the content of his commentary as the tone of his voice was so distracting that I would be lying if I said I was aware if he had made any actual errors in his commentary. Never have I heard someone in the co-commentary position in such a big game sound quite so utterly devoid of passion or excitement and the fact he was handed such an important gig to make his debut almost beggars belief. One fan observed that he sounded like someone talking to themselves while playing FIFA on the Xbox and this summed it up rather nicely I felt. Neville mumbled and fumbled his way through an excruciating 90 minutes to hopefully never be heard again in the co-commentary role and It has to be asked as to why no one at the BBC had a quick word with Gary Jnr and asked him to inject some tone into his delivery during the halftime break because it was utterly apparent almost instantly that this was a man not cut out for such a big event. The BBC continues to frustrate and you wonder if they even bother to screen test these ex footballers before hiring them or perhaps one of their bigwigs concluded that if he was Gary’s brother he must be good. It seems this assumption was made before they threw him a mic and told him to get on with it “Go on Phil, just do what Gary does” was probably the extent of the production advice. In any case, you did feel a touch sorry for Neville as he clearly does know his football and seemed much more like a human when appearing as a pundit the following evening but the co-commentary role has to be reserved for someone with a bit more passion...cue Robbie Savage on our screens the following evening. And that my friends is just another reason why the BBC continues to draw scorn across the country. Thierry Henry (BBC) This was obviously going to be a good choice as Mr vava-voom has throughout his time in English football offered a confidence, swagger and eruditeness to his personality that makes him a hit with both the ladies and the gents and seemed like a guaranteed choice to spice up the BBC’s coverage and he has not been a disappointment. It is quite startling to see a Frenchman speak the English language in a manner that Robbie Savage could only dream about and Henry, for the most part has delivered insightful, articulate and intelligent analysis with a little comedy thrown in for good measure and his presence on our screens has been a particular pleasure, especially for myself as he is unquestionably one of my footballing heroes. There was a particularly enjoyable moment as Savage derided a player for a dangerous challenge and Henry almost fell off his chair laughing at the sheer comedy of one Robbie Savage criticizing anyone for a bad challenge. The fact he called out Savage on the matter only increased the viewing experience and one has to hope that the BBC can bring Henry back to our screens in the future. And some others (BBC) Neil Lennon has been surprisingly non detestable (as a Rangers fan) while Clarence Seedorf has the heir of a confident, articulate champion in much the same style of Henry and his presence again has to be welcomed. Alan Shearer has certainly raised his game from a 0 out of 10 to at least a 5 (high praise indeed) and it’s clear he does take the role more seriously than the likes of Lawrenson who are paid highly to attend a World Cup and provide a little bit of insight and act as though they are working 24/7 to clean Robbie Savage's toilet.when they should be thanking there lucky stars that anyone even bothers to offer them any kind of employment let alone the chance to work at a World Cup. Shearer however deserves a bit more credit than is usually the case, given that he is obviously not blessed with the sharpest brain in the world but has paid closer attention to detail and research and while this seems like an obvious, fundamental part of the role, with others it evidently is not and for that he deserves at least a passing portion of respect. Comments are closed.
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