MOTD 2026/7

MOTD 2026/7

Just watched it. Just about the worst MotD with Brentford I can remember.

- two monotone pundits with nothing to say.
- Vicki Sparks on commentary.
- No playback of any analytical clips from the highlights. (first time I ever remember that happening, excepting if it's a Friday game). We weren't even last on!!

Rubbish.
 

MOTD 2026/7


Match of the Day presenter had look of shot-down airman in a hostage video on Saturday night amid continuing turmoil at BBC Sport

This column is firm in its belief that there are few better sports broadcasters around than Mark Chapman, so it was with some concern that it witnessed this Saturday’s Match of the Day.

Chapman, normally such agreeable and enjoyable TV company, had the bearing throughout of a shot-down airman in a hostage video.

Firstly and most importantly, one obviously hopes that he is doing OK. To that point, it is encouraging to note that he seemed to be on decent form during his hosting stint on Radio Five earlier in the day, and again he seemed much more his usual self when he was on Sky Sports on Sunday afternoon presenting the match between Sunderland and Leeds United.

Perhaps, then, it was his Match of the Day engagement specifically that was causing him to look so uncharacteristically gloomy. He did not do anything wrong, but he delivered his intros and his questions to Martin Keown and Steph Houghton, the pundits, with the minimum of sparkle. Wearing a black pullover, arms folded across his chest, Chapman said things such as “Unai Emery wanted to praise them defensively…” or “Enzo Maresca just said it was one of those days…” and “My captors are treating me well…” and then kind of left Keown and Houghton to get on with it to the best of their abilities. Martin, it gives me no pleasure to report, has Gone Continental in his analysis, for instance in adopting a favoured idiom of the European managers to talk about “needing a striker who can win games when you are suffering”. Translation: against the run of play. Ooh Martin. It is all impossibly exotic.

We were all suffering through this programme, not least of all the host, and it is widely rumoured that Chapman (among others) is less than entirely gruntled about how things are being run at BBC Sport. You could interpret Saturday’s performance as an understated piece of work-to-rule industrial action. Or perhaps he was unhappy to learn just before going on air that his private life was going to be pried into again by The Sun in the following morning’s paper, and he would be right to be annoyed. Or perhaps he just had a cold, like everyone else in Britain right now. But a grumpy Chapman, with the very moderate Keown and Houghton for company, does not exactly scream “unmissable TV” for the BBC’s flagship sports show. It was always a risk that trying out a broader range of pundits week-on-week was going to dilute the product, but that might have worked because Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Chapman are so good. But this is not encouraging. From the outside at least, it does not come across as a very happy ship, and viewers pick up the vibe.

The Chapman style has long been established as a mixture of affable but respectful banter with his expert pundits, a sure touch for the issues and narratives of the day, dry wit, a sense of perspective, and a hinterland. All of these were present and correct during the strikingly awful 0-0 between Sunderland and Leeds, contested in high winds. Chappers joked here and there with Kevin Phillips and Michael Bridges about crisp packets swirling around the ground and conceded at half-time that “not much has happened”. This represents a refreshing, increasingly rare, BS-free approach to covering the overhyped Premier League. Phillips and Bridges are solid, mid-table pundits, but Chapman got plenty of enjoyable and interesting chat from both of them; a sure sign of a top presenter being that he/she makes the people around them better.

But to get the best out of anyone, they have to be working in an environment where they feel supported, where they feel like the bosses understand the business and how to steer the ship. That does not appear to be the prevailing mood within BBC Sport at the moment.
 

MOTD 2026/7

It’s becoming harder and harder to enjoy the PL, the whole three hour journey home yesterday was about Carrick and Utd, f*** all about Bournemouth who have just had the craziest four day period in their history !
 

MOTD 2026/7

maddogging said:
It’s becoming harder and harder to enjoy the PL, the whole three hour journey home yesterday was about Carrick and Utd, f*** all about Bournemouth who have just had the craziest four day period in their history !
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Football and cricket commentary is all I'll listen to now, can't stick any kind of punditry. Phone ins? ffs no. Radio X Chilled if nothing on.
 

MOTD 2026/7

Les Beeavinu said:
Football and cricket commentary is all I'll listen to now, can't stick any kind of punditry. Phone ins? ffs no. Radio X Chilled if nothing on.
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Yeah, travelling back from hull the choices were Sutton and Savage or Sawyer and Pardew ! Chose Nat obviously but through no fault of her own, it was hours of utter morons ringing in to talk about United !
 

MOTD 2026/7

If you watch on iPlayer and fast forward you can see when a particular match comes on. I watch the games and fast forward to the next game. The extended waffle cuts down the amount of highlights after the first two games. I did listen to the dumbdits on the Hull v Hull game. Very informative.
 

MOTD 2026/7

In one sense, maybe we should take the absence of comment on Brentford as a kind of compliment? That is, we are now accepted as being an established PL club, whereas Hull are the "story", since they are the PL newbies, and then probably only for one or two seasons.

As for everything else being Carrick/Man U etc, that's merely a reflection of their audience power, since MU Reserves vs B'mouth Reserves would likely receive more followers than Hull v Brentford. I don't like it, but that's the way it is, all the more so when never mind their Public Broadcaster status, the Beeb are struggling for revenue these days like never before.

And in any case, it's not so long since MOTD used to feature highlights from three (two, even?) of the 92 EFL clubs, once a week, meaning that Bees only ever featured once in a blue moon. These days, every Bees games gets at least some airtime and I generally only watch the actual match highlights, not even bothering with all the studio nonsense.

So let us never forget that these are The Golden Times, enjoy it to the full!
 

MOTD 2026/7

Assuming we'll be last on tonight.
What’s happened to the extended highlights/no punditry PL videos that were on the BBC Sport website last season?
 

MOTD 2026/7

Danny Murphy on tonight
Surely Fulham will be on last
 

MOTD 2026/7

badgerbee said:
Assuming we'll be last on tonight.
What’s happened to the extended highlights/no punditry PL videos that were on the BBC Sport website last season?
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They’ve been posted at 20:00 on a Saturday this season too. Can only assume it’s something to do with today’s 20:00 kick off? :confused:
 

MOTD 2026/7

Missed the running order.
Villa v Cottagers last?
We 2nd from last?
EDIT: AI says we're 4th on!!!!
 

MOTD 2026/7

... we're next chaps... our 2nd is sublime.
 

MOTD 2026/7

99.9% was about Forest.
 

MOTD 2026/7

MOTD 2026/7

Wouldbee said:
i cant STAND his punditry. Weak in all areas. Plus the added disadvantage of being a crap pundit with a slurring childlike delivery. If what he said was insightful that really wouldnt matter but really.
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He’s getting better, but started from a very low level. Not sure how he’s got that award (Craig Pead voters?), but there’s easily half a dozen better/more deserving, without looking too far.
 

MOTD 2026/7

MOTD 2026/7

Seems like an industry award wanting to pick a high profile pundit so they get more publicity
 
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