Euro 2012 Bone on the Box: Put Motty in the picture - and Pearce in '˜custardy'

We've now had five days of the Euros and the list of things irritating me with the TV coverage is growing steadily, writes Steve Bone.

In no particular order, it includes: overhead cameras, goal-line officials, too many action replays (which are too slow), Mark Lawrenson, the plethora of picture montages set to fancy music and Alan Shearer (Shearer being a separate entry on the list rather than something too many picture montages are set to).

And I can’t decide what annoys me most – ITV interrupting their coverage with so many ad breaks, or the BBC not interrupting theirs for anything?

So let’s deal with some of the above list.

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What exactly does Alan Shearer bring to the table? All he’s done so far is compare things he’s seeing at Euro 2012 to things he did in his career. Yawn.

Why the Beeb prefer Shearer to a live wire like Ian Wright on their sofa, I’ll never know.

Maybe it’s like the FA preferring a safe pair of hands (Hodgson) to a loose cannon (Redknapp). Ooh, sorry – we’re not allowed to criticise Roy (yet).

Of course, one or two pundits are struggling with the English language in places – but give Jamie Carragher a chance. He’s new to this game. Anyone else need sub-titles when he’s in full flow?

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Still, at least he’s talking more sense (at least I expect he is) than Jonathan Pearce.

The other night, Jono told us the sea of yellow created by the Ukraine and Sweden fans had made their surroundings ‘a big yellow custard bowl of a stadium’.

I could be pedantic and say custard bowls themselves aren’t necessarily yellow – and, in any case, custard isn’t bright yellow.

I was quite hungry by the end of that game because it also featured Martin Keown talking of ‘bread and butter finishing’.

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He knew what he meant but I’m not sure I did. You’d never get such nonsense from Motty.

Ah, the criminally-underused Motty. He’s in the 23-man squad but not getting much game time. Some say he’s had his day but it’s not the same without him.

Perhaps we could reach a compromise and make Motty a goal-line official or devote one of the picture montages to his sheepskin coat. I’d watch it.

Got a view on the TV coverage of the Euros? Email [email protected] or find me on Twitter - @stevebone1

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