Co-Commentators (and how Claridge should be banned!)

[Sheff Saint]

Did anyone else have the very bad misfortune to hear the 5 live commentary yesterday for the QPR game?

 

I was driving back from London and missed the first half hour so had to settle to 5 live.

 

The whole thing was awful, but Steve Claridge was the co-commentator. All biased aside he was dreadful. He basically hammered us for 30 mins. If i were a QPR fan i'd be annoyed cos there was no mention of them.

 

It was awful. I've never felt moved to complain before but i had to email the BBC last night. (i might well email Rupert later about other stuff but!!)

 

Don Goodman on sky was much better. But i think Goodman is good.

 

Who are you fav and worse co-commentators and who do you think hates Saints?

[Master Bates]

I miss Grant Coleman, true story.

[saints_is_the_south]

The build up bit on sky yesterday was shocking, all QPR & not one mention of Saints but for a interview with Jan which lasted about half a minute!

[Huffton]

Claridge is a grade a skate loving c*ck. I saw him jogging in Titchfield a while back, should have just run him over when I had the chance...

[Fatboy40]

The build up bit on sky yesterday was shocking, all QPR & not one mention of Saints but for a interview with Jan which lasted about half a minute!

 

Considering what's happened to QPR the build up was exactly what you'd expect it to be, they're far more interesting than we are right now (a skint team with relegation form).

[Sheff Saint]

The build up bit on sky yesterday was shocking, all QPR & not one mention of Saints but for a interview with Jan which lasted about half a minute!

 

I missed that but after the Blackpool build up. It was like someone thought we were Arsenal! We were always going to get beat by them after the big-ing up we got that day!

[bridge too far]

I missed that but after the Blackpool build up. It was like someone thought we were Arsenal! We were always going to get beat by them after the big-ing up we got that day!

 

They did say yesterday that Lallana's goal (build up) was like something everyone would rave about had Arsenal scored it!

[Victor]

Absolute ******** - you are allowing your anti-skate attitude to cloud your judgement. I heard most of the commentary and he was continually complimenting us, saying that, surprisingly, we were playing the better football (very surprisingly considering QPR scored 4 times as many goals as us!) and that the scoreline did not reflect the game.

 

He suggested the sending-off was harsh and said the off-side goal was diabolical, saying how could officials expect respect when they make such blatant ly obvious incorrect decisions.

 

How can you possibly accuse him of 'hammering' us?

[Saint Lindford]

Absolute ******** - you are allowing your anti-skate attitude to cloud your judgement. I heard most of the commentary and he was continually complimenting us, saying that, surprisingly, we were playing the better football (very surprisingly considering QPR scored 4 times as many goals as us!) and that the scoreline did not reflect the game.

 

He suggested the sending-off was harsh and said the off-side goal was diabolical, saying how could officials expect respect when they make such blatant ly obvious incorrect decisions.

 

How can you possibly accuse him of 'hammering' us?

 

Totally agree.

I listened to most of the second half commentary and everytime SC mentioned Saints he was complementary about the way we played football and how unlucky we were with the sending off and the second QPR goal.

[Sheff Saint]

Totally agree.

I listened to most of the second half commentary and everytime SC mentioned Saints he was complementary about the way we played football and how unlucky we were with the sending off and the second QPR goal.

 

I think i said in my post i only heard the first half.

 

But to say he was anything than awful in the first 45, i think you need your ears sorting!

 

We all know why we had 9 kids out there yesterday but there was no allowing for that. There was just a continue 'i told you so' attitude as they scored from the off. When i got back i found out the first half was, after the first minute, quite a balanced affair. You wouldn't have got that view from the radio. They did say the red was harsh, but that was it.

 

He may have been forced to eat his words second half as we did make a promising start to the 2nd period, but he was very wrong in the first half.

 

Did you not hear the farce about Dyer coming on instead of John?

[Danny]

Well for the first 25 minutes or so we were all over the place, so I'd be surprised if anyone said anything good about us then.

 

I didn't hear Claridge yesterday, but usually I find him fair and actually quite a decent pundit.

[Andy Durman]

Did anyone else have the very bad misfortune to hear the 5 live commentary yesterday for the QPR game?

 

I was driving back from London and missed the first half hour so had to settle to 5 live.

 

The whole thing was awful, but Steve Claridge was the co-commentator. All biased aside he was dreadful. He basically hammered us for 30 mins. If i were a QPR fan i'd be annoyed cos there was no mention of them.

 

It was awful. I've never felt moved to complain before but i had to email the BBC last night. (i might well email Rupert later about other stuff but!!)

 

Don Goodman on sky was much better. But i think Goodman is good.

 

Who are you fav and worse co-commentators and who do you think hates Saints?

 

I totally agree. I too listened first half and as an Cambridge lad, where Steve Claridge made his name, I was utterly disgucted by what he said. He should do his homework before coming out with such rubbish. We play 4-5-1 not 4-4-2. We had to sell or go out of business. Then I went in and watch sky. What a good game I saw. Not the bad game Clarudge was talking about on the radio.

[oldskoolsi]

I totally agree. I too listened first half and as an Cambridge lad, where Steve Claridge made his name, I was utterly disgucted by what he said. He should do his homework before coming out with such rubbish. We play 4-5-1 not 4-4-2. We had to sell or go out of business. Then I went in and watch sky. What a good game I saw. Not the bad game Clarudge was talking about on the radio.

 

That was the one big mistake he made. Not knowing our formation. TBF he may have known we usually played 4-5-1 but he never stated it.

[Ponty]

Claridge said he liked Southampton, we were a great club and we deserved to be, and he hoped we soon would be, in the Premiership. He also said we were playing some very attractive football, with maybe something just missing in the last third.

 

I can live with that sort of bias.

[VectisSaint]

Can't say I heard 5Live yesterday, but if people could put their anti-skate hatred to one side, they would actually find that Claridge is one of the better co-commentators, and is almost always very complimentary towards Saints, despite the abuse he gets. We lost 4-1 yesterday, what i saw on Sky was diabolical in the main, who can say Claridge was wrong to be critical. Sometimes the truth hurts, especially when you cannot see past your blind hatred.

[badgerx16]

 

Did you not hear the farce about Dyer coming on instead of John?

 

I seem to recall a number of references to Lloyd Dyer, whoever he might be !

[swannymere]

I heard SC yesterday and thought it was almost embarrassing how complimentary he was towards us!

[Bourne Valley Saint]

I only heard about ten minutes of it whilst driving but in that time he was very complimentary. We had just equalised and he said it was no less than we deserved. Then QPR scored with the help of the linesman and Claridge said how disgusted he was at the decision. He mentioned about this RESPECT thing and said that officials have to earn respect and no one would respect him after that decision! He said that losing points like this may be crucial at the end of the season if fighting relegation! I dont know whether that can be construed as being anti-Saints or not, more like an honest assessment of our predicament. Claridge is ok in my book.

[Sheff Saint]

I reckon he must have been pulled up at half time cos he wasn't even slightly nice in the first half.

 

Mind due Parry and Goodman were wetting themselves on Sky in the second half as well. Even at 4-1 down.

 

I like Don Goodman, he always seems balanced and articulate.

[thelamprey]

I'd rather have CLaridge commentating than that **** ALan Green..oh hang on his ****ed up lordship Green doesnt do Championship games does he

[thelamprey]

why is such mild anglosaxon as c...o...c...k

 

and p...i...s....s

 

censored on here?

[influx]

I think the only thing bias is saints fans opinions of ex-skates!

 

Steve Claridge is a nice guy and always has good things to say about us.

[RedFear]

I listened to 5 Live and to be fair, his attitude did change in the second half

 

He even said something like "good on them" when we scored, which surprised me. He was very complimentary about our play and got very angry when qpr scored their second. talking of how its hard to follow new respect code, when such obvious wrong decisions are made.

 

overall, he was actually very fair. although i can see why you might not think that if you only head first half

[Secret Site Agent]

Did anyone else have the very bad misfortune to hear the 5 live commentary yesterday for the QPR game?

 

I was driving back from London and missed the first half hour so had to settle to 5 live.

 

The whole thing was awful, but Steve Claridge was the co-commentator. All biased aside he was dreadful. He basically hammered us for 30 mins. If i were a QPR fan i'd be annoyed cos there was no mention of them.

 

It was awful. I've never felt moved to complain before but i had to email the BBC last night. (i might well email Rupert later about other stuff but!!)

 

Don Goodman on sky was much better. But i think Goodman is good.

 

Who are you fav and worse co-commentators and who do you think hates Saints?

 

 

I think we got quite a good report from Sky, for a change. They said that the team played well, and that they did well for an hour with only 10 men. They said that the second goal was definitely offside. Their points agreed with me 100 %, which I have never been able to say before when watching a Sky match, that we played very well, we lack the decisive finishing in from of the goal, and the defence need sorting. We also need someone on the pitch, with a cooler head, to calm down the youngsters when they start getting a tad red-eyed.

Edited 16 September, 2008 by Secret Site Agent
My poor poor grammar

[Wildgoose]

I too was driving and only heard about 10 minutes towards the end of the first half. I was surprised how complimentary and positive he was about Saints, to be fair.

 

He thought the sending off was shocking and said we were playing neat football without really penetrating in the final third. That seems to tie in to what everyone else is saying, so 'no' I didn't think he was shocking at all in what I heard......which admittedly was not as much as I would have liked!!!!

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Did anyone else have the very bad misfortune to hear the 5 live commentary yesterday for the QPR game?

 

I was driving back from London and missed the first half hour so had to settle to 5 live.

 

The whole thing was awful, but Steve Claridge was the co-commentator. All biased aside he was dreadful. He basically hammered us for 30 mins. If i were a QPR fan i'd be annoyed cos there was no mention of them.

 

It was awful. I've never felt moved to complain before but i had to email the BBC last night. (i might well email Rupert later about other stuff but!!)

 

Don Goodman on sky was much better. But i think Goodman is good.

 

Who are you fav and worse co-commentators and who do you think hates Saints?

 

 

Could not BELIEVE Claridge yesterday. If someone on the A1 had seen me swearing at the Radio then they would have thought I was insane. The only positive thing I heard from him yesterday was his admission that QPR's second goal was offside.

[CB Fry]

LOL.

 

Steve Claridge falls over himself to be nice about Saints every time I hear him on the radio. And there are still people who think he's "got it in for us".

 

I am waiting for someone to say that Sky were biased against us yesterday, despite the fact the commentators were still raving about how great we were even when we were three down.

 

It was only when we they hit the fourth the two commentators realised they were being a bit silly and started giving QPR some credit, and remembered that Kelvin had kept us in the bloody game.

 

Blatant, blatant pro Saints bias yesterday on Sky, but it won't stop any of you wallies dribbling on about how Sky "don't like us" next time out.

[VectisSaint]

I guess there must be 2 different people called Steve Claridge

[Chorlton]

I think Claridge is a pretty funny bloke and don't buy intio this 'he hates us' stuff. He seems to enjoy the banter and probably plays up to it at times.

 

I am sure I read somewhere (possibly in his pretty good book 'Tales from the Bootcamp')that he was/is a Liverpool fan rather than a skate

[Matt SFC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilpTdaMwyNs&feature=related

 

Claridge is a prrick and sounds very camp.

[eelpie]

There's only one Colemanballs!

[Papa Shango]

I don't mind Claridge to be honest. Whenever I hear him on the radio he always has nice things to say about us. I heard him on the coach on the way back from Exeter and he said that we were the best team 2006/07 and should have gone up instead of Derby.

[Leicestersaint]

I think Claridge is simply appalling - and sounds like the village idiot as well as being totally biased.

[Ponty]

I think Claridge is simply appalling - and sounds like the village idiot as well as being totally biased.

Sorry but I've only ever heard him be, at worst, honest about our performances and, more often, very complimentary of the team and the club.

[Micky]

I listened to the first half and to be honest thought he called it about right. Before the game started he said that we would struggle with all the kids, and need to balance it a little with experience. Fair comment - 37 seconds in he was probably proved right.

 

After that, he gave us fair dues as the team got it down and played some decent stuff. Really can't say that I heard too much that could be construed as biased opinion. More like an old pro calling it as it was. I didn't listen to the second half, but from what I heard, and subsequently saw - I would say that he called it about right.

[Victor]

They said that the second gal was definatly offside. QUOTE]

 

Women eh! Just don't understand the off-side rule.

[Topcat]

Anyone hear the sky commentator refer to Dexter Blackc**k?

 

One of 2 things good from the game.

[JohnnyFartPants]

On this site there are currently two threads going that could have mirroring statements. One of them goes on to say that when MLT see's a goal go in for Pompey he doesn't look too pleased and makes a face off camera, and the other thread demands the sacking of Steve Claridge for not coming out wearing a Saints shirt and spraying his dog with red and white stripes when he takes him for a walk. I have always found Steve Claridge to be very evenly balanced with his views about Southampton Football Club.

 

To be totally honest, despite MLT being by far the more gifted player, SC does make a much better football pundit.

[KK the 2nd]

I listened to the first 15 minutes on radio 5 before seeing the rest of the match on sky. I concurr that Claridge was appalling and anti Saints. SKY was a lot more balanced.

 

BTW What did happen to Grant Coleman? I remember him on Solent before I moved out of the area (and out of range of local radio) in the 80's.

[Victor]

I listened to the first 15 minutes on radio 5 before seeing the rest of the match on sky. I concurr that Claridge was appalling and anti Saints. SKY was a lot more balanced.

 

BTW What did happen to Grant Coleman? I remember him on Solent before I moved out of the area (and out of range of local radio) in the 80's.

 

If you only heard an eighth of 5live's commentary, how can you assess balance?

I tuned in when Holmes was lying injured (23mins.) and heard most of the remainder (but not any half-time comment). SC had only praise and sympathy for Saints and, in fact, I have always found that he speaks well of the club and his knowledge and experience of the game makes him interesting to hear. Certainly better than having David Pleat droning away, even though his tactical talk has a certain academic interest.

[Andy Durman]

We can only comment on what we heard and 20 mins of the first half were very condescending and I like Steve Claridge.

 

The problem was that he just didn't do his homework

[KK the 2nd]

If you only heard an eighth of 5live's commentary, how can you assess balance?

I tuned in when Holmes was lying injured (23mins.) and heard most of the remainder (but not any half-time comment). SC had only praise and sympathy for Saints and, in fact, I have always found that he speaks well of the club and his knowledge and experience of the game makes him interesting to hear. Certainly better than having David Pleat droning away, even though his tactical talk has a certain academic interest.

Fair point, I accept I didn't hear all his commentary and maybe it was just the first 15 minutes that this was the case. However I do feel he was very judgemental and anti Saints in that period. Maybe he improved as the match progressed and he was then able to base his judgement on fact, having seen the style, the ability and the workrate of some of our youngsters.

[saint1977]

Claridge is actually very fair about SFC for the most part so would be surprised if he had said something different. He's a skate I respect.

 

If you want commentators that hate us - Alan Green 5 Live. In fact, Green hates every club outside of the top 4 in rhe PL and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a **** when Liverpool score. He rants incessently - not my type of commentator at all. Martin Tyler is more my sort of commentator - let's the game do the talking whilst Andy Gray - another knob like Green - sits there and rants ****e. I can't stand Gray - he was a vastly overrated player and used to give Matty a coating despite the fact MLT was scoring 25 goals a season from midfield in some awful teams. **** - MLT might well have been lazy Gray wasn't fit to lace his boots even so. The best commentator across all sports was Richie Benaud in cricket.

[Secret Site Agent]

They said that the second gal was definatly offside. QUOTE]

 

Women eh! Just don't understand the off-side rule.

 

She was as well!!!!!!! I don't know what she was doing out of the kitchen.

 

Point taken. Edit Done.