Football Focus

[Sparkles]

Tonight Football Focus will go to air with the usual suspects and I only watch it now as there is really no other chat show on our wonderful True channels,here in Thailand, to speak off. Last weeks show was rescued ,in my opinion , by Martin Tyler now entering his 35 th year of broadcasting British football. His informative, knowledgable insights into the current state of play in England were refereshing to say the least. The opinions of Shebby , Reeves , Mc Mahon and Masefield are regurgitated so many times its almost like watching a repeat. Am I being too critical ? I have emailed Dykes quite a few times but suspect he doesn't make decisions especially in regard to Steve Mc Mahon who is employed by the sponsor, Profitable Plots ...any thoughts gents ?

[InSiSongkram]

Its the best we get don`t be too critical, I know if we were in Europe we probably wouldn`t bat an eyelid at it but over here with True well enough said...Tyler was brilliant last week really enjoyed some of his comments on the game very knowledgeable bloke.

[nev]

Well it beat's watching the thai commentator on there show.

I Like the show just about to watch it now.

By the way just heard the villa v blackburn game has been called off,i expect city v united tommorow to be called off too.

[Sparkles]

Its the best we get don`t be too critical, I know if we were in Europe we probably wouldn`t bat an eyelid at it but over here with True well enough said...Tyler was brilliant last week really enjoyed some of his comments on the game very knowledgeable bloke.

So how do we get Tyler on every week, mass TV petition? To be fair tonight was a slight improvemnt but so many different stories they dont touch on. Eg look at the Championship this season.Newcastle are looking sure to return but theres a couple of bolters there but its never mentioned must be very frustrating if you are not a follower of the bigger clubs and your club is really firing

[Sparkles]

Well it beat's watching the thai commentator on there show.

I Like the show just about to watch it now.

By the way just heard the villa v blackburn game has been called off,i expect city v united tommorow to be called off too.

Seems games are being called off, not because of ground conditions ,but for the safety of spectators getting to the ground and more importantly getting home safely. Been a horrible winter so far and could provide a back log of games.

[R123]

I took a look at the Football Focus today(05-01-10) and it had that awful bore Jamie Reeves boasting about his "playing days". Well a little research shows he was a part time player in the likes of the Isthmian league and some non entity essex league and he was not even a full professional.

The programme is full of bull-Shi**ers.

Of course much of the audience for Football Focus are Asians who it seems can be easily duped into believable that the participants have some kind of expertise at the highest level.

Cannot believe that any respectable football TV show in England would allow Reeves or any of those other jokers on Football Focus to be paraded in front of the cameras as "experts" when in fact none of them on the show today has any experience of the top flight of an English football league.

Edited January 5, 2010 by R123

[Sparkles]

I took a look at the Football Focus today(05-01-10) and it had that awful bore Jamie Reeves boasting about his "playing days". Well a little research shows he was a part time player in the likes of the Isthmian league and some non entity essex league and he was not even a full professional.

The programme is full of bull-Shi**ers.

Of course much of the audience for Football Focus are Asians who it seems can be easily duped into believable that the participants have some kind of expertise at the highest level.

Cannot believe that any respectable football TV show in England would allow Reeves or any of those other jokers on Football Focus to be paraded in front of the cameras as "experts" when in fact none of them on the show today has any experience of the top flight of an English football league.

To be fair to Reeves he did get to Wembley twice in competitions albeit well below the top flight and you dont necessarily have to be an ex top liner to be good TV material but its the sameness of the subjects like reading last weeks newspapers.I think the welcome appearance ,last week,of Martin Tyler highlighted the shortcomings of the usual crew.

[StevieH]

martin tyler is an educated and interesting observer of football. steve mcmahon is a self-publicising gobshite whose knowledge of the game is of about sunday league under-11s level. the best thing to do with these things is just watch the actual match highlights and then mute the sound when the panel are talking, you will not learn anything you didn't already know. there are some really interesting articles being written about football at the moment but you have to read them rather than watch them unfotunately.

[Hazri]

I don't know much about the guys in Football Focus, but Shebby definitely wasn't a prominent figure in Malaysian football in his playing days. His managerial career was not that impressive either. It puzzles me how he got chosen for the show.

[imola]

I took a look at the Football Focus today(05-01-10) and it had that awful bore Jamie Reeves boasting about his "playing days". Well a little research shows he was a part time player in the likes of the Isthmian league and some non entity essex league and he was not even a full professional.

The programme is full of bull-Shi**ers.

Of course much of the audience for Football Focus are Asians who it seems can be easily duped into believable that the participants have some kind of expertise at the highest level.

Cannot believe that any respectable football TV show in England would allow Reeves or any of those other jokers on Football Focus to be paraded in front of the cameras as "experts" when in fact none of them on the show today has any experience of the top flight of an English football league.

as you said you only .took a look. on 5th jan , as previous poster said , dont knock it too much, its all weve got,

btw ,steve mcmahon, whether you reckon hes a bullsh--ter or not , does have top flight experience, unlike your insular posting, may i suggest you get the facts right, ive seen les ferdinand on the show didnt,he play top flight?? my point is

its s.e. asia there is not an abundance of ex top flight pros , comfortable in ,front of a camera lookin for pundit work in this neck of the woods, on the other hand i accept what a downer it must have been, you,ll get over it

[Jimjim]

That show's always been full of hot air so don't see why it should change now.

[StevieH]

I don't know much about the guys in Football Focus, but Shebby definitely wasn't a prominent figure in Malaysian football in his playing days. His managerial career was not that impressive either. It puzzles me how he got chosen for the show.

it's usually got nothing to do with playing career or managerial experience. andy gray, who is sky sports' resident 'expert' made a playing career of heading the ball when other players would kick it and has been offered a managerial job a couple of times at ex-clubs of his only to bottle out of it when the chance to really prove his expertise arose. he was picked as the 'voice' of sky footbal back when it started because they wanted a passionate and gritty scottish drawl to give drama to football commentaries. his actual knowledge of tactics is about that of the average pubgoing football fan.

[samuibeachcomber]

was n't andy gray a prominent wolves aston bvilla player in his day? as an aside i agree with another poster about the league championship,could do with a programme just for this.I watch the highlights on astro sports but would enjoy a discussion to compliment the highlights too.Its a great league and often more interesting than the EPL.As for for football focus,it is a lot of hot air but better than nothing,and i think jamie reeve has far more nouse than the other three.

[StevieH]

yeah, he played for wolves, villa, everton and rangers. he wasn't all that though, just a reasonable scrapper of a journeyman forward. for the sky job he was just the right guy in the right place at the right time with the right growling accent.

[SweatySock]

yeah, he played for wolves, villa, everton and rangers. he wasn't all that though, just a reasonable scrapper of a journeyman forward. for the sky job he was just the right guy in the right place at the right time with the right growling accent.

Don't forget Dundee United as well.

[StevieH]

yeah, he played for wolves, villa, everton and rangers. he wasn't all that though, just a reasonable scrapper of a journeyman forward. for the sky job he was just the right guy in the right place at the right time with the right growling accent.

Don't forget Dundee United as well.

sorry, he started there didn't he?

i met him once in london on a sky sports outside broadcast a number of years ago. he's got an absolutely massive head, out of all proportion to his body, like sam allardyce.

Edited January 6, 2010 by StevieH

[SweatySock]

yeah, he played for wolves, villa, everton and rangers. he wasn't all that though, just a reasonable scrapper of a journeyman forward. for the sky job he was just the right guy in the right place at the right time with the right growling accent.

Don't forget Dundee United as well.

sorry, he started there didn't he?

i met him once in london on a sky sports outside broadcast a number of years ago. he's got an absolutely massive head, out of all proportion to his body, like sam allardyce.

Yeah, he started as a teenager with Dundee United many, many moons ago. His head is probably that size due to the amount of kicking it received during his career.

Agree with most of the comments on here re FF, it is dated and needs a real freshen up. However I would much rather listen to McMahon than Reeves. At least McMahon has been there and done it.

[bkkjames]

I preferred it when they were sitting at the tables with a proper shirt jacket and tie on. This couch thingy puts me off - maybe it's just Masefield's fat belly.

[SweatySock]

I preferred it when they were sitting at the tables with a proper shirt jacket and tie on. This couch thingy puts me off - maybe it's just Masefield's fat belly.

He's another one with a fine pedigree in professional football just like Reeves. What were his claims to fame, Blackpool and some team in Hong Kong wasn't it?

[carmine]

IMHO Sky sports Jeff Stelling is the benchmark to host a football panel and makes this lot look exactly what they are...a bunch of boring t#ssers with a very limited knowledge of the game.

[StevieH]

jeff stelling is magnificent. he is made to look even more amazing though by the moronic blerts they have on there like charlie nicholas, matt le tissier and that braindead arsewit paul merson.

[SweatySock]

Never seen Jeff Stelling, what's the chances that he can appear on the Singapore Settee?

[SweatySock]

Woops sorry double post.

Edited January 6, 2010 by SweatySock

[StevieH]

less than zero i should imagine mate. if you ever can though, check out sky sports' soccer saturday when all the matches are on live, stelling somehow manages to present the show and announce every goal update while remaining funny, informative and entertaining. i once heard someone describe him as 'live autism', which i thought was quite funny.

[SweatySock]

less than zero i should imagine mate. if you ever can though, check out sky sports' soccer saturday when all the matches are on live, stelling somehow manages to present the show and announce every goal update while remaining funny, informative and entertaining. i once heard someone describe him as 'live autism', which i thought was quite funny.

So all I need to do is get Sky Sports Soccer Saturday beamed up live to Nong Bua Lam Phu.

Somehow I don't think that will happen any time soon, probably more chance of seeing him as a "guest" pundit on FF I think.

[StevieH]

less than zero i should imagine mate. if you ever can though, check out sky sports' soccer saturday when all the matches are on live, stelling somehow manages to present the show and announce every goal update while remaining funny, informative and entertaining. i once heard someone describe him as 'live autism', which i thought was quite funny.

So all I need to do is get Sky Sports Soccer Saturday beamed up live to Nong Bua Lam Phu.

Somehow I don't think that will happen any time soon, probably more chance of seeing him as a "guest" pundit on FF I think.

you can stream it over the web. myp2p.eu usually has a link for it each saturday.

[numpty]

i used to like shebby but now he is getting tiresome. Jamie Reeves for me is the pick of the bunch.

Just cos Steve One Minute McMahon played the game doesn't mean his opinion is worth jack5hit. I have a friend of mine who has taught English in BKK for 20 ++ years and would never ask his opinion about his field

Check out some of the bores who help with the commentary or the guys back in the uk who decided to be pundits rather get into coaching.

Ex pros are too quick to just blame the ref or the defender...they seem to have little else to ofer.

trouble is with all this wall to wall coverage we all think we re experts on football...

[Ossies]

Totally agree that this is a very poor show as all the pundits mentioned i.e. Shebby, Masefield, Reeves & McMahon are so uninspiring and unconvincing in their opinions. Even the one with any pedigree, McMahon is a bore and his whining voice puts me off.

However, always make an effort to watch Football Forecast (think that bookie who is normally on is very watchable) and First Edition (as always like to listen to that Sky Sports anchor guy who's name I cannot recall).

[Sparkles]

Totally agree that this is a very poor show as all the pundits mentioned i.e. Shebby, Masefield, Reeves & McMahon are so uninspiring and unconvincing in their opinions. Even the one with any pedigree, McMahon is a bore and his whining voice puts me off.

However, always make an effort to watch Football Forecast (think that bookie who is normally on is very watchable) and First Edition (as always like to listen to that Sky Sports anchor guy who's name I cannot recall).

The Sky guy is Richard Keys whose has been around for quite some time. He is a Coventry supporter of long standing.

[SweatySock]

i used to like shebby but now he is getting tiresome.

"Yes John........"

"Well John......."

"No John..........."

"I disagree John..."

"John....."

:D