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LOL NWRA:biggrin:
I’d love that, I really would. He could be sponsored by Ocean Finance to add to to the RUK/Tote investment.
Quote: from seabird on 9:31 am on Jan. 5, 2007[br]Does "working-class Britain" exist any more?
Does this Andrew Franklin live in an ivory tower, he can’t read many horse-racing forums?!
It is difficult to believe that there is an audience out there that appreciates McCririck, Thompson, Persad, Spencer and Fox-Pitt but this chap Franklin seems to!!
Colin<br>
<br>Hey hang on I appreciate Emma Spencer. OK its sod all to do with her racing knowledge but hey allow me some pleasure please.
I think there’s a place for Big Mac – Yes the bloke is a fool but he’s also a very intelligent guy and probably the most famous of all racing presenters.
The others mention flippin heck bring back Playschool, stick them on there just get them off racing coverage for gods sake. Add Lesley "Grinner" Graham to the list as well she’s so false she makes my skin crawl.
Quote: from Lingfield on 9:57 pm on Jan. 4, 2007[br]There is some hope though in that reportedly McCririck, Thompson and Cattermole are embroiled in a contract dispute involving C4, RUK and ATR which MAY lead to their disappearance from terrestrial TV!<br>
Sorry to disappoint you, Lingfield, but today’s Guardian reports that "Channel 4 was last night understood to have backed down on its demand that …John McCririck, Derek Thompson and Mike Cattermole plug …Racing UK during its broadcasts."
Presumably, however, Racing UK will object to he who calls himself Thommo coming out with blatant untruths like last week’s reference to the Cheltenham Festival being "live and exclusive" on C4.
Quote: from NWRA on 4:18 pm on Jan. 5, 2007[br]I’m surprised that ‘Simon From Leeds’ (the bloke who kept on backing losers at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, and was constantly interviewed/laughed at by the team) doesn’t have his own weekly slot on The Morning Line. <br>
I got an email that week insisting the guy was an actor (in dodgy films) just trying to get on TV. I could well believe it.
Channel 4 racing is dumbing down to the nth degree.
Terrestrial broadcasting as a whole seems the only place where a ‘job for life’ still seems to exist. Why else would Graham Goode and J A McGrath have jobs?
Quote: from guskennedy on 12:35 pm on Jan. 6, 2007[br]
Quote: from Lingfield on 9:57 pm on Jan. 4, 2007[br]There is some hope though in that reportedly McCririck, Thompson and Cattermole are embroiled in a contract dispute involving C4, RUK and ATR which MAY lead to their disappearance from terrestrial TV!<br>
Sorry to disappoint you, Lingfield, but today’s Guardian reports that "Channel 4 was last night understood to have backed down on its demand that …John McCririck, Derek Thompson and Mike Cattermole plug …Racing UK during its broadcasts."
Presumably, however, Racing UK will object to he who calls himself Thommo coming out with blatant untruths like last week’s reference to the Cheltenham Festival being "live and exclusive" on C4.<br>
My hopes have been dashed as the overmanned cosy club continue!
Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all, as they say.:biggrin:
Thommo can really get on my nerves too, especially if i’m having a bad day lol but as an employer there is no way I would consider ditching him as you can’t deny that he is a dedicated and reliable worker. He keeps at it besides all the crap he receives from certain quarters suggesting that he does have mettle, i’ll give him that.
<br>It isn’t only in racing that TV seems to offer a job for life. How about the following –
Murray Walker – total incompetent, kept going until his late 70’s.
Bill McClaren – they’ll be celebrating in the streets of Hawick tonight etc – a one cliche veteran.
Peter Alliss – simply awful, makes Thommo look like Paxman.
Gary Lineker – years of experience, still looks as wooden as Muffin the Mule.
Etc – I’m sure we can produce other examples.
TV producers dread the prospect of someone drying up on camera, so (especially for live programs like racing) they stick to the tried and trusted, simply because they know they can work in front of the camera. They also dread anything controversial – so we get the bland and the safe.
Thommo keeps his spot as they can always turn to him to fill a gap (loose horse etc) – if the producer asks him for 95 seconds, he gets 95 seconds. It might make us cringe as he thrusts the mike at innocent racegoers and it produces nothing worth watching, but all the producer cares about is having that gap filled with something, anything – and he knows that Thommo will finish exactly after 95 seconds with a decent cue to the next thing.
And once you’ve tried it for yourself, you know what a rare and remarkable skill that is!
AP
I’d sooner have producer keep his cameras on loose horse than listen to Thommo or McCirrick, or Zoey or etc
Quote: from apracing on 9:59 am on Jan. 9, 2007[br]
Bill McClaren – they’ll be celebrating in the streets of Hawick tonight etc – a one cliche veteran.
Was it dear old David Colemanballs who came up with the classic "they’ll be dancing in the streets of Raith tonight" ?
Tony Gubba would be my choice as worst commentator. Been around for seemingly ever but still can’t read a game of football
Quite like the Alliss witticisms and asides but I don’t play golf, nor understand the intricacies, so can’t comment on his interpretive skills.
Remember Eddie Waring too?
Thommo is a ok broadcaster. i have no problem with that. It is more the image that he and some of the C4 team perpetuate about the sport and its followers.
Seems to be stuck in some 1970’s Rotary club…its embarrasing<br>
No Drone, it was Kenneth Wolstenholme, he of the ‘they think it’s all over … it is now’.<br>
That "Simon from Leeds" bloke may have been an actor, but his performance wasn’t up to much.
In the early nineties I went three whole years at the festival, betting in every race, and losing – 60 races.
The only good thing about it was that Thommo didn’t interview me.
<br>On the ‘dancing in the streets’ thing, the peerless Jeff Stelling used to love saying:
"and they’ll be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight".
(Edited by tooting at 5:57 pm on Jan. 10, 2007)
Stelling is, indeed, peerless. In an ideal world, he’d present racing full time on TV.
Aaah…what about dear old Ted Lowe?
Famously referred to the 1986 Joe Johnson victory as ‘the most amazing world Final I have ever seen’.
The previous year’s was the Davis/Taylor final-frame, final ball affair watched by some 19m people at 1.30am.
Before he retired, he was still coming out with ‘Davis is going for the blue ball – that’s worth five points’.
Jeez.
Mike
Was he not also responsible for the lline ‘for those of you watching in black and white, the white ball is behind the brown’ or something like that.
Was he not also responsible for the lline ‘for those of you watching in black and white, the white ball is behind the brown’ or something like that.
Absolutely. Also quite brilliantly had a heart attack in the commentary box at the Benson & Hedges many years ago and no one noticed. Soporific or what?
Best of all, though, was his complete inability to remember who he was watching. No mean feat when there are only two players and matches last about six hours.
He was, of course, ‘the voice of snooker’ in the same way that the similarly inept Peter O’Sullevan was ‘the voice of racing’ – i.e. they were the first ones to take the job.
O’Sullevan’s knighthood ranks alongside Paul Collingwood’s MBE in my opinion.
Mike
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