Anyone tuning in for the start of the new Premier League season might have been left feeling a little out of sorts post- Gary Lineker now that what we're left with feels increasingly social media-ish. A shift perhaps heralded by BBC Sport's quest to find a new content creator in Last Pundit Standing. Yes, the way we watch television has undoubtedly changed with the advent of streaming services, but has it come at the cost of making what was for many a cornerstone of Saturday night a bit of a throwaway now you can simply scroll on your phone or the iplayer and skip to a shortened highlights package for your team. Reduced to not much more than the goals and reaction videos, which should you choose?
Of course, you can still watch the main programme, but even that seems a bit of a shadow of its former self. Capable though the likes of Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates are, having agreed a job-share in Lineker's old chair marshalling the ex-pro pundits, it’s more magazine show than solely devoted to the analysis of the day's play, which seems to those in charge to feel positively ancient.
“We've all worked in sport and it's about the pundits first and foremost, getting the best out of the pundits, and that's the most important thing for us. But this, for me, is a show that is thriving. It's a show that we hope to continue doing what's been done so far. “
So said Chappers in the build- up to the new era. But it's hard to agree that it's ever been about the pundits- their opinions, yes, but not necessarily the pundits themselves, unless they too have now been suckered into the digital first trend. A worrying sign that the game itself may not now be first priority, admittedly an impression not helped in a sport seemingly governed by FIFA and Premier League greed.
Not such a contrast from the MOTD launch in 1964, when First Division clubs attempted to block a renewal with the BBC, worried about the impact on in-ground attendances after its first season had kicked off with highlights of Liverpool v Arsenal. This followed Arnold Steck's (actually a pseudonym for one Major Leslie Statham) Drum Majorette as a jaunty welcome to live football. Roger Hunt scored the first goal after eleven minutes on August 22nd in one of Bryan Cowgill's first acts as Head of Sport for the Beeb, though the Match Of The Day title had actually originally been used for tennis highlights in the March.
Anyone tuning in would've heard Kenneth Wolstenholme warming up his dulcet tones for England's finest hour alongside former Arsenal full-back Walley Barnes, who would later also contribute to the coverage of the 1966 World Cup final as international football entered proceedings. Whether the coverage of next year's showpiece across Canada, Mexico and the USA will be packaged as more digitally-friendly, in common with what seems to have happened to the domestic equivalent, could be as hot a topic for discussion as England's chances. If so it could prove a factor in making it less of an occasion, a criticism also levelled at its rapid expansion...
But if anything, '66 represented a sort of early apex of Match Of The Day, pre-even Des Lynam and Jimmy Hill, my own earliest- remembered pair alongside Alan “you'll never win anything with kids” Hansen, as The Science and Media Museum made clear in a 2021 retrospective.
“The BBC had been planning for the ’66 World Cup for some time. The long-running show Match of the Day, which started in 1964, acted as a sort of ‘training ground’ for BBC camera crews in preparation for the World Cup.
For arguably the first time on a major scale, the quality of television coverage was a key factor in deciding where to host the various matches of the tournament. Alongside seating capacity and the size of the pitch, the quality of press facilities was scrutinised at each potential venue. If the facilities were deemed not to be up to scratch and unable to support the members of the media who would be in attendance, then the organisers might have to look elsewhere.“
Within two years came a first colour edition, following the lead of 1967's Wimbledon highlights- the BBC itself recording the event for posterity by saying-
“The Wimbledon Tennis Championships of 1 July 1967, shown on BBC Two, marked the beginning of regular colour television in Britain. Journalists who attended a special viewing at Television Centre were impressed with the new technology and the quality of the picture. David Attenborough, Controller of BBC Two, announced that the channel would initially broadcast in colour about 5 hours a week. By December, 80% of programmes were in colour.
The original December launch date was brought forward to July so the BBC could claim to be the first colour broadcaster in Europe.”
All of which moved things even closer to football coverage being turned on its head, as Liverpool took on West Ham to make it a double of small-screen firsts for the Reds, the action replay soon following as things became that bit more immersive for the viewer. The 1983-84 season brought with it a first ‘Match Of The Day Live’ as Manchester United met Spurs in the wake of a rights split with ITV and the launch of The Big Match as competition- see also the later The Premiership (and the return of Des).
Reading that, you probably felt a pang of nostalgia yourself- but will future generations look back so fondly, as what was a genuine highlight feels ever more like a footnote. The shortened blast of the famous theme tune by Barry Stoller, as first used in 1970, feeling sadly emblematic of a less enthused and involved viewership in the wake of what feels like a decision to cater to the needs of the purely casual fan, even post-award of the Champions League highlights on the BBC.
Depending on your point of view, on demand seemingly means less demand as smaller screens than television now take precedence in line with a digital strategy first announced by the wider BBC in 2022, in line with its centenary. The prevailing view of that year's World Cup, and indeed so often nowadays, is that football itself is most definitely not the winner here unless you can take or leave it.