DISQUS

Good article Eamonn. Commentators are like pop bands. You either love them or hate them. It's very subjective. To me, the true test of whether a commentator is decent or not is by switching the volume off on the game. You get to see things in a match that you wouldn't otherwise see because you're analyzing it rather than listening to the commentator analyzing it for you. The other great thing about the volume being off is that when there is a controversial decision and you want to hear the opinion of the co-commentator, you can switch the volume on and hear what they have to say. In Mustoe's case, he wasn't saying much. Smyth was at least more opinionated.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Weston,

Personally, I prefer the delay. It adds more suspense. Plus, we get some comedic relief from watching England underachieve yet again in major qualifying tournaments ; )

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Jaymes,

These numbers are for actual butts on the seats - whether they be season ticket holders to tickets bought on a matchday.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

The one thing I would say about alcohol is that it shouldn't be blamed for hooliganism. You had all of that beer consumed during WC 2006 and there were few problems from the England fans.

To me, hooliganism is often premeditated and more political than a result of drunken fans.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Darren,

Yes a PS2 version of FIFA 09 is scheduled for release.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Well said Paul. Both Newcastle and West Ham put Keegan and Curbishley into impossible positions. Ashley is going to get crucified for this one.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

I don't blame Curbs for resigning. After Ferdinand and McCartney were sold to Sunderland and no adequate cover was brought in, how is he expected to win matches?

It's not as if the expectations from the Hammers fans would have been lowered. They would have still expected the same top half finish.

In the back of his mind, Curbs probably knew he would end up being sacked in a few weeks time if the team slumped to more defeats, so resigning now was the best thing he could do. It saves him the embarrassment of being sacked and increases his chances of getting another manager's job in the near future.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Django, good catch. The culprit video has been removed. Thanks.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

I had the luck of doing a Nielsen test a few years ago and 95% of my TV watching at that time was Fox Soccer Channel. After Nielsen received the black book back from me, they must have thought I was nuts or working for FSC.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Dave M,

Thanks for the info about deep-seated. I had no idea about that. Much appreciated.

Even if England won 4-0 or 5-0, there would be many pundits and fans that would be unsatisfied with the result. England would need to score in the double digits for people to say that "England are back."

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Correct lads. I've updated the story to reflect the new dates. EA must have changed it from September to October at the last minute.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

An excellent follow-up piece by David Conn of The Guardian:

http://tinyurl.com/5klz8m

Cheers,
The Gaffer

AtlantaPompey,

It's good news for the Premier League as a whole and as a business, not for the majority of the individual clubs.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Maybe lads, but The Daily Mail is reporting that the deal for Berbatov is done and is now a Man United player with Fraizer Campbell going to Spurs plus 20 million pounds.

Read the story here:
http://tinyurl.com/5bxrvk

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Will, you smart arse ; )

I've received a ton of e-mails from frustrated GolTV viewers who were on Dish but have now switched to DirecTV.

Feel free to read the message boards on BigSoccer.com to see how many more people are upset about the whole deal and have switched too.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

The sad truth is that the Premier League were leading the way in developing the technology but FIFA decided to dump the idea in favor of testing a six referee plan for the future.

To me, the goal-line technology would be the easiest to implement and least controversial use of technology. It's time for FIFA to wake up.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Hoping to make an announcement sometime this week regarding the return of the chat. Stay tuned for more details : )

Cheers,
The Gaffer

At this rate, I don't see Spurs scoring a goal in this match today. It's all Chelsea.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Nice to see the reaction from the away Stoke fans when their team bundled in that goal. Stoke supporters are the most passionate I've seen this season and haven't been conditioned to sit in their seats and clap yet.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Nice to see Bellamy's return and a wonderful goal to boot.

I agree that the press have seemed to have a vendetta against Curbs this summer. Hopefully this win can shut them up.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Phil,

Any chance of expanding this idea to La Liga and Serie A also? This way, football fans can look across all of the major leagues on telly and pick and choose which would be the best matches to watch.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Todd,

Every writer is entitled to their own opinion as is each reader. Trust me, I've said a lot of controversial things before on this blog which have pissed people off.

If you don't like what specific readers say, skip their posts. Same applies to mine if some readers don't like what I say.

It's similar to a newspaper like the New York Times which has a bunch of opinion writers. Some articles anger people, but what the Times provides are several different writers giving their own opinions.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

It's a fantastic idea Phil and it's a feature I've already used to great success and will plan on using throughout the season for those times when I can't watch games live.

How is the match ratings calculated? Is it done manually or is it automated - and if the latter, is this something you'll be revealing (somewhat similar to the algorithms that Google uses for its search engines)?

Congrats Phil on a revolutionary idea.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Swansea had a fine win tonight against Hull City, beating them 2-1 in extra time to go through to the third round. But despite the club having large attendances (usually), tonight's attendance was 8,600.

Problem is that Hull fielded a second string side. Who wants to go to a match on a night when a club like Hull, hardly attractive, fields a second string? Doesn't inspire me.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

Erik,

Did you forget about Ferdinand's incident where he smacked the ball into the crowd and injured that woman?

Cheers,
The Gaffer