Thetownend.com

I don't see the point, the commentary is fucking atrocious. I have no idea of what is going on during the game and following the game is the entire fucking point of tuning in. It's not a reaction to last night's game (which I couldn't tell was good or bad from the commentary), it's been this poor all season.

Why can't the cunts just talk about the match itself. Where the ball is, which player has it etc.

Might listen to the villa game but other than that I'll just get goal updates from titter instead, it'll probably be more informative.

Yep agreed, particularly annoying when you get: "Oh he's scored" or "it's a goal" Telling who or even which team would be helpful. I normally have to try to work it out by the level of the crowd noise cheering

Think listening last night was the better option, watching it was awfully hard!!!

As I also follow mainly online this is a massive problem for a long long time, I used to blame Vic Morgan but it turns out that he was a much much better commentator than what we have now.

Vic can only be accused of caring too much about Swindon and getting over excited when we "nearly scored" other than that he was good, I miss him.

The main commentator now is appalling, does not describe the game at all, does not let you know who is in control of the game, who has the ball, where it is on the pitch and I loved Alan Mac as a player but as a co commentator he is so utterly negative, can only see the bad in our players and only see the good in the oppo players, its almost that he dislikes Swindon in his commentary at times, well most of the time.

I hate, as Ghanimah says, theres a goal, we often don't even know who for let alone which player scored it, we have no idea about the build up sometimes and that we were in posession or that we had lost it in the build up to a goal.

I couldn't do the job but then I am not applying to do the job, but the least they can do is explain what is happening on the pitch.

Yes its obviously dull at times but to just say....Swindon are keeping the ball well and passing it in a slow build up, rather than saying "he has got yellow boots on" and Alan Mac saying that "a player who wear yellow boots is there to be knocked down, he obviously thinks he is a good player to have boots standing out like that oh its a goal....and thats against the run of play".....then they dont even tell you if its us or them that has scored for a few seconds...utterly unprofessional and poor.

It is hugely frustrating to listen to, even when we are doing well they don't tell us what we want to know.

Then again it will never be as bad as when Brunel FM were doing the commentary on games.

I won't stop listening but I am upset by the often pathetic and almost constant poor quality of it.

I might be in the minority here, and to be fair I don't listen to every match (and may be playing devil's advocate to a certain extent), but if the commentators only talked about field position who's got the ball etc. wouldn't that be even more boring?

Surely the issue is the commentators need to improve their related conversation, in times when eff all is happening on the pitch - let's face it that can happen quite a lot at this level, and just brush up on the detail when they do describe the action.

I've never had a problem with Alan Mac either, think he just says it how he sees it. A top class player viewing 3rd division football is always likely to mean he'll see the shit in the game?

In a word, no.

It's what we tune in for jan. If we thought that would be boring then we wouldn't tune in to listen to it.

One match they were even talking about their golf handicaps. Even if we do have the slightest interest in golf, why would we be interested in their handicaps?

Bring back Ed Hadwin.

Seconded

Makes you realise how good Shaun Hodgetts was all those years ago. With him doing the commentary you could picture every kick.

Ed Hadwin used to be good too. He is still there at the beeb, we should have a campaign to get him back.

He was damn good, I think he does "Radio Bristol" Rovers games now doesn't he?

Yep, he commentates on Rovers now.

TEF pressure group to get Messers Hadwin or Hodgetts back. Or at the very least to get the current lot to pull their up.

I would have him back in a heart beat. The best commentator we have had by a long way.

I suppose what I mean by that is, a lot of people were saying that was a tough watch last night. Well if it was that bad, surely if the commentators described every kick then after 5 minutes you (you as in general public not you specifically) would be reaching for the off button. So I think they may go on to subjects like golf handicaps (!??!! no idea why you'd pick that subject) just to fill some time and avoid having to say 'well the balls out of play, looks like the ball boys struggling to retrieve the ball, now it's back with Thompson to take the throw in, not much movement from the town players, Thompson still looking to take the throw, referee's stopped Thompson, as he's having a word with Navarro about something....'

What I mean is a lot happens in the game that the average listener doesn't need to know. Perhaps a Swindon die hard does want to know that, but your average punter wants to hear exciting things happening and if not a bit of conversation.  Thinking of the likes of my mates old man, 60 plus, doesn't go to games anymore and likes to tune in.

It happens every single match though Jan, even the good ones.

From commentary I just cannot tell whether we are playing well or playing poorly. It all sounds poor only for people that were at certain matches to say they were good games.

And I think your average punter would want to listen to what is happening in the game, it's the entire point of having commentary in the first place.

Thats wierd because that is exactly what I DO want when I am listening, I want the commentators to be my eyes on proceedings.

I may be in the minority here but I would really like pure factual based commentary and not time filling drivel that they do for about 90%+ of the game.

Fair enough FH, just think it's a hell of a lot tougher commentating on this standard of football (which in the grand scheme of things isn't that great), than some give credit for.

I had the 'privilege' of listening the hospital radio commentary of the Bournemouth match, 4-0 win and it sounded like it was a reserve game, thought Bournemouth had scored twice when it was us. Light years behind BBC Radio Swindon.

I doubt you are in the minority mate.

That type of commentary is exactly what Hadwin and Hodgets delivered and they were very popular.

For a local station I think they do a decent job. Morgan wa s terrible but he got shifted on. Think Alan mac is a decent pundit and talks alot of sense

Think you're wrong there, Alan tells it how it is and i lost count the amount of times he said "they're still in this, the games not over'
his critique of the players when they're not on form gives me a far better indication of whats going on the field.

Vic was and is still a fantastic commentator and it's a shame he's no longer there at the helm.
Chris Wise is doing an excellent job, knows his football.
Interesting these threads only pop up when we lose.

Shaun Hodgetts does more than we know behind the scenes and I think it's fair to say the club trust the station more than it's local paper.

Well you've clearly not been paying attention because myself and others have been saying how shit it is all season, including during wins.

I can understand (sort of) if it's a boring game then you need add something to keep up an interest, the problem is the basics aren't being done. Even a simple 'Swindon have scored' or '[away team] have just scored' would improve the commentary immeasurably. At the moment, virtually after every goal, I'm sat there for some time scratching my head trying to work out whether we've scored or conceded. And that ain't good enough.

Criticism of the match commentary happens often during match day threads.

This is true, almost every single game IIRC. Not just when we lose the standard is fucking shite in the main.

sorry was too busy listening to the game

Spot on.

I have a cunning plan.

I'll just listen to the opposition commentary instead. That'll learn them.

sorry was too busy listening to the game I don't really visit the match day thread during the game

Agree with Alan Mac analysis, think Alan says it how it is, in a realistic cutting way at times. This can come across as negative but I don't think he means it that way at all, he's just giving his opinion on what's happening and why.


Edit - Oops meant to quote Arriba there, not kaufman!

I have done this several times in the past.

The quality of the stream for the amount they charge is something that bothers me much more

I'm trying to understand how it can be said the commentary is good when at times we don't even know which team has scored. Surely that's the bare minimum we should expect yet even that is not being met.

All you need to do is watch any game of football at this level to soon realise how much time the ball spends out of play or in the air - and there are large chunks of the game where nothing happens.

Plus how much description do you need for things like goal keeper has placed the ball down, walked backwards 6 yards, run forward 6 yards and kicked the ball in the air? Or ball boy gets the ball throws it to the full back, he bounces it then puts it above his head, looks around, no ones moving, he waits, the ref blows his whistle, 2 players are pulling each others shirts, the ref talks to them. They continue to do it anyway. The full back finally takes the throw in and the opposition head it out 2 yards further down the pitch and exactly the same thing happens again.

As for the goals - I can't remember the last time a goal went in and I wasn't sure which team has scored it. It certainly hasn't happened since the excitable Vic Morgan was commentating - who I'm pretty certain used to get slated on here most weeks as well.

I enjoy listening to Alan Mac although sometimes he comes across as more of an analyst than a commentator if that makes sense.

Agree DV, think that's summarised where I was coming from.

Alan Mac is there to analyse, and for my money does that well. It is the commentary part from Chris Wise that is poo.

I wonder how much longer it will be before the games are actually shown live, even just one camera placed in the stand sending via satellite feed.

There is a camera at every game already and maybe it would be tied in with Sky and pay an amount to watch each game beamed live. I would be willing to pay a fair amount for this privilege via STFC Player and that way it wouldnt matter who was commentating.

I am in agreement with Flashheart and Peter here. I am very rarely certain who has scored, or even the team that has scored. I am led to believe that the quality of our play is pretty much the same for every match, from last night's commentary I had no idea that it was one of the worst we had played under Paolo for example. And the commentary is quite likely to cut out just at a crucial moment so I am even more uncertain who has scored ( though of course I realise that this is not the commentator's fault ).
My subscription to Player runs out this month and I don't think I shall be renewing it. Not immediately, anyway.

At least knowing the ball is with the keeper at all would be a start.

I think people are overly negative about the commentary some times. There are definitely times when it's poor and you're left wondering what's going on, but on the whole I thought I had a pretty good idea of the game yesterday. We kept getting the ball and losing it, Sanchez Watt kept battling against our defence, we were bypassing midfield, Ritchie was hardly in the game and the strikers were feeding off scraps. Oh and Rose scored a free kick, which was described in some detail.

I've been sat on my own at matches this season, and listening to the commentary at the same time.

When they're 'waffling on', you really don't miss much of whats happening on the pitch, because nothing of note is. Trust me.

I listened to the Wycombe vs Preston bottom div play off final in 94 (don't for the life of me remember why), and when Wycombe scored their 4th, the commentator dropped the mic while celebrating.  You could audibly tell he had run off to join in the fans celebration as his cheering got fainter, there was a period of a few seconds or so with just background crowd noise before his cheer returned getting louder until he fumbled the mic back up.

That's how I want commentary to be.

Who does the commentary now?  I have a player subscription but never listen -- haven't done since we lost away to Dag and Red in 2010.  I found between their commentary and me listening jinxed it for the Town.

I honestly dont see what the fuss is all about,I think its fine.

I'd rather they worked on getting the commentary in the same time zone as the majority of fans in the UK.

I think if the team played a bit better the commentary might sound a bit better.

Having STFC Player a good minute behind real time in my opinion is a joke.

Normally twitter or even on here has informed me that we have scored and on my laptop the opposition are shooting or Wes has the ball!

It's a joke!

I grew up listening to Vic in the late 80s - some classic commentary in the Gills playoff match at the County Ground. Always happier when a true STFC fan commentates, and I have no problem if they are biased!

I usually decipher it from the predeceasing shot going over or wide.


No problem with the bias - just the over excitement. There was one game and I cant remember which one is was but I think if I had to place it, it was at the start of our relegation season ?(maybe daggers away) and by Vics excitement I thought we had scored but infact the opposition had - which was really confusing.

He got slated after that on here - I'm sure and I think the co-commentator for that game even posted in the thread (he was getting slated to) and someone somewhere must have read it or showed it to Vic because he made a real effort to tone down the excitement particular when the opposition were the ones attacking and it was never an issues again.

I've certainly never had any issue with knowing which way the goals have been going in under Chris Wise and Alan Mac unlike others...

Vic was mostly just slated for his over-exuberance. We could get a thrown-in an we'd all think there was a goal.

There was one match where he came under fire for doing exactly the same thing as the current commentators are being accused of.... waffling about stuff that has nowt to do with the match. His co-commentator for that particular night came on the TEF giving it some in response to the criticism, somewhat unprofessionally. To Vic's credit, however, there was a remarkable improvement in that regard the following match.

Vic has his fault's, if being too enthusiastic could be called a fault, but he did generally focus on the job at hand (which is being the eyes of people listening in).

Was Vic a commentator in the 80's? I can't get my head around that!

Vic and Shaun Hodgetts both worked for GWR in the 80's,then Vic joined the newly formed BBC Wilts.There were occasional commentary games,but in the main Vic gave live reports and updates as well as post match interviews.He did these very well.

I thought Vics live commentary was 80% good, 20% hopeless! The 20% was whenever the ball went near the goal. He was just like we are, which is great in the ground, not so great on the radio :) Following Vic on twitter/washbag I've a new found respect for his dedication to STFC - and that drive from Devon.

Can't say I've got too annoyed with the current commentator, but I think Hadwin got it spot on.

That said, there are some truly awful yocal BBC commentators. Usually listen to some post match on some away days. Also we are quite lucky that we are the only league club in Wilts and get all our games covered. Pity the counties/town's with multiple league teams.

The thing that pissed me off about the commentaries were the references to Salisbury and all those other god forsaken places in Wiltshire playing non league stuff.  Who cares?

The adver have started providing updates on Wootton Bassett on their matchday, why?????????

Because it Wiltshire Radio maybe? You know, a radio station for the county of Wiltshire.

Except for the breakfast show, which is Swindon until they scrap it and merge into a generic Wiltshire region. Bit of a shame that.

I want to hear it

Alan Mac is definitely above average imo. If he thinks something his wrong he will say so and why, and he spots things that many of us (certainly me) don't.

Swindon's not in Wiltshire hasn't been for years.

On 1 April 1997 it was made administratively independent of Wiltshire County Council, with its council becoming a new unitary authority.[2] It adopted the name Swindon on 24 April 1997.

I have no interest in Salisbury City or the Screwfix league.

That has to be one of the most confused posts I've seen for a long time, well done.

If you are going to try to use Wikipedia to be smart, you should try reading the first sentence to begin with:
Oh and perhaps, maybe, the term BBC Wiltshire sound may also drop a hint .

Jesus fucking wept, whilst riding his fucking bike.

Well don't listen to a radio station/programme that is there to serve the county of fucking Wiltshire then. Fir a Swindon lad you're doing a fine impression of a village idiot.

I'm still struck by this statement.

This needs a Sonic Youth gif.

Depends if you are talking local authority, which it isn't, or almost everything else, which it is.

 :fishing: ?

I'm not going to enter a debate on whether or not Swindon is in Wiltshire, just no. If the discussion is in terms of quantum mechanics or philosophy then it could be interesting but in this context, no.

:)

 :eek: Hold the front page of the Adver!

Has Swindon turned into Switzerland?

Wahooo, we are rich with Nazi gold and toblerone. And our navy is only slightly less effective than it was when we were the UK.

Just popped in, Ed Hadwin was great, but I think he was a Colchester (or some other team we played beginning with C...) fan. I remember listening to him and he got confused saying "we'd scored" but it was the other team.

I've written more coherent sentences.

99% sure he was Derby. D is close to C so I can see how you got confused.

And on that note, I'm off to bed. Party animal, oh yeah.. They think its all over, it is now.

Swindon is not a county, it is a town and administrative borough in the county of Wiltshire.
Agree about Salisbury, always feels more like Hampshire to me. On a side note, is Bristol in Somerset or Gloucestershire? If Avon no longer exists, why are there the Avon and Somerset police?

Bristol is its own own unitary authority and its own ceremonial county.

Swindon is its own unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Wiltshire


To pre-empt the next question of what is a ceremonial county (from wikipedia):


And

I though Ed was a Bristol City fan.

What commentator was it that started crying when we were getting hammered in the Prem?

I am pretty sure it was his home town of Chesterfield.

Definitely not. It was a Midlands club, 99% sure it was Derby.


Maybe he follows them too if it is home town club. I'm just trying to remember what said. I sat in the commentary box once (bleeding Trust auctions :), didn't get near a mike though), and asked him.

Could be my memory playing trick I suppose.

Thingamyjig mac wasn't it? (Stuart)

I liked Ed hadwin he was a genuine bloke as well as being a very adept commentator, but I understand there was a difference of opinion with the bosses at BBCRS much as there was with Vic.

Neither will return to the commentary team in the near future unfortunately.

Ed still does the sports reports for BBC Wiltshire. I thought the switch to doing commentaries in Bristol was something to do with being closer to home after the birth of a child. (Disclaimer - my memory is bloody awful and may have completely fabricated this)

That was what was said at the time yes, for family reasons and to help fill in with a shortfall in the Bristol commentary team temporarily.

He won't be returning to the match commentary team.

Who was the guy who used to say things over the tannoy at half time, years ago against Burnley made some comments about the dire referee. I was at the game, I thought he came up from Exeter each home game?

Totally agree there. The inconsistency is the worst thing, sometimes the BBC sport website already has 48+ mins on the clock, by the time the commentators come back online. When it's that delayed there's really no point in listening to commentary. And as for stream quality, get it sorted ffs, we are paying for this service... 

Apart from that, must say I am generally quite happy with the standard of commentary.

[url width=640 height=328]http://i.imgur.com/E4WoT.gif[/url]

Didn't he get sacked for that?  Stuart something?  I also seem to remember him making national news when he started crying on air when we were getting hammered one game - it may have been Newcastle away in the Premiership season?

Chesterfield. Which is near Derby and has some of the same letters even in the same order as Colchester so you both win.

Bolton. I'm on fire with my ex-commentator trivia this evening

Stuart Mac blubbed on the radio when we were getting stuffed.

The tannoy announcer that got fired after criticising the ref for sending McMahon off was a different guy though.

Wasnt the tannoy bloke against oldham?

http://www.danskesportsjournalister.dk/?news=772

The half time announcement - referring to the dismissal of player-manager Steve McMahon - at the Swindon vs Bolton match that earned PA announcer Pete Lewis the sack:
"I've seen some crap refereeing decisions in my time, but that's the worst."

They need that Supporters club bloke from last season back as co-commentator. Nick was his name? Supplied decent analysis. I like the guy who's on today as well mind you.

Just to let everyone whose player contract has run out know, it's still crap. At least ten minutes behind atm.

dont listen  much because i tend to watch the games, i thought they were ok

Is Bury in Greater Manchester or the ceremonial county of Lancashire?

Do Buryese consider themselves Lancastrians or Mancunians?

Any views Flash?

I can only assume you must be trolling

Is that in the ceremonial county of Trollshire?

Dunno, Not sure if Trollshire is ceremonial or relevant these days, like Wiltshire.

I'm from Swindon, not Wiltshire.

My point originally was merely based on the fact I used to listen to online commentary but was annoyed by the constant references to Wiltshire sides in non league football. 

Riiiiiggght

*Walks slowly backwards out of the room, smiling*

I think the PA announcer was a tad biased.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cTadL6UaHs

Haha, how is that anything other than a straight red

Different times Dave,

though I don't think they were that different!