By Chris Wright
Goodbye Manish, farewell Steve
The Football League have announced this morning that, as of next season and for the next two seasons after that, Channel 5 will be showing the Football League highlights in a prime-time Saturday night slot.
Having signed a three-year deal to do so, the Football League highlights show will be broadcast on Channel 5 at 9pm on Saturday evenings, with the programme running for 90 minutes, i.e, right up until the start of Match of the Day (10.30pm) over on BBC One.
Now, the Beeb’s Football League Show had a lot of good things going for it. Manish was a decent if unflashy host, the pacing of the show was/is good and Leroy Rosenior in particular proved refreshingly adept and likeable as a pundit, but the post-MotD time slot definitely felt a bit graveyard-y.
Indeed, it often proved a real slog to stay awake for the whole thing.
However, it seems that no longer will fans of League Two clubs be forced to stay up until gone 1am to see their side’s 0-0 draw against Plymouth Argyle.
It’s yet to be announced who Channel 5 are pulling in as their presenting team, but it’s not like they’ve got a glittering track record when it comes to their football coverage – getting the commentators to awkwardly trail the evening’s upcoming Jean-Claude Van Damme movie in the middle of UEFA Cup games, employing John Barnes to talk on television, etc.
If you have a second-tier football package that needs presenting without frill or fanfare, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you could hire this man…
Release the Rosenthal!