It was time for a little nostalgia, time to don the rose-tinted glasses provided by childhood memories of a Saturday lunchtime: Football Focus or On the Ball, a conundrum fortunately solved by the television schedulers who allow football supporters to watch both BBC and ITV's soccer magazine programmes. As one cheesy smile disappears, another beckons with the flick of a remote.
Occasionally the opportunity has presented itself over the years to dip in and out of one or both of the respective Saturday soccer programmes but work and marriage have stifled a regular commitment.
Auntie's offering, Football Focus, has benefitted from the presence of Ray Stubbs as anchor and, on the evidence of last Saturday, the influx of the Irish contingent, manifest in Mark Lawrenson and Mick McCarthy.
Stubbs boasts a mischievous sense of humour and the rapport with Lawrenson, occasionally baiting but always relaxed, guarantees good television.
Most of the banality and soft focus (Garth Crooks' watery and fawning interview style was a millstone in the past) has disappeared, replaced with a sharper, more glossy format that addresses topical issues with greater steel.
The new edge is in no small terms due to Lawrenson, christened by Stubbs as the Victor Meldrew of soccer punditry. The Irish Times columnist is forthright in his views, in no danger of getting any splinters: Stubbs loads the bullets, Lawrenson fires them.
On Saturday the programme addressed the comments made by David Ginola in his autobiography regarding his unhappy departure from Tottenham Hotspur.
Ginola was interviewed and then on the pretext of balance, Spurs manager George Graham was lightly grilled in his office at White Hart Lane. Neither will send each other Christmas cards but the greater candour on the issue came from Lawrenson.
When asked as to whether he would have Ginola on his team, he replied, 'no' and then went on to outline in three simple sentences his reasoning.
McCarthy fielded the same question but was more circumspect. Indeed the Republic of Ireland manager traded on his sense of humour, aware perhaps that he would not wish to offer any emotive ammunition to potential opponents. Lawrenson untroubled by such parameters is all the more watchable.
The weakness of Football Focus for the bland interview has not quite disappeared. Where once it took place in the middle of a deserted stand, interviewer and interviewee sitting cosily side by side, it now bears a resemblance to a Cannes Film Festival entry: moody, atmospheric shots that fail to camouflage the sterile questions.
Mark Bright's trip to Merseyside and subsequent vox pop with sundry youngsters about the merits of Liverpool's Michael Owen and Francis Jeffers of Everton as strikers, culminated in an interview with the latter. It was bland and boring, the arrival of Kevin Campbell the cue for much laughter amid terms of endearment.
By and large the latest incarnation of Football Focus is a pretty decent offering, a statement that is much more difficult to attribute to their ITV rival On the Ball. While Barry Venison, the former Newcastle United and Liverpool defender, appears to have undergone a successful rehabilitation from a peroxide longhaired refugee from a Miami Vice episode to a member of the 21st century, his sartorial salvation can not distract from the tired, jaded format.
Gabby Yorath and Venison grin across three feet of formica, toss banalities back and forth, occasionally joined by a third person, in the case of last Saturday's programme John Barnes. The latter's presence simply increased the blandness quotient. A studio panel may work in the build-up to a live soccer match but the format doesn't sit as easily on the Saturday.
In direct comparison with Stubbs and Lawrenson, Yorath and Venison, it is the BBC duo that are `on the ball.' Continuing the soccer theme, TV3's annexing of the Champions League from RTE offers something of a mixed blessing. The absence of John Giles, Eamon Dunphy and Liam Brady from the screen represents a blow to any soccer fan.
Knowledge, candour, a touch of friction and the polished technique of anchor Bill O'Herlihy provide an irresistible cocktail and TV3's offering of Mick McCarthy simply could not compete. The actual match commentary package was good, if at times a little, verbose but definitely a commendable effort.
Overall, TV3 can be pretty pleased with their first week of Champions League fare but they are going to have to address the pre and post-match package which is both too long and too lightweight. Trevor Welch's slavish addiction to the autocue removes any spontaneity from, or flow to, the post-match analysis. The pre-match show is threatening to rival Sky Sports in terms of over indulgence.
Mention of the satellite channel recalls an interesting golfing cameo during the week in Sky Sport's coverage of the Lancome Trophy. Denmark's Thomas Bjorn was playing with Darren Clarke and France's Jean Van de Velde. The Dane hit a wild tee shot on the 14th in the trees, and his recovery had to be played down a different fairway.
On coming to rest, his view of the pin was blocked out by advertising hoardings enabling him to line-of-sight relief. However the consultation with the rules official, three drops and much toing and froing forced a 15-minute delay. It was too much for Van de Velde and he decided to hole out - he was on the green - while Bjorn was awaiting the outcome of negotiations.
The Dane was not amused and his voice was picked by a microphone and the viewers heard him say: "typical van de Velde, all me, me, me." It may take a little longer than 15 minutes to sort out an entente cordiale.
