Football Daily - Best of The Commentators' View 2024/25 - Part One

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

The best bits as John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball talk football, travel & language.WhatsApp voicenotes to 08000 289 369 Emails to [e-mail] Live show tickets: crossedwires.live/fringeBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Sun 2000 England U21 v Slovenia U21, Wed 2000 England U21 v Germany U21.Glossary so far: 2-0 is a dangerous score, After you Claude, All-Premier League affair, Aplomb, Brace, Brandished, Breaking the deadlock, Bundled over the line, Champions elect / champions apparent, Clinical finish, Commentator’s curse, Coupon buster, Cultured/Educated left foot, Denied by the woodwork, Draught excluder, Elimination line, Fellow countryman, Foot race, Formerly of this parish, Fox in the box, Free hit, Goalmouth scramble, Good touch for a big man, Honeymoon Period, In and around, In the shop window, Keeping ball under their spell, Languishing, Loitering with intent, Marching orders, Nestle in the bottom corner, Numbered derbies, Nutmeg, Opposite number, Park the bus, PK for penalty-kick, Postage stamp, Put their laces through it, Rasping shot, Red wine not white wine, Relegation six-pointer, Rooted at the bottom, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, Sleeping giants, Slide rule pass, Small matter of, Spiders web, Stayed hit, Steepling, Stinging the palms, Stonewall penalty, Straight off the training ground, Stramash, Throw their cap on it, Thruppenny bit head / 50p head, Put it in the mixer, Towering header, Turning into a basketball match, Turning into a cricket score, Walking a disciplinary tightrope, Wand of a left foot, We’ve got a cup tie on our hands, Where the owl sleeps, Winger in their pocket, Wrap foot around it, Your De Bruynes, your Gundogans etc.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Welcome to the Inside Track with me, Rick Edwards. This is the podcast that takes you inside Formula One like never before. And I'm Matt Magendie, and thanks to my exclusive access, I'll be getting up close and personal with Red Bull Racing this season. This week, I sit down with one of the team's big bosses, Dr Helmut Marko. I also didn't think that Max would win for championships. He didn't have the success what we expected from him.

Experience Formula One like never before by tuning into the inside track wherever you get your podcasts. BBC Sounds, music Murray and Ian Dennis. Hello and welcome to the best of The Commentator's View. I'm Ian Dennis and in this mini-series we're going to share with you our favourite moments and stories from our debut season on The Commentator's View. I'm Ali Bruce Ball and each Friday we take over your football daily feed to talk about our lives as five live commentators from the games We cover to our European adventures and

Correspondent John Murray the language we use and if it wasn't for the commentators view the year could have started very differently for Ali Well, the first thing I want to say is this podcast this week has proved an extremely useful exercise already. Because you've actually managed to stop me from going to North London this weekend, we were just chatting off air, weren't we about what games we were doing this weekend, our first games were not for you, John, you've already done a commentary in 2025. But my first game, a few weeks ago, I had written down as

Arsenal against Brighton 530 on Saturday So I was just discussing with you how I was gonna get to North London where I might park and how I enjoy working At the Emirates and not been there for a while. You just said to me you sure that games not in Brighton I said no, I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I'm going to Arsenal and I'm very honestly I would have gone I would have gone to the Emirates Stadium I had that conversation with you this morning. Well, I covered Arsenal on New Year's Day, but therefore it was in my mind that they were playing at Brighton. But also I was in touch with Matthew Upson over Christmas

and he said, I will see you at Brighton, to which I said, well, I'm not covering that match. I think it's Ali who's covering that match. So that's why I knew that was Brighton. In fact, I mean that's probably going to take us into a certain conversation about whether you've ever turned up at the wrong ground. I don't think that's ever happened to me but that's as close as I would have come certainly in a long time. And so where you are going next is Brighton and not Arsenal? Because I listened to John this morning exactly And I didn't listen to Ross the boss

when he gave me my games. Well, pleased to be of service. One thing I was gonna mention about our various travels, and I always find that over Christmas and New Year, the traveling can be quite a challenge, can't it? And also I think because you want to, well, now that you always wanna get home, but I think particularly over Christmas and New Year,

you don't want to be too late, do you? And when I was traveling back from West Ham after the Liverpool match, I needed to get back to my car, which I'd left at Peterborough station. So I had to get back from West Ham to Kings Cross. So that, do they still call it the javelin? It's that fast train between St. Pancras and Stratford International.

But after that match when West Ham lost so badly, so George who was the producer had gone down to do the interviews, but I thought I really do need to see Julen Lopetegui just to see what sort of mood he's in. So by the time the press conference got finished, I was looking at my watch and I'm thinking, I'm pushing this a little bit here. So got to Stratford International.

I thought I've done quite well. However, I just missed the next train to St. Pancras and the next one was going to be half an hour. And I really wanted to get the five past nine train from King's Cross to Peterborough. And it only takes seven minutes that train from Stratford to St. Pancras. So I got there and it only takes seven minutes that train from Stratford to St Pancras. So I got there and it was 8.50. So the train was going to leave Stratford at 8.50 which meant it

was going to get into St Pancras at 8.57 which was going to give me seven minutes to get to the train and onto it at King's Cross. So I thought well that's fine but I won't book my ticket just yet just in case. Anyway, it's one minute late. Then it comes up delayed two minutes. So it's now getting in at nine. So I thought, I think I can do that at St. Pancras because it's very close.

So booked the ticket. So the ticket is booked to get on the 905. Going to St. Pancras, fine. Raced off there across the concourse onto King's Cross and where you can go upstairs, which is what I very often do on to that upper level. So you go down the escalators, which takes you on the platform.

And I thought I'm gonna do this comfortably. Go through the barriers, went along that bridge over the platforms. It's platform six. Turn to my left, platform six. The escalator is blocked off. So the train is down below me, but the escalator is blocked off.

And I thought, I'm gonna have to go on the lift. Turned around, there's a man there in front of the lift who says, sorry, sir, the lifts not working. I said, but that's my train, it's leaving. I'm looking at 903 and it's 905 to leave. And he said, sorry, sir, you'll have to go down the next platform and run around.

I thought, I can make this. So off I go down the next platform, at the point where they've just called that train, I've now got an army of travelers running and walking towards me. And I'm like running through them, dodging through them all to get around to the bottom and then come back up but I mean they're literally there with their whistles and their signs in there ready to go got

there press the button got on the train doors closed train left you made it made it if only we could get the CCTV footage I think if you got the footage of me, do you remember John Cleese in Clockwise? I'm just thinking of that. Just thinking of that. Definitely. It would definitely have an element of that. Yeah, that's the great, great misunderstanding which sets that whole film in motion, John, isn't it? When he walks onto the platform and speaks to the conductor at the edge of the platform and is doing that sort of is it the train on the left or the right that's right and he goes left and then John Cleese goes right right like that it all starts from there doesn't it yeah but as you know Ian

that's not unusual for me is it that kind of thing well it was me thinking that the train waited for you rather than you rushing for the train I'm not Hare Chapman you know no I'm. I'm not Hare Chapman you know. No, I'm making no comment about Hare Chapman. No, well probably just as far as he'll be listening. He'd know almost certainly. Yes, I think as we all know, Hare Chapman I think listens a little more than he pretends to actually. He seems to be across quite a lot of episodes and I think he's going to be hearing quite a lot about the commentators view in the weeks to come hopefully. Now one of our favorite

features on the commentators view is the great glossary of football commentary where we ask you the listener to send in suggestions of terms and phrases which are unique to football commentary to add to our collection. We then decide each week whether the suggestion makes the cut. So let's dive in and hear some of our favourites. This week's possible entry comes from Tom Milner in Leamington Spa who says, a couple of possible additions relating to architecture. First, the corridor of uncertainty, then walls therein may be fitted with draft

excluders, even though in any other setting other than football, the draft excluder would be fitted to a door, not a wall. It therefore follows that in fact, a player fitted across the bottom of a defensive wall should be more accurately be described as a skirting board. All the best, Tom. And he is right, isn't he? Yeah, but that that's getting very literal, Tom, isn't it? I might throw that in I think it's a couple of skirting boards Yeah, do it people with draft excluders at home that that sort of body line on I'm happy with draft excluded there

I think but I'd like I'm looking forward to hearing you but that should go in the grocery shouldn't it? The the draft is cleared off to exclude I should go in there. What about the corridor? go in the glossary shouldn't it? The draft excluder should go in there. What about the corridor? That's a cricketing phrase that has now, but has become a footballing phrase for that ball that's played across the edge of the six yard box from the wing. I love sitting in a stand and getting the view of exactly that delivery you're talking about. You know when you can see it just before it happens, you can see the space and then you think if that delivery is right, defenders retreating, goalkeeper doesn't know whether to come or go, player running onto it. Yeah, but I agree with you, that's always for me, corridor of uncertainty is...

Which I would associate with Jeffrey Boycott, who apparently did claim it as his own. He said during the England tour of the Caribbean in 1990, it was the first proper spell of commentating that I did for Sky, he says. And it was a phrase I came up with on the spot. So that's always been in my mind that it was a Jeffrey Boycott phrase. But apparently newspaper cuttings from 1989 show it goes back even further.

And it being attributed to the Australian cricketer, Terry Alderman, who was an absolute master, wasn't he, of the corridor of uncertainty. Did he play for Kent? I think he did, yeah. It might've been during that series. He had Graham Gooch on toast during one series and Gooch just could not fathom him out, could he?

A lot of LBWs, I seem to remember. A lot of LBWs from the corridor of uncertainty. From the corridor, can't be, but that's right, absolutely right. Yeah. So are we happy with corridor of uncertainty? We do use it, don't we? No. Does it go in our football glossary? No, I don't think it does. It's cricket parlance.

OK, the one I would like to put in. And you didn't do this, did you, on the one that I... Have you still not listened? I've been busy trying to catch trains at Stratford International. Did you include brandished? No, no, I strongly think brandished should be in the glossary. And this goes back to an email we had in from Mark Smethurst from Aberdeen, who said, and he actually picks me up for mentioning it,

which I have done occasionally over the years because football commentators, football commentators will use the word brandished for red and yellow cards. And I think the only one area that you will hear the word brandished used in is in court reports, which relate to sawn off shotguns. So I think brandished is definitely a word that should go in the glossary. Agreed. Agreed. I'm going to have nightmares now about John Murray brandishing a sawn off shotgun. Yes, that's not an image that automatically comes to mind. Potentially Ian would have you on toast I think if John was brandishing a sort of a sort of shotgun

So glossary suggestions always welcome the email address is TCV at BBC co.uk And with these it's amazing how much crossover there is between sports, especially we found with football and cricket Terry and Bromley hi gents loving the pod one word word I'd like to suggest for the glossary is a judged. It's often used like this, he was a judge to be offside, he was a judge to have handled the ball, but it's rarely heard outside of the game. I do have a second one, educated. Although it regularly crops up in everyday language, its use in a football context always baffles me in that a player is often referred to as having an educated left foot. Does it mean that

foot has a university degree? Also in these days of equality, why doesn't a right foot ever get the same accolade? No, it would never get the same accolade. And a judged is also used isn't it for LBW? It is, it is. So actually that means that can't go in our glossary because we're looking for football specific, aren't we? I agree with Ali. I think a judge doesn't make it. Well, let's put educated in then.

Okay. And just on the left foot, right foot thing, Julian in Bristol says, I'd like to offer one of a left foot as a submission for your glossary, but the left is key, says Julian. A commentator is no more likely to remark on a wand of a right foot than they are To insist that managers will be discussing that over a bottle of white wine after the game. It's never white wine That's a really good point It's always right. That's a great point. That's a really good point You're better place than me to know why but it's true isn't it? And it's like that's it. That's one. I'd like it

I'm definitely going to use that That's one I'd liken to cricket in that, you know, the left right thing. Yes. You know, David Gowers, they're always more elegant and more stylish. The elegant left-hander. Yeah, exactly.

We never say about the right. I mean, I've got to say, I was an elegant left-hander at cricket. Well, yeah. I've never seen you do anything elegantly. Okay. That is harsh, is it? By the way, did you use skirting board? I did.

Did you use it? Yep. Well done. What game was that in? I'll go back and listen again. Glenn Murray is absolutely right. Martin Odegaard very much likes the look of this. Newcastle have put up a big wall.

They've also got the man lying down behind it that we've been discussing on the commentators view podcast should probably be called the skirting board as opposed to the draft excluder. It was at Arsenal Newcastle. Okay so is educated going in in terms of describing a players left foot? I think yes, because Ian rejected the other suggestion. And wand of a left foot. Wand as well. Are we having that in there? But left not right and red wine not white wine. Go ahead in the glass.

In honor of Tony Pulis, the red wine. He's quite partial, isn't he, Ali? Tony, to a glass of red. He is. Yes, and a delicious red at that Ian, I would say. And they certainly love a red wine in Paris. PSG, European champions for the first time. And I saw a lot of them over the course of the Champions League. And never mind the red wine for you, John. It was all about the food on offer in the Parc des Princes press lounge. They serve what can only be described as French delicacies. Have you

all experienced that? Yes. So and they are tiny, tiny. So there's a cheese board, there's a magnificent cheese board which just goes. I never get any of that. That just disappears. And the other things I put out about three trays of these, absolutely, some of them this week were the size of a one pence piece. What? But delicious, I imagine. Delicious, absolutely delicious. And also at halftime, Rob Schofield,

the producer brought up this little tart. It was a strawberry tart and that was the size of a two pence piece. So that was petite. It was a rat, it was a strawberry tart and that was the size of a two pence piece. So that was petite. It was, it was petite in the extreme. I saw your picture on, you took a picture on social media and you framed it with the the stand in the background on the opposite side of the field. That was a very good picture. But what was funny was Matt Upson was with us so we'd gone as an advanced party to the stadium and we'd all got very wet

because the Parc de France is not straightforward to get into. There are at least a couple of rings of steel. And as we all know, you don't just walk up to the stadium as we did on the night before the match when we were going to cover the interviews and press conferences and such. They will then send you right around an established route

on the roads around the Parc de France. And you go through several checkpoints and have to show your credentials and accreditation, et cetera, et cetera. But of course on this night, it's absolutely hammering down with rain. So by the sound we went through this circuitous route, we're all very wet.

And Matt then later goes through the same route and gets very, very wet. So he turned up soaked. He had to hang his coat up to dry. So- He didn't strip to his underpants. He did not strip to his underpants, no, as in previous cases discussed.

But then he was ready for something to eat. And I said, well, they've laid on some food here. He looked at these little fancies and was not impressed. And so he walked over and he got one of, and they also provide these tiny little slices of bread. So he got one of these tiny slices of bread, and then he got a very small slice of salami and put the salami on the top of the slice of bread and he said, do you get other drinks

here? I said, well, yes, there's a machine just here. So he walked across to the machine, he leaned over and his piece of salami flopped off the bread and went splatch on the floor. And we, we, we roaredared with laughter that is if people know spinal tap as well do you remember Nigel Tuffnell folding his canapé if you keep folding and folding that that sounds very very spinal tap I mean those could also be called sort of amuse-bouche couldn't they? Yes that's exactly it

yeah so Matt Upson not amused not amused push by the And I have to say since then with Matt that has very much become a bit of a feature I'm always keeping an eye out on the potential of salami does anywhere beat the the PSG delicacies almost everywhere. I would say it would be the answer to that. I mean they're very nice, there's just not enough of it. One of my favourite grub stops, actually North London is good, both Tottenham and Arsenal I think, they are two of my favourite grub stops in the Premier League I would say. And Chelsea, West London.

Yeah, good range. On the subject of food, one thing we've loved this season on the commentators view is your international football terminology. And probably one of the most popular was the South American term where the owl sleeps for goals scored in the top corner. Or this suggestion on the email. Which is from Jason from Jamaica who lives in Massachusetts. So hello Massachusetts. Hello Jason. And if you want to get in touch by the way TCV at BBC dot co dot UK about anything we talk about. But anyway, Jason says similar to the question about names for the top corner of goals in different languages. I've noticed that the act of putting the ball through an

opponent's legs has various names in different countries as well. He says nutmeg is obviously quite common, but I'm Jamaican and we refer to it as salad. But it gets weirder because a salad in Jamaica traditionally is a large tomato. Have you guys heard any other varieties of that? Not of that. The one this has taken me to John is I'm a massive fan and I do them as much as anyone of malapropisms you know where people get it slightly wrong so occasionally you know whether accidentally or otherwise you could hear someone describe a football game as a damp squid you must have heard that one before yeah I got those really tickle me

and a good friend of mine and this this is not sport related who lives over in Mexico City married a Mexican woman over there and her English absolutely fantastic I mean superb brilliant you know colloquial isms idiom and everything but the one she didn't quite get hold of, but I think actually improved, is occasionally she would hear him say, and it's quite 70s, 80s sort of, you know, it's not even swearing, is it, but he would say, flippin' egg. Oh, flippin' egg, I can't believe that's happened. She thought that was flippin' egg.

So she would then say, oh, flippin' egg. And I think flippin flipping egg is such a good flipping egg is so much better than flipping neck, I think. So that's become a little saying in our house flipping egg. I really like flipping egg. I've never heard that the salad for a nutmeg that is completely new to me. We had a great nutmeg in the part of France. It was Dembele on Bernardo Silva,

who then hit the crossbar. Have you seen that? It's absolutely fantastic. That would have been one of the best goals of this. Well, certainly would have been a goal of the season. I think that would have been one of the best goals I've ever seen if he'd scored that. Salad.

Yeah, and he absolutely smashed it. Was it that shot? Oh, he hit that so hard, didn't he, that shot? Yeah, the crossbar. Well, the other one, John, sorry, very quickly, I've just been reminded of as well. Golfing chum of mine, whose wife got one wrong the other day, she was talking to him about a friend of hers who was sort of known to be quite taciturn, quite quiet, and she suddenly stood up for herself in some group discussion or whatever and my friend's wife said and of course well you know Helen she wouldn't say no to a ghost rather than boo to a goose.

I just think that's so good. I dearly love a good malapropism actually so the more those pop up during the summer and into next season I'm hoping more of those are gonna feature in the commentators of you Do you remember the boxer Mike Tyson in 2002 just after losing to to Lennox Lewis when a reporter asked him? Where he went from there Mike Tyson said I might just fade into Bolivian I've never heard that and we've actually got it. So should we ever listen where you go from here Mike? I don't know. I might fade into Bolivian go from here Mike? I don't know man, I might be a fainting to believe me and you know what I mean? I don't even know where to go and nothing to do.

That's the one, that's brilliant. I've never heard that. If you got a good one of those, please do send them in. Email address just to remind you once more tcv at bbc.co.uk. Or you can send us a voice note on WhatsApp to 08000 289 369. So that's it for this best of episode of The Commentator's View. Keep an eye out for a couple more landing on your football daily feed in the next few days and weeks. And of course how could you forget most importantly the live show Sheffield, Friday the 4th of

July in the old Cole Brothers department store. Tickets are free You just head over to the crossed wires dot live website cross wires dot live. I Deliberately deliberately threw in the small matter of which is what John had mentioned last week And I swear if you listen back on BBC sounds The big man lets out a little guffaw just before he delivers the team news. It did make me chuckle. Champions League coverage on Wednesday night will be at the Etihad, Manchester City against Bruges on SportsXtra.

John Murray might say the small matter of Aston Villa against Celtic. Today he's watching Chelsea against City at 5.30 and he has the tea news. Yes, and from the small matter to the big news here, and that is that Manchester City have two new signings straight into their starting lineup, Marmouche and Kuzma... And Ali, you mentioned the small matter last night as well. I did, I did. We've got full commentary on Arsenal Manchester City, the small matter of Arsenal Manchester City,

that was one of the phrases that got into the great glossary of football commentary, one of the features on the Commentator's View podcast. I've got to say I'm very very pleased with myself that I've done Manchester United Rangers and Aston Villa Celtic and on neither occasion did I use the words battle of Britain, avoided it both times. Well done. I actually heard a news bulletin this week, and this was previewing Aston Villa Celtic, and to which in the news report it said, some people are calling this the Battle of Britain, to which I immediately thought, I know someone who isn't.

Football, a game of passion, rivalry and loyalty. But decades ago, beneath the cheers and the chants, lay a different kind of warfare called hooliganism. On a match day, everyone was your enemy. Everyone was going to kill you. We look over the brutal, bloody battles where punching below the belt was a way of life. It was just a day of mayhem. It's a day you dream of.

Join me, Tony Bellew, as we hear from those bruising for a fight in the name of the firms that they belong to. We hated them, we hunted them, we battered them and nothing got in the way of football. Something they called the English disease. They were destroying the football club, the game I love. Gangster Presents Hooligans, listen on BBC Sounds. Welcome to the Inside Track with me, Rick Edwards. This is the podcast that takes you

inside Formula One like never before. I'm Matt Magendie, and thanks to my exclusive access I'll be getting up close and personal with Red Bull Racing this season. This week I sit down with one of the team's big bosses, Dr Helmut Marko. I also didn't think that Max would win four championships. He didn't have the success what we expected from him. Experience Formula One like never before by tuning into the Inside Track wherever you get your podcasts.