Football Daily - The Commentators' View: Milner’s landmark & TCV pillow talk

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball talk football, travel & language. They look ahead to what could be a landmark weekend for James Milner and get correspondence from a couple who listen to TCV in bed. Plus unintended pub and film names, Clash of the Commentators and the Great Glossary of Football Commentary. Suggestions and questions always welcome on WhatsApp voicenotes to 08000 289 369 & emails to [e-mail]01:10 Private Eye Colemanballs 02:30 John Murray caught in the wild 05:35 Commentaries this weekend 10:10 Owners and fans pulling in different directions? 12:20 James Milner in for landmark weekend? 17:25 TCV pillowtalk 21:15 John’s surprise greeting 24:15 Unintended pub names 29:30 Clash of the Commentators 38:20 Great Glossary of Football Commentary 50:45 How to keep a dead game interesting5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Sat 1500 Arsenal v Sunderland, Sat 1500 Bournemouth v Villa on Sports Extra, Sat 1730 Newcastle v Brentford, Sun 1400 Brighton v Palace, Sun 1630 Liverpool v Man City.Great Glossary of Football Commentary: DIVISION ONE 2-0 can be a dangerous score, Agricultural challenge, Back of the net, Back to square one, Bosman, Bullet header, Cruyff Turn, Cultured/educated left foot, Dead-ball specialist, Draught excluder, Elastico/flip-flap, False nine, Fox in the box, Giving the goalkeeper the eyes, Grub hunter, Head tennis, Hibs it, In a good moment, In behind, Magic of the FA Cup, Middle of the park, The Maradona, Off their line, Olimpico, Onion bag, Panenka, Park the bus, Perfect hat-trick, Rabona, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Schmeichel-style, Scorpion kick, Spursy, Stick it in the mixer, Target man, Tiki-taka, Towering header, Trivela, Where the kookaburra sleeps, Where the owl sleeps, Where the spiders sleep.DIVISION TWO Back on the grass, Ball stays hit, Beaten all ends up, Blaze over the bar, Business end, Came down with snow on it, Catching practice, Camped in the opposition half, Cauldron atmosphere Coat is on a shoogly peg, Come back to haunt them, Corridor of uncertainty, Couldn’t sort their feet out, Easy tap-in, Daisy-cutter, First cab off the rank, Giant-killing, Good leave, Good touch for a big man, Half-turn, Has that in his locker, High wide and not very handsome, Hospital pass, Howler, In the dugout, In their pocket, Johnny on the spot, Leading the line, Leather a shot, Needed no second invitation, Nice headache to have, Nutmeg, On their bike, One for the cameras, One for the purists, Played us off the park, Points to the spot, Prawn sandwich brigade, Purple patch, Put their laces through it, Reaches for their pocket, Rolls Royce, Root and branch review, Row Z, Screamer, Seats on the plane, Show across the bows, Slide-rule pass, Steal a march, Straight in the bread basket, Stramash, Taking one for the team, Telegraphed that pass, Tired legs, That’s great… (football), Thunderous strike, Turns on a sixpence, Walk it in, We’ve got a cup tie on our hands.UNSORTED After you Claude, All-Premier League affair, Aplomb, Bag/box of tricks, Brace, Brandished, Bread and butter, Breaking the deadlock, Bundled over the line, Champions elect / champions apparent, Clinical finish, Commentator’s curse, Coupon buster, Denied by the woodwork, Draught excluder, Elimination line, Fellow countryman, Foot race, Formerly of this parish, Free hit, Goalkeepers’ Union, Goalmouth scramble, Honeymoon Period, In and around, In the shop window, Keeping ball under their spell, Keystone Cops defending, Languishing, Loitering with intent, Marching orders, Nestle in the bottom corner, Numbered derbies, Opposite number, PK for penalty-kick, Postage stamp, Rasping shot, Red wine not white wine, Relegation six-pointer, Rooted at the bottom, Route One, Sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, Shooting boots, Sleeping giants, Slide rule pass, Small matter of, Spiders web, Stayed hit, Steepling, Stinging the palms, Stonewall penalty, Straight off the training ground, Taking one for the team, Team that likes to play football, Throw their cap on it, Thruppenny bit head / 50p head, Two good feet, Turning into a basketball match, Turning into a cricket score, Usher/Shepherd the ball out of play, Walking a disciplinary tightrope, Wand of a left foot, Wrap foot around it, Your De Bruynes, your Gundogans etc.

The Commentators View on the Football Daily with Alistair Bruce Ball, John Murray and Ian Dennis. Hello, welcome to the Football Daily. I'm Alistair Bruce Ball, and this is the commentators view where we five live commentators discuss the football we watch. The places it takes us to from the Moss Rose to the Marrakaner, although not been to the Marrakaner for a while actually. And the words and phrases we use to describe it all, lots of which of course feature in our great glossary of football commentary. need your help with that. So emails to TCV at BBC.com. UK. Busy winter schedule, but no rotation policy

for the commentator's view this week. The BBC's football correspondent, John Murray is here, and the BBC's senior football reporter Ian Dennis is here in the dark this morning for this episode, Ian. Would you care to explain? Just got a slight electrical issue.

Apart from that, everything is fine. I think John's Halo will provide the light for this episode. just sitting here shining it a couple of parish notices before we start the episode this week John you mentioned I think it was in last week's episode

about you Mark Chapman and Paul Robinson all featuring in commentator balls in private eye you've then very kindly posted the excerpt from the magazine in our WhatsApp group and I thought for the benefit of our listeners I should read them out so you're all at the same game here aren't you

I think we were yeah Yeah, this was the McEltsville Crystal Palace Was that right? Cup-Tie? I think so. Yeah, yeah. Who shall we start with then? Do we start with John Murray?

Do we start with Paul Robinson? Do we start with Mark Chapman? Let's leave Hare Chapman to last. So Paul Robinson's comment that features here. Once again, Crystal Palace's Achilles' heel raises its head. Which is very good. John Murray's,

he's underneath the cover of the dugout discussing with his staff how they can actually get out of this little hole. I remember saying that and thinking. That might feature again. And Hare Chapman's, that's a goal that changes the game, particularly the score. That's a classic,

which you can't quibble with that, can you? No, you can't. You can't. And John, our other Paris notice, you also posted in the group early this week. there was someone you wanted to mention on this week's pod who's helped you out in your travels. That's right, yes, because last weekend, when I was on my way to Stanford Bridge, I was traveling on the train, and there were, and indeed, I think they're all through February.

There are engineering works at the weekend on the East Coast main line. But I found another route to go. However, when I was approaching Leeds Station, I found that all trains south had been cancelled, which was a bit of a worry. and as Ian will leap, no doubt, onto, I was taking a little bit of a risk travelling on Saturday morning anyway to get to that match because of the longer route.

Anyway, I thought, uh-uh, this is trouble. And a very friendly member of LNER staff, one of the people who wear those long red coats, came up to me and said, can I help you? And I explained the situation, and he said, yes, absolutely. Get on that train there, which will take you to Peterborough,

and then at Peterborough, you can get a bus to Bedford and then get back onto the line which would take me to St. Pancras. And so I said, thank you very much. I was just about head to the train. And he said, you're John Murray, aren't you? And I said, yes, I'm.

And he said, I was listening to you this morning. So he was listening to the radio version of the podcast this morning. And the one thing I wish I'd done, I should have got his name. I didn't get his name. But he was very helpful and I would not be at all surprised if he was listening to this now as well. So thank you to him.

Was he walking his dog at the time? He was not walking his dog. I was on a train back from Manchester on Monday. So I did Manchester United on Fulham alongside Steve Bruce on the Sunday and then got the train home on the Monday. And you know when you settle down on a train, you've got a couple of hours ahead of you, you've got a bit of work to do and a book to read or a podcast to listen to John, possibly not in your case. certainly not this podcast anyway. And then a gentleman sat opposite me and started a conversation.

You know, you think, I'm not massively in the mood for talking today. I've got quite a lot to do. And then just had such a lovely chat with this chat for two hours that before I knew it, we'd pulled into Houston. So a chap called Andrew, didn't get his surname. Rugby League coach lived in Bolton. And we just had such, I mean, we talked a little bit about, you know, know, Five Live and stuff like that.

But it was just a fantastic sort of chat for two hours. And yeah, it was very nice to meet him. How nice? That's a lovely when that happens, isn't it? Yeah, it was great. That doesn't often happen to you, does it, Ian? Because you don't like sitting with people on the train. Well, I always prefer to drive, and therefore I can talk to people who I want to talk to on the phone.

So there's a warning for all listeners. If you see Ian Dennis on the train, do not approach. Straight on to the business of the pod. So unintended pub names, great glossary of football commentary to come and a game of Clash of the Commentators. But let's start by sort of previewing the commentary we've got coming up on Five Live and BBC Sounds.

And for you two this weekend, chaps, it's title race time. So we've got Arsenal six points ahead of Manchester City 14 games to go. And first up, this weekend, our Arsenal, Ian. So you'll watch them. having seen them actually in midweek in the second leg of the league cup semifinal, you're doing Arsenal Sunderland with Rob Green, 3 o'clock Saturday.

It's my third successive game actually covering Arsenal, because I covered them last weekend against Leeds, which we thought would have been a test, and actually turned out to be no test at all, the way that Arsenal performed. Then obviously I saw them beat Chelsea with that late goal from Kai Havert's in midweek. And I actually think as well that that was psychologically, and I said this on the radio on Tuesday,

night. Psychologically, that could be huge that. Because had they lost, it would have been a fifth successive semi-final defeat. So you know then what the narrative would have been. That would have then, I think, seeped its way into, oh, it's Arsenal. You know, they're now going to lose the Premier League title that, you know, they haven't got it to see it through. So the fact that they actually now have got over that little bit of a hurdle, ended that who-do, I think that the Arsenal players and the supporters to their credit, because I think that, At no point when there was tension in the ground, did the supporters get jittery? I thought, if anything, they backed their side, increased the volume.

And I think that Arsenal this year are setting their own narrative, to which is against what everybody else, particularly on social media, would suggest that, oh, they're not going to see it through after three successive runners-up appearances in the table. I think that this is a different Arsenal, and they're setting their own agenda. So I think psychologically, getting to that final in midweek was huge for them. you spot the, I mean it's easier to do because I was listening to our commentary, listening to you, but sort of

with TV pictures on, it wasn't in front of the Chelsea fans, but when Havert's got the late winner, there was a little point to the badge on his shirt to the Arsenal fans, as in I belong here. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't see that.

I was, there was, the way that the Arsenal bench erupted, so you're obviously calling the goal, but then you couldn't help have your eyes drawn to how wildly the celebrations were from both the officials of Arsenal, but also the supporters too. So I didn't actually spot that, Ali. No. No, no, no.

You wouldn't from where we commentate from. You wouldn't see it until he'd seen a replay. So Arsenal, Sunderland, Saturday, 3 o'clock. On Sports Extra 3 o'clock Saturday is Bournemouth Villa. 5. 30 on Saturday. Newcastle have got to bounce back from the defeat against Manchester City in the other League Cup semi-final. second leg this week. They've got Brentford

at home, Ailey Barbara and Pat Nevin will bring you commentary of that one. I'm doing Brighton Palace on Sunday. That kicks off at 2 o'clock and I'm going to come back to that game in a second because we're going to see well we may see a sort of landmark

Premier League moment in that game but John before I get to that 4.30 Sunday Liverpool, Manchester City and you obviously saw Manchester City in midweek get through to that league cup final. What did you make of them and Pep Guardiola?

Well, this will be the third consecutive Manchester City match that I've commentated on after the two-two with Tottenham and then the second leg of the semi-final. And I think what we've learned in that time is what we knew previously is that teams can get at them. And Tottenham scored a couple of goals. Newcastle really created chances. And actually, even though Manchester City in the end

won the semifinal so comfortably on the scoreline, Newcastle created enough chances in that second leg if they'd taken them all to have turned the tie around. So I think that this surely will be a match where Liverpool will feel that they can get at Manchester City. And if indeed Arsenal and Astonvilla have won their matches on Saturday, City will feel that they have to win that. So this could be lively. Yeah. And Liverpool are, well, I was going to say in a good moment, They're playing a bit better at the moment, aren't they? Vietz and Ekateke in particular are linking up well. Yep, they are, so the danger there is obvious.

One other thing I'd like to say about Manchester City as well, and you mentioned Pep Guardiola, and what the mood was and the atmosphere inside Manchester City's ground the other evening after they qualified for a cup final, and Pep Guardiola very pointedly went round the ground because it was probably about half full by that stage. city have just qualified for a cup final

yet many people have not stayed until the final whistle and I thought it was Michael Brown actually pointed it out to me who was the summariser that night that Pep Guardiola was very exaggeratedly and clapping the supporters who were inside the ground he went all around the stadium as if to say you've stayed and I'm thanking you for your support

getting through to the cup final and you know I know a lot's been said about the fact that the stadium wasn't full for the second leg of a semi-final. But I think it's a real issue at the moment. Having been there, having been at Tottenham last weekend, where there was dissatisfaction with various things to do with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from the supporters,

the running of, and similarly at Chelsea on the Saturday. And I think it's a real issue at the moment that the disconnect there is between traditional fans and the owners of their football clubs And it really feels that they are two forces that are pushing in different directions. Well, I mean, Manchester United Fulham on Sunday where I was, which had a sort of old school dramatic thrilling Manchester United finish. Before that game, there was another protest from the 1958 group

about not necessarily what's going on on the field at the moment, but more about, I think, supporter, yeah, fed up. Supporters just fed up feel like they're being taken for a ride. Yeah, and of course, for Manchester United, it's gone on for decades, that they feel they are being ignored and they feel they're being priced out so traditional fans are being priced out because owners want what you could call new fans

who are coming and visiting from wherever they come from and are spending a lot of money at the club on their visits and it's an issue and I think this is definitely this is definitely something that the football regulator will have on their agenda I feel and should be high up the agenda for them. So going back to Sunday 2 o'clock,

I'm alongside Danny Gabidon for Brighton and Hove Albion, Ian, to give them their full and proper title against Crystal Palace. So one of the things we might see there is a Jorgon Strand-Larsen debut for Crystal Palace, but that's not the potential landmark moment

I'm talking about. But were you aware, have you seen the article on the BBC Sport website, I've just read it this morning, that James Milner, when he next comes on field in the Premier League will equal Gareth Barry's

appearances record. So his next appearance will be his 653 Premier League appearance in his 24th season of Premier League football. Can you remember him as a and we're probably all old enough to have seen the start of his

or commentating of the start of his so that would be 2002 at Leeds. I don't know, wouldn't it? Leeds started at, yeah. Yes, it was, yeah. Yeah. I mean I covered Leeds United for four years for radio leads but I'd moved on then I think I'd joined Five Live already at that point so I didn't actually see him break through

but I did spend a lot of time with him when I covered the England's under 21s there was a tournament in Holland in 2007 and then I remember him in Sweden in 2009 and then spoke a lot to him when he was an England international at various England camps and I've got to say the way he has conducted himself he is just the model pro isn't he? He is the consummate

professional so it'll be a brilliant achievement for him when he goes on to actually break the record. Yeah, I was thinking that that when he comes on or if he comes on this weekend you're equal in the record we've got to do it all again when he breaks the record why don't we just save it when he when he breaks the record but the other thing I was thinking John watching the the Everton game for Brighton the weekend, just talking about being the consummate professional. 40 years old, he gets on, I think, for a minute or two at the end of that game.

And annoyingly, once he's on, Everton equalized, David Moyes goes skipping down the touchline and gets a yellow card. You've then got to do all the running after the game because you've only played a couple of minutes of football. But when you're in your 24th season of Premier League football and you're still prepared to be doing all of that, that says something in itself, doesn't it, I think? Yeah, and it can't be a coincidence that he has kept himself fit. over the years, which I think attests to what Ian says about him being a professional. He's clearly had to look after himself to be able to do that. So, yeah, if he is able to reach that landmark,

which of course would be a record for league appearances only since 1992. So I don't know, what is the actual record? Does anyone know? Most league appearances? Who holds that? What do you think the number will be? So for Premier League, it's 653. All time, it's going to be. I think it's going to be 900 plus.

Would that be, could be a goalkeeper? Could be a goalkeeper, could it? Wow, I've got it already from producer Nathan. Peter Shilton. Yeah, they will. 1,000 and five games. So that's league appearances. I think so.

Yeah. So he's got a few, he's still got 400 games to play then, basically. Not quite. But it also just gives us another chance to remind younger listeners that actually this league did start in 1888. And he's the oldest. organised league in the world, which is actually something we should be proud of and not just talk about things that happened after 1992. Of course, James Milner's record will be top flight,

so I wonder what the record is for appearances in the top flight. There's all sorts for Nathan to do now, isn't there? All sorts of records for while he tries to concentrate on. I bet he wishes he hadn't brought that up in the first place now. So I've just, Nathan's just whispered John Hollins in my ear, 714, top flight. For an outfield player. Okay, yeah, very good. Very good.

So you'll probably not beat that, James Milner, will he? No. No, 653, in his 24th season and he's 40. No. But he'll hold that Premier League record, John. So it's still, it is still mightily impressive. So that is our weekend football. Then in midweek, next week, so before you listen to your next commentator's view,

Tuesday night and Wednesday night there is Premier League football and we will be going around the ground so it's those nights. They're great to listen to actually where we don't have a main commentary but we have reporters at all the games and as the goals go in

as the stories develop lots of discussion around it so that is Tuesday and Wednesday next week we are going to get onto our correspondence and John you are first to read today you have been deliberately assigned the first email of the day emails coming to TCV at BBC

dot co.uk. And don't forget your WhatsApps and voice notes, 08,000, 289369. So, John, can you see what you've got to read? Okay, I'm intrigued by this. It says, Hello, gentlemen. My husband, Mike and I,

and this is from Colchester fan Caroline. She says, My husband, Mike and I are big fans of the pod. But I wonder if anyone else listens in the way we do. Unfortunately, We don't have a dog. Our Sunday evening ritual is to go to bed fairly early, around 9pm, and listen to the pot.

However, we generally only listen to the first 10 to 15 minutes before one or both of us are asleep. Upon going to bed on Monday, a conversation that goes something like this ensues. How far did we get? I heard this bit. well I heard umatoll this bit etc we then spend ten minutes finding the right place often re-listening to bits until we agree on a place to resume depending on what time it is we might listen to ten minutes or the rest of the pod you can see where this is going most weeks we've only just finished one episode before we start the next what makes this even funnier

is that we are only in our mid-40s and are often tucked in by our children aged 17 and 18. Keep up the good work both on the pod and the commentaries. P.S. I heard John's voice reading this while writing it. So there we are. Well, we are 15 minutes in to this. They look gone. They've gone. They've missed that. But you know what? You know, I can now envisage a scenario, right? That Caroline's dropped off before Mike.

Yeah. She's just in the land of nod. And Mike now wakes her up to say, Caroline, Caroline, they're talking about us. Caroline then can't get back off to sleep. And Mike then drifts off five minutes later. Yeah. And then snores all night and Caroline don't get to sleep at all.

Yeah, I know, exactly. Mike's a trund me a fan, by the way. Oh, right. Carolina said so an unlikely Colchester Trangmere combination. Yeah. That reminds me when I was a kid, little kid, not particularly well, struggling to get to sleep. My parents gave me the old one of counting sheep, count sheep until you fall asleep. And I can't remember how many I got to. And then being the conscientious young fellow I was, decided I needed to tell my parents in the morning how many I got to. So I got myself up to

write the figure down and then I was wide awake again and had to go and wake them up to tell them I'd not managed to get to sleep because I got up to write the number of the number of sheet down. And the other one I reminded myself off. I don't know whether you ever had any sort of weird misunderstandings as kids, but I was talking about this to someone the other day. When we first moved house when I was seven years old, I got very upset about the idea of moving house because my understanding of moving house was you left all your own stuff. in your house and then you just got other people stuff, whichever house, you didn't take your stuff with you.

That was my understanding of, I don't know whether you ever had anything like that. So my parents were sort of wondering what was troubling me, and I was terrified my Star Wars figures and all my football stickers were going to whoever was buying our house. I never actually moved house until I left home. Right, okay. Did you take your stuff with you?

Yes, well, no, I didn't, because they're still there now. It's still there. Yeah, because the family still live in that farmhouse. Joseph says, dear TCV, I was listening to Sports Report at the weekend. After John's pre-match team news from Stanford Bridge ahead of the 530 kickoff, I was surprised to hear from him again a few moments later. I presume this was Hare Chapman's fault, and it was lucky that John didn't say anything controversial

or bring TCV into disrepute. My question is, who was he greeting, and was he aware of the gap? until now. Let's have a listen. Chelsea are much changed and there's no Astavow. West Ham are here with new confidence. Then it's Liverpool, Newcastle at 8 o'clock. In the championship, the leaders' Coventry are beaten 2-1 at QPR.

Second place, Middlesbrough, are now level on points at the top, thanks to victory over Norwich, Portsmouth, Cough of West Brom in the big game at the bottom. Cardish lead at the top of Leigh... That's a classic John Hello as well, so typically. So John, I presume, well, go on. I was messaged. Someone, I was messaged about that.

And I wasn't aware of that actually going out on air. So I presume that was me being switched across to the World Service. I've got to stick up for Hare Chapman here. Yeah. That's nothing to do with him. That is the, someone in the studio who's not, who's left John's fader up for you to talk on 5 Live, isn't it? Yes. So I actually did text Hair Chapman.

I said, you did well to keep it going. And then I spoke to him again in midweek about it. And he said that it didn't throw him at all. He's like James Milne. He's a consummate pro. We might not be blaming him correctly, but I bet you he's blaming me. I think he did, yes. But it's also the classic age-old lesson of whenever you've got a microphone in front of your mouth.

John, you did say hello just because you were saying hello, but you've always got to presume you are broadcasting to someone somewhere, haven't you? So you've obviously been given the go ahead to say hello. You don't think you're talking across the top of sports report. But if you drop something or spilt tea in your lap, you can't say beep, beep, beep, can you? Otherwise, big trouble. That might have put Air Chapman off the sports report headlines. You know what was funny the other week?

You know when we had that episode with Claire, Claire Adonnell? who the producer on a Saturday afternoon, which was still, I think, one of my favorite episodes of this podcast. But the other week, she said, Deno, you there? Anyway, I never responded. And we were due to go on air. And all of a sudden, she really did shout at me. She went, Denno! And I went, yeah?

Anyway, then she said, right, you go in live after this answer, don't say anything. And I just went, okay. So I didn't speak when I should have spoken. and then when I wasn't meant to talk, I actually did, which he found rather annoying, I think. Excellent. Very good. Right. Unintended pub names. People love these. A couple of these from our commentaries

before we do Clash of the Commentators. Last week we had the backside of Castaganos in the rolling hills of northern Spain, the pink pope with its fruity and flowery cocktails, and the false nine with tactics boards and magnetic count. on every wall. We also had the Mighty Maguire and battered in Buda as unintended film names, talking of which 19-year-old Ed has sent us this voice note. It's Ed from Adelaide, South Australia. Love the pod. Listen to it every week,

and last week came across an unintended pub name. This originated in John's last trip to Buda, where fans could be seen sheltering in their favourite pub, the Tumbling Murray. You can see the warm atmosphere and locals enjoying a smorgasbord of warm Norwegian delicacies and maybe even some Man City fans. But rest assured if their meals or drinks are unsatisfactory, they shall be reimbursed. Thanks guys. The Tumbling Murray. This refers to me slipping over on the ice in Buda at the stadium.

That's very good, Ed. Yeah, well done, Ed. Yeah, very good. It wasn't so much of a tumble, actually. it was more of a sort of collapse, actually. I went straight down, the collapsing Murray. But also you could have in the Tumbling Murray, you could serve a certain type of glass,

the Murray Tumblr, couldn't you? You could actually serve a shot of something in the Murray Tumblr, so you could have both. You seem to get a lot of correspondence from Adelaide, don't we? Yes. Are you suggesting that the World Tour could go down under? How? Jonathan in Donkerson.

has got in touch. I can't decide if this is an unintended pub name or another term for your glossary, perhaps both, but it's into the mixer. I can imagine a group of youngens, not me, but I do have student children, gathering together for evening pre-drinks, and then heading out to,

Into the mixer for cheap drinks, double up for one pound offers, pitches and such like, before deciding whether to stay or to move on to more madness. So that's in. I mean, stick it in the mixer. I'm surprised we've not discussed that in the glossary as yet

because that's definitely a potential glossary term. And another one that was mentioned to me, have we had great touch for a big man? Is that in? Because one of our most devoted listeners, Martin O'Boyle, Premier League match manager, he was at Manchester City the other night, and he was suggesting that if we haven't mentioned it already.

It's unsorted, John. So it's below the line, so we've got to stick it in div 1 or div 2. So let's do that today. I use that sort of slightly tongue in cheek the other day about Araka Darae, the wolf's centre forward, who showed a wonderful sort of velvet touch with his feet. And he is enormous. And so immediately it was like good touch for a big man, basically. It had to be.

I enjoyed you commentating when we were on the subject, the wolf's manet. Oh, yeah. When was that? Was that when he scored his first goal? Yeah. He scored in the win against West Ham. Yeah. That's right.

Mattes Manor, yeah. And actually, because we mentioned there, the new West Ham striker, going back to pronunciations. Oh, yeah. When I actually got there, I thought, how am I going to say his name? And Steve Wilson, our match of the day colleague, advised me that it is Castorzagnoos. Casta Janios. So I thought, I'm going to go with that.

So I went with Casta Janios. Yeah, because. Cuccarea is Cuccarea because the two L's in Spanish pronounce a Y sound. So it's Cuccarea. It's not Cuccarella. It's Cuccarea. But so Casta Yanos, but because he's South American, the double L, rather than in, so in Spanish, he would be Castaianos. But because he's South American, it's Castagianos.

Yes. As Steve said to me, it's like Ujua. Do you remember who used to play for Leicester? Yeah. Leonard Ujoujo. And it's why, going back to Cugare is it. was Sevi Bayesteros rather than Seve Ballesteros, as someone would have called him. But that double L was...

See? ...was... ...was... ...was... ...exactly. Yeah, very good. My name's Steve Bradnell, a sister manager of Royal Oak FC. You may have seen me online with Vinyl.

Vinyl sensation. And now, the BBC have given me the chance to set the footballing world banter eyes. This could be a great opportunity for us, lads, a podcast for the BBC. Can I just set a... What's the podcast? Brilliant. Great start. Well done, Bob.

Brilliant. We can completely show utter transparency to Royal Oak fans. I'll use my charm. Gift it, gab. Games gone. The Steve Bracknell podcast. Watch on YouTube. Listen on BBC Sounds.

The Commentator's View on the Football Daily with Aniston Bruce Ball, John Murray and Ian Dennis. Time for Clash of the Commentators. of us take turns to answer a question and give as many correct answers as we can in 30 seconds, which in my case is quite often not very many. Denno in a rich vein of form, he's on a five-match winning streak. He's unstoppable at the moment. Top of the table, 10 wins from 12. And today, Ian, you have the luxury of asking the questions of sitting back, pipe, slippers,

and just watching chaos ensue. That is correct, because it is a basement battle between the two of you. and John, four wins from 12. Sammy in Wokingham says, I hope Ali can make a comeback in Clash of the Commentators. Because Ali's actually on a four-match losing streak. And John has beaten Ali in each of your last two meetings. Are you aware of that, John?

Has there been any correspondence about the controversial? No, it's gone now. Let it go. Let it go, as they said in Frozen. So who wants to go first? Who's going to disconnect? I went first last week, so John, I'll offer you the choice of what you want to do. Okay, I'll go first, then.

Disconnecting. I've got to say, when I saw this question, I was pleased that I was the quiz master on this occasion. So listen carefully to this one. Listen carefully. After scoring at Old Trafford last weekend, Raul Jimenez has now put away all 12 of his Premier League penalties. the outright most by any player with a 100% scoring record from the spot in Premier League history.

Dearie, mate. I want you to name any player to have taken at least 10 Premier League penalties with at least a 90% success rate from the spot or you can name me any player to have scored a Premier League penalty this season. Four players fall into both categories and for those players, we will do double points.

So any player to have taken at least 10, Premier League penalties with at least a 90% success rate from the spot, or any player to have scored a Premier League penalty this season. Your time starts now. Harland, Shearer, Scherringham, Linneka, um, uh, Saka, Oedegard McGinn

has Rogers taken about Rogers Really? All in time I can't see Shira's name down there But you'd think he'd have to be, wouldn't you? You'd have thought so, wouldn't you? Anyway, I don't remember missing many. Whilst the totting that up,

I'll give Ali the sign to come back. I'm not confident there Whilst I will read this question again At the same pace as I did for you John I would imagine That for the listener It might have to be speeded up Otherwise it's gonna probably take up quite a bit of time

Right so I'm disadvantaged again Okay fair enough No no no for you for you Only when it goes out in the pod In the pod Yeah when was the previous time you were disadvantaged When you say you'll be disadvantaged again So Ali

Listen carefully to this one Yes Yes After scoring at Old Trafford last weekend So any players To have taken at least 10 Premier League penalties With at least a 90% success rate from the spot Or any player to have scored a Premier League penalty this season

Your time starts now My mind's going to go blank there Bruno Fernandez He's missed a couple of this is And I know but I think he'd be up there James Milner I saw score a penalty He might be in there Matt Lettisi had an excellent record

Mo Sala Ralph Jimenez Are we allowed to say him, I don't know Ricky Lambert was good on the penalties Who else would have taken penalties Hang on, let's think Have we said Erling Harland This season penalties

I don't think Either of you said Tony Haven't Tony No, I didn't No brilliant penalty to take it Yeah Did you say Cole Palmer as well? No God

Damn Because they both had Very very impressive records Didn't they from the spot Yeah, Palmer definitely. Missed one. The one he missed was against Leicester last season, and I saw it. If you win this by one, and it's because you said Jimenez and I didn't,

I'm going to be absolutely furious. Yeah, what was interesting, though, with Ali there, is that he said, have we said Erling Harland? So it was a question. But does that go down? Well, I was giving it as an answer, but I take your point. I take your point. I was just going to say, when it's split like that,

that. You know when you've got a choice of one or two, you need to make your mind up which to go for? Do you go for the double points this season, the this season scorers or the all-time scorers? I think I got caught between two stools there, I would say. Well, the scores are in. It's a comfortable win. John 3, Allie, 8. Oh, right. Well, at least I didn't lose because of Jimenez. Yeah.

the classic on Jimenez so the penalty did you see the penalty he took for Fulham at Old Trafford on Sunday where he did the old stutter stop steps run up and then flick this beauty into the top corner

and it was so good that the ball bounced out Lomans caught it and then went and hugged him and congratulated him on how good a penalty it was actually a really nice moment and at that time United were winning 2-1 and they didn't seem any danger and then Kevin screamed that one into the top top corner in the mood, the mood changed somewhat.

But you know what? I deliberately didn't say how good Jimenez's penalty record was before he took the penalty, because I know fans hate that. So I waited until afterwards to sort of continue his stats of what you just said. And I think in all competitions, because it's in my notes, he scored his last 16 or 17, and he's never missed in the Premier League, as you said. But I didn't want to say that before he took it, because then when he misses it, you get it in the neck, don't you?

For the commentator's curse. So correct answers from you both were Harland, Saka, Bruno Fernandez, Milner, Letizier, Salah and Jimenez. And the four players that fell into both categories for the double points were Jimenez, Parma, Saka and Milner. Incorrect answers were Shearer, 84%. Sheringham, 68%. Linneker didn't play in the Premier League. Erdogard, 100%, but he's only taken three. McGinn hasn't taken any in the Premier League.

Rogers likewise, Rooney 68% and Lambert 100% in the Premier League, but he only took seven. Got lucky with, well, not lucky, but Milner, had we not discussed James Milner, had I not been doing Brighton Crystal Palace this weekend, I don't think I would have got Milner, but I remembered him scoring against Manchester City. Yeah, because that was his first goal in a number of years, wasn't it,

since boxing day against Lester or something like that. That's right. Was it 2019? Yeah. So I've got a bit lucky there, John. Yeah. Well, 8.3, I wouldn't suggest is lucky. No.

It wasn't my favourite question that. Oh, at least it was football related. You didn't have to munch or chomp on it. But you had Raoul Jimenez, Yaya Touré, Matt Letizier, you said that, Ali. Danny Murphy, Callan Wilson, James Beatty, Julian Dix. Cole Palmer, 15 from 16, Bukaiosaka, 12 from 13, Tierraun Rie, Ivan Tony, 11 from 12,

Isaac and Bumo, Baines, Inns, Speed, LeBuff, James Milner, 18 from 20, Peter Beardsley, Alexis McAllister, and Zhao Pedro, nine from 10. So that's just... So Harry Kane, Harry Kane doesn't make it. He doesn't make that list. Oh, there he is, I can see him on the list, yeah, 89.2%. Yeah, so very close. Right, that's going to make no difference to the overall result.

We've got to start beating Ian. John. So, you know. Well, I mean, I'll beat him once and didn't get the point. No, that's a fair point. Right. Let's finish with our great glossary of football commentary. A few suggestions.

We're looking for commentary terms and phrases which you may have heard on the radio. Remember, you can find our entire glossary in the episode description. This is how it works, if you're new to the glossary. Division 1, so it's football exclusive terms. Terms you'll only hear in football commentaries that go in Division 1. Division two is for terms that are used in football commentary but also used in other sports. Last week we added, there was quite a lot last week, all of these went into Division 1, agricultural challenge, false nine, target man, bullet header and towering header all went into Division 1.

And there was a good use of one of these from Ali in the Manchester United Fulham game. He's floating onto the back stick. What a head ring header from Casamiro. who's got up high in the air, met the ball on the full, and smashed that pass, burnt Leno, into the top corner of the Fulham net. A classic case that

of a term discussed in the Great Glossary then appearing in your head while you're commentating in the next match. But John, it was both. It was towering and bullet that header. So I said that to Steve Bruce afterwards.

I only used towering at the time because he got up so well above Maguire at the far pose. But he was not only 10. towering. And actually, I think he's, I'm not sure you can smash a header into the net. I said he smashed a header, don't you? Or you power a header. You don't, you don't smash a header. I don't think. Smash a volley into the net, wouldn't you? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was actually towering and bullet. Talking of using some of the glossary terms in our own commentaries, in midweek,

I was able to use the word grubhunter. Because there was an instance where somebody had been in the draft excluder role. And we actually went through. the whole repertoire then because we threw in the doorstop as what Charlie Adam had mentioned

recently on 5 Live but I used the grub hunter for the first time was that when you were with Mr Matthew Ubson

it was yes he will have enjoyed that he did yes just going back to agricultural challenge one of Chris Sutton's many sons George got in touch

with me this week so he's a listener to the commentator's view and he said agricultural challenging football but of course in cricket you can have

the agricultural hoike over, over Cow Corner. But that is a different thing. Agricultural slog. Yes. But it's that use of agricultural. Yeah.

Agricultural slog when you miss it and are clean bold. Like a tail ender having a goal. Yes. And missing it. Yes. Swindam fan, Nick. I've been listening from the start. This is my number one podcast.

Thank you very much, Nick. Love the insight in all the work needed before you actually commentate. here's something Pat Nevin said in the Chelsea game. He just cut it back into an area there and Somerville's coming on and he hasn't tried to take a touch. He just leathered it, caught it on the volley. So Nick says I can't think of any other sport that would use the term leathered.

So I think that should go into Division 1 and adding to that Hartlepool commentator Mattie has got in touch and says I think Leathered will probably end up in Division 2 as I can imagine a rugby commentator using it to describe a kick for touch during this week. weekends opening round in the Six Nations. Also, immediately after Pat's description of the Somerville goal, John talked about how Chelsea had been to Naples and back for the Champions League.

I can just imagine going to watch the Mafia thriller to Naples and Back at my local cinema. That's very good from Nick. Leathered, I mean, cricket you can't you as well? Yeah. You know, leather, leather. Yeah, leathered it. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely leathered it.

That's definitely Division II. Division II. Diviptoe. How was Matty commented? on leathered, when we've only just mentioned it. Well, he's heard it. He's heard it and thought, that's a term that should go in the glossary, but I think it's going to be div too.

It's just Nathan has knitted, though, so neatly together. It almost sounds like a conversation in a pub. That's just genius production, John. It is, yes. Very good point. Here's a voice note from Becky. Love the podcast. As a West Ham fan with a similarly disappointing FPL team,

it's nice to have something football related that is actually enjoyable this. season. Listening to Steph Horton the other evening, she used the term in the middle of the park while discussing the performance of a midfielder. Obviously, we could all find ourselves in the literal middle of a literal park, but is the middle of the park a metaphorical phrase used exclusively in football commentary? I couldn't think of another sport that uses this. Well, thank you, Becky. That might be Division I. That's a great question that. Would you say in cricket the middle of the park?

I don't think you would because you'd say, you'd then refer to the square, wouldn't you? In the middle of a cricket ground. It's a cricket ground, it's a cricket field. Would you not say he's hit it out of the park? Yes. Yeah, I think the cost is quite like using the sort of the entire field as the park. But playing in the middle of the park is football.

I've got something in my head is I'm hearing Jim Maxwell described the cricket ground as the park. Yeah, but Ian's right, you wouldn't say in the middle of the park. No. You'd hit it out of the park, definitely, no. But also, the other one I know...

They're walking out to the park? No, walks out to the crease, walks out to the middle. Yeah, walks out to the middle. But not the middle of the park. If only we had listeners in Adelaide, they could set us straight on this. But also the other one I always sort of fall back on. here is because it's quite a similar sport is hockey but you don't really play in parks in hockey now

because you play on 4G and and astro so I don't think you would talk about someone playing in the middle of the park I think again we're going to have to rely on our listeners aren't we I think yeah what about baseball could you be in the middle of the park at baseball probably well let's put it into division one and then see what happens yeah yeah talking of baseball maybe rich from Connecticut could get back in touch to to let us know whether they would use such a term in baseball because he says, Hello, gents, love the show. I'm writing this email from 32,000 feet

as I am on a periodic pilgrimage to see the sport I love most and the team I love most, Arsenal. For the glossary, I've seen in the unsorted list in the episode description, 2-0 is a dangerous score. Last weekend, both the Manchester United Fulham game and Tottenham, Manchester City,

showed us that a 2-0 school line is indeed dangerous. Surely that this deserves to be at least Division 2 and personally, I'd vote for Division 1, as I don't know any other sports where it applies, certainly not basketball. 2-0 is a dangerous score. And actually, Chelsea West Ham was 2-0 last weekend as well to West Ham and Chelsea came back to win 3-2.

Probably Division 1? Yeah, I think that might be one of those we put in Div 1. I think people will get in touch. and tell us other sports where 2-0 can be a dangerous score. But I'm not sure I've heard it in other sports. Incidentally, commentating on last weekend, Chelsea West Ham one day and then Tottenham and Manchester City the next day, that was as enjoyable a couple of matches over a Premier League weekend

that I've experienced for some little while, I would say, two matches that were really topsy-turvy, eventful, dramatic, swung one way, then the other. Well, I enjoyed listening to you and obviously on both days, but also, Ali, with you, you had an equally thrilling game at Old Trafford and it was great to hear Steve Bruce alongside you

and you saw some absolute cracking goals too. Yeah, particularly towards the end of the game. The CESCO moment was lovely. I know not everyone loves Manchester United, but the warmth towards him from the Manchester United fans from his teammates, but the fans as well, because they know he's been having a bit of a tough time in front of goal.

And that goal, that last goal, sort of almost happened in slow motion. He took that touch. And then he had, because he's such a big fella, he had to get his body round to be able to hit the shot. And I was thinking, as a commentator, I was thinking he's not going to get there in time. He's not going to get there. Then hit it and then wallop. And you know, the other thing I thought was it was brilliant to have Steve, but I've

never commentated with Steve Bruce. It was lovely to have Steve, but to have Steve Bruce there for a Manchester United win like that. You know, it took me back to him scoring those two late goals against Sheffeyer Wednesday. when they were going for that first Premier League title in 1993. He was a good man to have alongside there. Well, there's pressure now on Ross the Boss, because John, I think you've worked with Steve.

Obviously, Ali has. And I text Steve just say, great to listen to hear you on Five Live. And I've said, we need to work together. He says, you've got to sort it. So Ross, the boss has got to come up with the goods to appease Steve, otherwise we're not going to be happy. By the way, was CESCO a good touch for a big man?

Yes, yes. It was. Yeah. Richard in Norwich says, great question, Richard. Have you discussed the phrase back of the net? Either as part of a sentence or on its own as an exclamation. My partner and I love this phrase and always call it out when a commentator says it, which is pretty much every weekend at some point. It could be used in other sports, but it's definitely a football phrase.

It's impossible to imagine football commentary. Without the phrase, back of the net. We're all going to say that this weekend, don't we now? It's the back of the net. Yeah, it's just, it's so obvious, isn't it? Yeah. Is that not on the list? No, I don't.

We never discussed that before. Yeah, yeah. The other one, did I mention this the other week? It's a classic piece of David Coleman commentary on a Martin Chivers goal when Coleman says, take that one out. Which is also a great phrase. That's probably going to be Division 1, isn't it? Take that one out.

So in summary from the glossary this week, so the ones we've just described, so leathering a shot, we think that's going to be Division 2 there because of use in other sports. But at the moment, in Division 1, we are going to stick, in the middle of the park in there,

we're going to stick 2-0 can be a dangerous score, and back of the net is also going in Division 1. And then if you have issue with that, get in touch, TCV at BBC.com. At the other two, though, John, you just mentioned it. Where are we put, I mean, good touch for a big man. Has to be Division I, surely. Well, do you know, tennis maybe at the net? You know, a sort of stooping volley.

A little half volley. Good touch for a big man. Yeah, it could have it in tennis, maybe. Could have it in tennis. What about stick it in the mixer? Would you say that in a rugby as well, wouldn't it? Yeah, probably. Up it goes, sticking.

Yeah, but is that in the mixer? Because obviously in football, that's putting it in the penalty. area, isn't it? Whereas in rugby, you're just, you're putting it high to put pressure on the full, but I'm not sure you do say stick it in the mixer. I have to ask Chris Jones that. Our rugby union correspondent.

We could discuss it on the latest episode of the rugby union weekly, which has become daily during the Six Nations. Right, that is glossary done and dusted for this week. Hooray! Hooray indeed. Keep the glossary suggestions coming in and remember if you've got a question

for our Q&A special, please send it in to TCV at BBC.com. or as a message or voice note on WhatsApp to 08,289-389-369. By the way, John, I had one very quick last question for you for this episode, which is my own Q&A. Listening to you, and we've all been in this situation plenty of times,

on Wednesday night, Manchester City scored the first goal of the game, their 3-0-up, the ties effectively over, and quite quickly it was. what's your sort of strategy when a game go the jeopardy has gone you've got to keep commentating on what you're seeing but you've got to keep it interesting as well do you have any particular techniques for that

or do you just go with the flow well I think that was one where I was kind of prepared for that eventuality and so you're right I had given a bit of thought to where we might go with this and I think that's very much where you summariser comes into play isn't it as well

and so I had Michael naughty Michael Brown alongside me for that match. So, you know, I know that he's going to keep things rolling along, isn't he? And in actual fact, I saw before the match, Sam Matterface was there commentating for Talk Sport on the same match. And I said this, we both said the same thing. What we do not want here is a goal in the first 10 minutes. We've both said that to one another.

And I said, this will definitely happen tonight. says you're going to score in the first 10 minutes. Sure enough, Marmush, seventh minute, scores. So it's not like we suddenly thought, oh my goodness, this is now all over. I think the thing is, though, now is that we work with the same sort of like pundits, more or less week in, week out, so they know what to expect. But I had always, if I was working with somebody for the first time, I would say to them, listen, if this game's dull and there's not a great deal happening,

then don't be surprised. I might meander off down a certain avenue and feel free to take the Mickey. You know, I'm not precious like that. Because I often think that if you do get a bit of a duff game, you've still got to make it as entertaining as possible for the listener, haven't you? Even though you're thinking, blimey,

this is going to be tough now. You've still got to make it as engaging as you possibly can. I'll tell you another thing, because the day before, when I was preparing for the match, I was actually listening to Matt Chorley's program when Steve Rosenberg was on as a guest and they did a Q&A for about 20 minutes with Steve Rosenberg, which was fascinating.

And as I was listening to that, this was off the back of the program, which I've not watched yet, which I've been recommended highly. It's brilliant. Yeah, about Steve's job in Moscow. Yeah. So in answer to your question,

the day before, I was thinking, if Manchester City scored this early goal, I'm going to talk about this. which I did. Yeah. One thing I actually do as well is, you know, we all have our different ways of laying out our match notes, but in the top right corner of,

so I'll have two sheets of paper in front of me. One is squad list and the other one is sort of match notes on the matchup and the two teams. But on the top right of that, I will write down talking points. And particularly talking points, you might not get through all of them, but like you saying,

depending on who you're working with, oh, I must ask them about that. Sometimes particularly Saturday 3 o'clock, you don't have time ever to get there. But I just quite like having it as a backup. But the other key thing, I guess, is, well, I know is, the danger is while you're meandering and wandering and Q&Aing and, you know, exploring stories, you still, you can't, even if the game's dead, you can't afford to miss action.

You've still got to keep your eye on the game and keep commenting because people want the game as well, don't they? Yes. Anyway, anyway, next episode's Q&A. I don't know why I did it at the end of this episode. That is it for this episode of the Football Daily. the next one will be the football interview with Granite Jaka. And remember, you can find each and every episode of the commentator's view by scrolling down your Football Daily Feet.

I was annoyed about actually this week. I took ages putting Sutton together this week for our pod. And I quite enjoyed it. So my one was countries that Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland have played against in major tournaments, so in World Cups or Euros. about 45 answers and you go back at the games or whatever. And then really annoyingly, for whatever reason, I missed out Republic of Ireland at World Cup 2002.

So Luke, who was playing, said Cameroon. I said, no, that's a wrong answer. And then loads of people have, you know, I put about an hour and a half's working to put in that list together. Miss one. He says the one I missed. And Sutton's going to have an absolute field day. Did Dave say the Ghana? Five lines.

sports. The Six Nations. Rugby's greatest championship. What a day of the Six Nations it's been. Live commentary of every match on BBC Sounds. I don't think he has to try. Just a stunning score. One of the all-time great tries. The Rugby and a weekly podcast will be daily throughout the tournament with all the best insight and analysis and the biggest names in the game. The Six Nations. Listen on BBC Sounds.