Good morning. After the mass walkout of on-air talent that followed Gary Lineker’s suspension, the BBC’s football coverage has become the televisual equivalent of “eat turnips”: a farcical symbol of things not working properly which some on the right are doggedly trying to repurpose as bloody great news for Britain.
Shorn of theme tune, commentary, analysis, interviews or context, Saturday’s Match of the Day and last night’s Match of the Day 2 made you feel a bit like you were watching an Adam Curtis documentary on mute, or maybe this 107-minute Sam Taylor-Wood video of David Beckham sleeping: mesmerising, certainly, but totally incomprehensible, and definitely not something you’d be up for weekly. As Jack Seale’s one star review makes clear, this was totally obvious to anyone who likes football.
