There were no words. Which was apt in its own way, because when people can’t speak freely, there often aren’t. There were noises, the sound of various crowds. But there was not even the most iconic theme tune in sports broadcasting. Which is just as well, because this wasn’t Match of the Day. It was a 20-minute highlights package stitched together, looking like the kind of cheap production of goals from a second-rate European league that was waiting for some interchangeable, inoffensive song to be added on before it was broadcast.
Six days after Match of the Day 2 showed an historic low for Manchester United, Match of the Day was a historic low for Match of the Day. The most successful club ever in the English league suffered their heaviest defeat for 91 years last Sunday but the most iconic show in British football broadcasting is in the greatest crisis in its history. No presenter, no pundits, no analysis, no interviews and no commentators. There was less of the actual football, little of the feel or the fun. Instead, anyone who had missed the news the programme had been shortened and tuned in a little late was greeted by Sully, a film about avoiding a plane crash. It might not have been the cleverest of choices: not after the BBC’s car crash of a week.
