Jump to content

Radio Aberdeen


Recommended Posts

Saturday afternoon matches: Kilmarnock Ross County with the away team under new management and desperate for points), 2 local derbies with Motherwell fighting for top 6 v relegation battling Hamilton and Dundee v St Johnstone with loser sucked into the relegation fight. Plenty of interest there? Not if you are Radio Scotland. The Radio Scotland Aberdeen appreciation society once again picked the Aberdeen match as the place to broadcast open all mikes from. One off misjudgment? Not at all. These are the guys who  think that all listeners want to hear each week is Richard Gordon talking to Willie "at this moment in time Miller" about "wer" team. 

Expect Radio Scotland will look to add Rob Maclean (Aberdeen fan) to the team for Tuesday night. Hopefully the full compliment of Aberdeen fan presenter, commentator and summariser will be enough to guard against the media West Coast bias - for one night at least. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 12:51 PM, Fankle said:

Rob MacLean is a Ross County fan.  Liam MacLeod is a Don though.

 

 

Rob MacLean is a self confessed Aberdeen Fan - although he comes from Dingwall.  Very common to have a Highland League team and support the Dons. No problem with that - it just would be good to see Radio Scotland attempt a bit of balance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is what I said about Radio Scotland's coverage of 10 March -

"Saturday afternoon matches: Kilmarnock Ross County (with the away team under new management and desperate for points), 2 local derbies with Motherwell fighting for top 6 v relegation battling Hamilton and Dundee v St Johnstone with loser sucked into the relegation fight. Plenty of interest there? Not if you are Radio Scotland. The Radio Scotland Aberdeen appreciation society once again picked the Aberdeen match as the place to broadcast open all mikes from. One off misjudgment? Not at all. These are the guys who  think that all listeners want to hear each week is Richard Gordon talking to Willie "at this moment in time Miller" about "wer" team. "

This was followed by their coverage of the cup tie on Tuesday. First 20 minutes solid Aberdeen chat between Richard Gordon and Willie Miller.  In fairness Billy Dodds did try and get a word in about Kilmarnock but they were having none of it.

Fast forward to this Saturday (17th March). In fairness to BBC Scotland because the new paranoiacs won't allow them into Ibrox they could not have the game of the day being Rangers Kilmarnock.  Not really a problem because that honour clearly went to the 6 pointer between County and Hamilton? Not according to Radio Scotland.  How about Hearts fighting for top 6 v relegation threatened Thistle? No - wrong again.

Commentary game, and the base for open all mikes, was of course Aberdeen Dundee. By far and away the most meaningless game of the day. Even if they genuinely thought that there was not a stand out game surely someone at the BBC should have suggested that maybe in the interests of variety, and given the remote possibility some non Aberdeen fans still listen, it would have made sense not to have yet another Aberdeen game as the main feature.  Fat chance.

In fairness they did make mention of the Kilmarnock score. Richard Gordon pointed out that it was a "great result for Aberdeen". 

It is a real shame that one of the best football shows ever is now an Aberdeen fans forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 18/03/2018 at 3:34 PM, Wrangodog said:

How was it Miller described Aberdeen's penalty equaliser on Tuesday ?  "A magnificent penalty", it's a penalty ffs.

And described a tap-in by Shinnie as "Captain Courageous has scored!"

There is clearly an issue here with BBC Scotland but this isn't the right board to discuss it on - this for Scotland matters.

 

Edited by Lroy
Didn't even notice what forum it was in. Moved.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

As we know Radio Scotland is no longer even trying to keep up an appearance of unbiased coverage of Scottish Football on Saturday afternoons. Sportsound remains little more than an Aberdeen fans forum. 

Yet again yesterday the commentary game featured Aberdeen (the Hearts match). Needless to say open all mikes came from Tynecastle too. You might think the only real issue of interest to the neutral supporters is the relegation battle. Obviously the fate of County and Thistle is nothing compared to what Radio Scotland have decided is the only issue that matters - namely the battle for 2nd place as long as the battle of the also rans looks like being won by Aberdeen.

I know that I have gone on about this before and the issue was been highlighted far better by David McBeth and others following the farcical unbalanced coverage of the quarter final but this is still a complete joke.

If you were really interested in Aberdeen you would have been listening to the commentary. This should leave open all mikes to focus on the other games including the two that really mattered (Thistle and County). Try telling that to Richard Gordon and Willie Miller. The only saving grace was Willie's anguish at Heart's second goal. How could they do this to "wer" team. I fear that "at this moment in time" Willie is not in a happy place.

On the upside stats don’t lie.  Obviously we are going to focus on the remarkable stats for KFC including the best winning run in the SPL but spare a glance at the Aberdeen stats. Apart from one regrettable exception Aberdeen are not that good against fellow top 6 teams especially those who are in the same orbit when it comes to budget.  What they are good at is getting results from the bottom 6 where they can rely on their superior resources. The post-split fixtures might not be happy ones for the Dons. I wonder how quickly the importance of 2nd place will be to Richard and Willie if Aberdeen are looking at 4th at best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I texted this to Sportsound yesterday:

"Question: why does the BBC pay Willie Miller to follow Aberdeen around the country, eg Motherwell and Kilmarnock, when you have more local commentators? He is either cock-a-hoop because they are winning or morose because - like today - they are getting a beating. Why not have an impartial commentator? Why pay him to be a fan with a mic? Basically, why not just get him tae feck?!"

Most of the Sportsound guys have their allegiances which they don't try too hard to hide but only Miller seems to cover every single Dons match. On the rare occasion when he goes to a non-Dons match, eg St Johnstone v. Killie, he's so bored that he hardly bothers to engage.

Allan Preston is a big Hearts man and he seemed to be peeved that he was not at Tynecastle yesterday and had little to say about what was, admittedly, a tame affair at Perth.

It is like John Barnes covering Killie every week. Even we would get fed up sooner or later with one-sided coverage and that's what it's like with Miller. Throw in the anchorman being a Dons fanatic too, and it's beyond a joke. However, Richard Gordon is generally very good and fair, in his defence.

I complained to the BBC after the cup-tie and have so far have only had a reply apologising for the time it is taking to investigate.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, skygod said:

I texted this to Sportsound yesterday:

"Question: why does the BBC pay Willie Miller to follow Aberdeen around the country, eg Motherwell and Kilmarnock, when you have more local commentators? He is either cock-a-hoop because they are winning or morose because - like today - they are getting a beating. Why not have an impartial commentator? Why pay him to be a fan with a mic? Basically, why not just get him tae feck?!"

 

Brilliant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, skygod said:

Allan Preston is a big Hearts man and he seemed to be peeved that he was not at Tynecastle yesterday and had little to say about what was, admittedly, a tame affair at Perth.

Cant stand Preston, but to be fair he has a soft spot for St J as well, since he was there for a period of time. When him and Alex Rae done the Killie-Dundee 3-2 game I was pulling my hair out as they were both torture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think skygod is spot on. The others may have allegiances but they do engage with other teams whereas Willie "at this moment in time" Miller has no interest in anything not Aberdeen related.  Willie’s is also no great  broadcaster so when he is bored god help the rest of us . 


 

There was a time when Richard Gordon used to be a good broadcaster but now all he wants to do is chat about all matters Aberdeen with Willie.  Fortunately for Richard and Willie the BBC are very happy to fund their obsession with paid for trips to see the Dons most Saturdays.


 

Not only is this deathly dulll for the rest of us - it is not even insightful from an Aberdeen fans’ perspective. The true Aberdeen fan is worried about the fact they could go the next 5 league games without a win given their record against the top 6.  Willie and Richard would never suggest such heresy. Instead they inhabit a world where the likes of Rangers somehow manage to “raise their game" against Aberdeen but are clearly not so fussed about the remaining teams in the league.

We can safely assume Willie and Richard will be covering Saturday’s semi final with the wider BBC Aberdeen fan club in tow.  If they are lucky Motherwell might get a mention but don’t expect them to get a look in for the first hour or so of the coverage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally received a reply:

"Thank you for getting in touch about Sportsound and I am sorry it has taken this length of time to reply. Your comments were passed to the Sport team.

They do not agree that the comments of Chick Young and Willie Miller were disrespectful to Steve Clarke or Kilmarnock Football Club. Given the success Mr Clarke has had at Kilmarnock it is reasonable to speculate about other clubs being interested him.

In the last few months we have frequently praised Mr Clarke and the job he is doing at Kilmarnock. Speculation linking him to Rangers was one that was bound to be discussed given that Saturday’s result and the fact that Graeme Murty is in temporary charge. We had previously discussed him as a possible Scotland manager candidate. I think this reflects the job he has done. You are right to point out that Mr Clarke has distanced himself from speculation and we have carried these interviews on our programmes."

No surprise really. Young wasn't speculating about other clubs being interested in Clarke - he said that the Rangers board should tap him up, effectively.

Discussing speculation is one thing but the Sportsound mob seemed to be actively starting and promoting the speculation.

 

Edit - By the way, the comment by Willie Miller which was not, apparently, disrespectful was that Kilmarnock winning at Ibrox just shouldn't happen.

Maybe he was confusing us with Aberdeen...

 

Edited by skygod
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well at least you tried but the BBC go into defensive mode if criticised. Remember these guys are still quite happy to allow Allan Green to comment on Liverpool games so I suppose those who expect a degree of balance and neutrality are seen as naive. Any response to the query re “At this moment in time”  Miller being funded to travel the country to give his ever insightful comments wherever “wer” team happens to be playing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/04/2018 at 1:43 PM, Radio Doctor said:

I think skygod is spot on. The others may have allegiances but they do engage with other teams whereas Willie "at this moment in time" Miller has no interest in anything not Aberdeen related.  Willie’s is also no great  broadcaster so when he is bored god help the rest of us . 

 


 

There was a time when Richard Gordon used to be a good broadcaster but now all he wants to do is chat about all matters Aberdeen with Willie.  Fortunately for Richard and Willie the BBC are very happy to fund their obsession with paid for trips to see the Dons most Saturdays.

 


 

Not only is this deathly dulll for the rest of us - it is not even insightful from an Aberdeen fans’ perspective. The true Aberdeen fan is worried about the fact they could go the next 5 league games without a win given their record against the top 6.  Willie and Richard would never suggest such heresy. Instead they inhabit a world where the likes of Rangers somehow manage to “raise their game" against Aberdeen but are clearly not so fussed about the remaining teams in the league.

We can safely assume Willie and Richard will be covering Saturday’s semi final with the wider BBC Aberdeen fan club in tow.  If they are lucky Motherwell might get a mention but don’t expect them to get a look in for the first hour or so of the coverage.

To be fair to the BBC I think they desperately try to hold on to any employees who have not been named in Operation Yewtree. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...