Football League Tonight
| Football on 5 | |
|---|---|
| Presented by |
George Riley Lynsey Hipgrave |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 42 |
| Production | |
| Running time | Various |
| Production company(s) | Sunset + Vine Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 5 |
| Picture format | 16:9 1080i |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 8 August 2015 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Football League Show (BBC One) |
Football on 5: The Championship / Football on 5: Goal Rush is a football highlights show on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. The show covers the English Football League, the EFL Cup and the EFL Trophy.
Background
Channel 5 regularly covered football from its launch in 1997, including the Scottish League Cup, Serie A, the UEFA Europa League and international football, but Football on 5 had been off air for three years after losing the rights to the Europa League. In May 2015 Channel 5 won the rights to broadcast highlights for the Football League and the Football League Cup from the 2015–16 in a three-year deal. The contract succeeded the BBC's six-year coverage of the league with the Football League Show and gave Channel 5 their first foray into English domestic league football. The highlights show was agreed to be broadcast at 21:00, around an hour and a half before the typical Match Of The Day slot; previously the BBC had shown the Football League Show after Match of the Day.[1]
Presenters and pundits
For the 2015/2016 season, George Riley and Kelly Cates from BBC Radio 5 Live were chosen to be the presenters of the show. Cates had also worked on football coverage for ITV Sport, ESPN UK and talksport, whilst Riley has worked for BBC TV and radio on coverage of rugby league, football, darts and snooker. Both hosted coverage of the Football League, with Cates presenting League Cup highlights alone.
A number of commentators are used for the programme, the main one being Paul Walker, who produces commentary for the Pitch International World Feed, who also worked for BBC on the Football League Show. Other commentators include Paul Farrar, Dan O'Hagan, Martin Fisher and John Roder. Channel 5 also use Sky Sports commentators for their match highlight coverage such as Bill Leslie and Daniel Mann. Match reporters include Dave Beckett, Sue Thearle, Adam Lockwood, Tom Skippings and Matt Williams.
The show has a mixture of former players and managers as pundits; Adam Virgo is the most frequent pundit having appeared on both Cup and League highlights shows. Other pundits that have worked on the show are Michael Gray, Mark Bright, Gus Poyet, Alex McLeish, Jamie Cureton, Clinton Morrison and Karl Robinson.
For the 2016/2017 EFL season, George Riley will host for the second season running, this season alongside Lynsey Hipgrave, from BBC Radio 5 Live's Danny Baker Show and BT Sport, as the presenters of the new look show, which returns with the name Football on 5 (The Championship / Goal Rush, depending upon which portion of the show it is).
Paul Walker will return to commentary duties of the featured Saturday match not broadcast by Sky Sports. Bill Leslie, Daniel Mann and Gary Weaver will also return as commentators (from the Sky Sports live matches broadcast).
Criticism
In the first few weeks of Football League Tonight the show was criticised for trying to be different from the previous BBC highlights programme, with the main grievance being the running order which started in the Championship, went to League One and back to the Championship before showing League Two, and the audience, who were not liked, alongside showing the league tables on spin-round placards instead of on-screen graphics. However, for the second half of the season, the audience was removed, and Riley and Cates hosted from the sofa, with the guests sat opposite them, while the tables were changed to said on-screen graphical displays.[2]
References
- ↑ "Channel 5 win Football League". The Football League. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
- ↑ "Football League Tonight Criticised". Daily Mail. Daily Mail. Retrieved 2015-10-30.