The great ITV own goal- Cup howler was inexcusable says chairman Grade
06 Feb 2009 - 10:16:55
Michael Grade puffed on his expensive cheroot, appeared in front of the cameras and declared his channel's latest FA Cup cock-up was 'inexcusable'. Give that man another cigar.
He frowned, looked suitably contrite and used the sort of language you'd expect to hear from an executive chairman (aren't all chairmen executives?) as he tried to dig his ITV out of an embarrassing hole.
Missed moment: Gosling scores Everton goal, unbeknown to many viewers
He had little choice but to face up to the mistakes. But the word he used - inexcusable - had added significance this time round and resonated far beyond the confines of this particularly calamity on Merseyside.
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For what has been truly inexcusable has been the manner in which ITV have often covered the FA Cup this season. Their programmes have been littered with editorial clangers unimaginable from Sky or the BBC.
No broadcaster is ever perfect. People constantly make errors; the wrong button is pressed, a poor camera angle chosen, the autocue fails. Stuff happens. It's the nature of the industry and the unpredictability is one of the reasons why we find live sport so compelling.
Sorry: ITV boss Michael Grade appears on ITV's Lunchtime News to apologise to football fans
Obviously, disappearing into an advertising break at the exact moment Everton claimed their winner in the Merseyside derby was just a monumental error.
The game had ploughed on for 118 minutes and, having been bored by the teams' tactics, it was an affront to then be staring at Tic Tacs when the night's only genuinely exciting incident occurred. Some 7.3million people, open-mouthed in horror, stabbed at their remotes to check they hadn't done something daft, only to erupt with obscenities that actor Christian Bale would hesitate to use on set when the picture was restored and Everton's players were celebrating.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Should ITV be kicked out of the Cup
Even mid-curse, it was hard not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Steve Rider and Andy Townsend as they tried to make amends for mistakes made elsewhere, wearing the expressions of men who were in front of a firing squad.
ITV then went to more ads, only to return midway through an interview with goalscorer Dan Gosling. At least I think it was him; it was hard to tell through the fog of a steamed-up lens. So not only did we miss his goal, we missed his account of it too. The shambles concluded with ITV's logo sitting on screen like the test card for what seemed like an eternity, before it cut to the late-night news that was also already under way.
What you saw it: ITV displayed this Tic-Tac advert during the crucial minute when Everton scored a last-gasp winning goal against Liverpool
The farce was so excruciating it was almost funny. But while one night of FA Cup catastrophe is certainly excusable, ITV's FA Cup coverage has often been something of a joke.
There must be a reason for this; one with a solution more complicated than blaming bad luck, or staging a witchhunt for the bloke who forgot to reset the button on Wednesday.
The ramifications: A quick apology - but the damage will take a lot longer to repair
The broadcast view: A bad night for Liverpool ... an even worse one for ITV
The armchair view: ITV's mistake to beat them all
Your round-by-round guide to how ITV ruined your FA Cup viewing
ITV are FA muppets - Sportsmail's roll of shame for Cup broadcaster
Alan Fraser's screen test: ITV's pathetic highlights ended in a triffick jam
VIDEO: ITV broadcast 117 mins of turgid, goalless football then show adverts instead of Everton's glorious winner against rivals Liverpool
JOIN THE DEBATE - Are ITV unfit to broadcast the Cup?
They have excellent professionals in front of the camera and behind the microphone too, yet their efforts are being undermined by a lack of leadership, and a cost-cutting culture designed to breed mistakes. While the parameters for their Champions League coverage are set in stone by UEFA, the commercial broadcaster can cut corners in the FA Cup. That caused mayhem in the third round as ITV tried to double-guess where the shocks would be to save cash, only to practically ignore the upsets when their gambles failed, most notably as Nottingham Forest won 3-0 at Manchester City, the richest club in the world.
That's rich: Nottingham Forest's Nathan Tyson celebrates scoring against Manchester City but the Cup upset was practically ignored by ITV
When Swansea City knocked out holders Portsmouth in the shock of the fourth round, ITV appeared to have filmed it with a wobbly hand-held Betamax machine. Footage of the JFK assassination had better production values.
This had all followed on from a chaotic second-round clash between Histon and Leeds that was almost impossible to see because of rain, where naked players danced in shot inside the dressing room, and the crowd's deafening chant of 'ITV is f****** s***' was broadcast to the nation. Everyone's a critic these days, it seems.
Grade called the Mersey derby fiasco 'an unprecedented technical error'. I can only assume he never bothered to watch his channel's Formula One coverage. The excellent commentary team were constantly undermined by random advertising breaks.
Whoops! Steve Rider apologised three times for the 'technical difficulties' which meant viewers missed the winning goal of the game
We have gone way beyond the point where we are grateful for whatever sport is on our screens. The high-definition coverage that BBC and Sky serve up these days is astounding.
ITV have to match that investment and meet those standards - or give up. They have to support the talent they already have, not cut corners and hope nobody notices. There's certainly little point harping on about the 'Magic of the FA Cup', then covering it like a biggest vegetable show at some local garden fete.
Speaking of which, no media outlet can profess to be perfect, as I have said already. Last Sunday, for instance, 97.7 million Americans were glued to one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever when an Arizona station cut from the live action to pornographic footage of a man and a woman engaging in what was described as 'an unspeakably graphic act'.
I assume they were doing what ITV is currently in danger of doing to the FA Cup. Only there weren't as many complaints.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Should ITV be kicked out of the Cup
The ramifications: A quick apology - but the damage will take a lot longer to repair
The broadcast view: A bad night for Liverpool ... an even worse one for ITV
The armchair view: ITV's mistake to beat them all
Your round-by-round guide to how ITV ruined your FA Cup viewing
ITV are FA muppets - Sportsmail's roll of shame for Cup broadcaster
Alan Fraser's screen test: ITV's pathetic highlights ended in a triffick jam
VIDEO: ITV broadcast 117 mins of turgid, goalless football then show adverts instead of Everton's glorious winner against rivals Liverpool
JOIN THE DEBATE - Are ITV unfit to broadcast the Cup?
