Fox Football Fone-In

All I know is if Nick uses that line calling FSC "the only channel you need" like he did on FFF, considering what FSC has divested over the past year, I think I will gag.

 

Like most of what FSC dishes up these days, I'll be giving this a miss.

 

"No soccer subject will be taboo. While there will be a high degree of focus on the Barclays English Premier League, fans will also have the opportunity to comment on Major League Soccer, the U.S. National Team, European leagues and tournaments, the rumors, the scandals, and much more."


No soccer subject will be taboo? Didn't they almost trash MLS and the USMNT in FFF? I didn't see it this week, but hopefully they won't over-promote their weekend EPL schedule.

 

You didn't miss it yet...the first Tuesay show will be tonight. If a subject is taboo, that means they won't discuss it. They will discuss the MLS, but they happen to feel that some facets of MLS are "rubbish" and they say so. I, however, can come up with a taboo soccer subject: FSC reduced coverage, especially compared to GOLTV.

 

FFF should be about English soccer only. It is the best original show that FSC has made. Fox Football Friday used to give you the feel you were in an English pub.

I really wish FSC could do a show like Soccer AM on Sky. That show is so fun. Hot gals, funny soccer clips, the catwalk, the crossbar challenge, goofing off and making soccer fun.

 

Just missed the question before the 8:14et break. Did someone mention something about Setanta?

 

Wow this show is a complete change from Fox Football Friday. No English pub, no Irish guy, no people chatting in the background, no cool highlights showing on LCD tvs in behind Nick.

Some caller was nuts asking about a betting scandal in the World Cup. What a nutter.

I really would like to have the old show back. It was much livelier and when the people sitting over to the side where they ask Steven and Nick a question because that way I felt I wasn't the only one watching it.

I don't know if this is an attempt to try and attract their fans from radio into watching FSC, or if the bar scene didn't get good ratings, all I know is I will miss coming in late from the high school American football game and sitting down to watch FFF.

 

Yeah the guy was a Man U supporter and he said he heard a "rumor" that there would be no Man U games on FSC this year. The lads clearly didn't know the definitive answer so they faked it and said "of course there will be Man U games on FSC this year, it just depends on the schedule."

Then the guy said something to the effect that why wouldn't Man U have more of a presence considering it is the most supported team in the world.

To that the lads said, "I think Real Madrid would beg to differ."

Honestly, I thought the caller had a point. Man U us certainly the most-supporterd EPL team in the world and FSC doesn't have a huge contract with La Liga.

 

I think that it needs to be more like the radio show (though I haven't heard that much) discussing all sorts of leagues. The guys are still a bit slow on discussing things besides the EPL and I don't know if it's going to work unless they're better prepared.

 

Ways to make FFF better:

1) Go back to more jerseys. Show more than just the red and blue of Chelsea and Liverpool. FSC calls this a taboo... all soccer, yet they show only two of the top 4 in the EPL.

2) Cut the stupid jokes. It is almost as if the producers have forced Nick and Steven into cutting jokes (that aren't funny) and digging under each other's skin. Nick always jokes about Steven being a Chelsea fan, that used to be cool but now it gets old. I dunno how many times he brings Robben into the convo.

3) Weed out the stupid callers. What idiot put that guy who claimed the matches in the world cup were fixed on the air? Don't they have any control over who gets on the air or could I call up and yell **** Chelsea?

4) Get the Irish guy back. He was actually funny.

5) Go back to taking calls mainly about the EPL. The lads both only know a wee bit about Serie A and La Liga.

 

I had a feeling that FFF, with a 2-hour slot on a Tuesday night and a sterile radio booth set, would start off as a "work in progress".

As it stands now, the new FFF needs a LOT of work.

 

I like it more as their radio show on TV. The old TV show it seemed like it was way too forced. The Premiership preview every week was pretty useless. We all knew the games and who would most likely win once the matchups were shown, so discussing the news of the week is a lot better.

 

FFF sucked and this show show does too. These guys are dolts; I changed the channel every friday night and now I'll do it every night these dumbasses are on, total waste of time.

I can get the same info from FSW Report and Sky Sports, why should I get it from a couple of California Englishmen who claim to talk about "football from around the world" but know diddly-squat about MLS or any league in this hemisphere.

FSC, can these guys already.

 

"The lads" do business with both Setanta and FSC regularly.

Of course "the lads" have known about the Setanta/FSC EPL alliance for months.

And "the lads" are correct. The Man Utd-Arsenal grudge match on September 17 at 11am ET/8pm PT will be LIVE on FSC. The Man Utd-Tottenham match on September 9 at 12:15pm ET/9:15am PT will be LIVE on FSC as well.

The Liverpool fans who are stuck with cable are the ones who should be bitching and moaning, as Setanta has EVERY Liverpool EPL game through October 22 because of scheduling quirks.

 

Yes, but at least those with Gol TV catch the games on delay on LFC.TV (unless they're pre-empted by the Joan Gamper Trophy).

With MUTV also exclusive to Setanta, Man U fans without Setanta will be SOL on a number of weekends this season.

 

I thought the show was pretty good compared to Fox Football Friday. As others on here have mentioned, I always thought on Fox Football Friday Nick and Steven were trying to rush things and cram everything into a small period of time.

In this new show, they seem to give the callers more time to talk and in turn they themselves are given more time to talk and respond to the caller.

The show is not perfect and while these two may not know everything about every league, I like the fact that Fox Soccer Channel is trying. Shows like these are much, much better than FC Fox or any of those other ridiculous shows they try to put on.

Over time this show I think will get better and better. It is easy to be the armchair quarterback and say they should have done this or that, but the bottom line is that these two do a much better job with this show than the one from the past two seasons. I will be watching it.

 

if I wanted to listen to their radio show I would. And sometimes i do, I don't need to listen to them do the same type of show again at night. If FSC needed a call in show they should have used other hosts as it is really a repeat of what you hear on their afternoon show.

they should give the lads FFF back, or some other type of orignal programming, they deserve their own show, but this format is old.

 

This show is so close to being a PTI ripoff at this point that they may as well just go ahead and incorporate elements of that show into Footie Fone in, it could work wonders. Using more e-mails rather than strictly call ins would help avoid time-wasting interludes like that 'world cup betting scandal' crackpot's call (then again, it isn't called 'fone in' for nothing).

And maybe quickly running down the main issues of the week in more of a listed, time-constrained format would make the show more watchable. I love 'the lads' at times and find them really entertaining, but when they get into their chelski / scouse pissing matches, I generally tune out.

I think a third voice in their 'booth' might help things along as well. That's what's good about Goltv's 'American Soccer'... THere's usually a third voice to prod the show back on course if it's flailing.

 

I think that's in the works. Bobby McMahon's appearance on FFF was the most universally acclaimed show last year. There appears to be room at the table for a third seat.

Of course, my dream show is still Ray Hudson, Tommy Smyth, and Bobby McMahon. But that's just me.

 

I was as skeptical as anyone about their knowledge of MLS, but I was actually impressed by the amount and quality of the MLS discussion last night. I'd say at least 1/3 of the show was about US football, and they hit a few current-event-type topics on the head, or at least one of the 2 guys did, while the other brought up a decent counter-argument:

- Why relegation will never, ever work, and for good reason.
- Why a single table would help the regualr season actually mean something.
- Why EJ, Duece, etc have a right to be pissed about the rejected transfers.
- Why the Beckham rule is only a "4-5 game" short-term solution.
- Why attendance is so asstastic at MLS games.
- Why Arena's move to Red Bull was a step backward.

What more did you want them to discuss about the league exactly?

This show is more of a discussion, where as FFF was them talking at us. Improvement, I'd say.

 

On another MLS note, on their radio show yesterday they stated they were talking to the Revs to lineup an interview with Clint Dempsey. And they said the Revs were not standing in their way about it, so if Clint wants to, he can be on their show.

 

Yes, but then FSC would have to shell out for subtitles.

 

Formations, coaches, players, totally unsubstantiated rumors. You know, the kind of thing that shows them experts and not amateurs when it comes to the EPL.

 

I liked it. And they did not bash MLS. In fact, they brought up some good points. Some I agreed with and others I didn't. Overall a pretty good show.