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Football Daily

The Commentators’ View: Spygate, Munchgate & VAR

Football Daily

BBC

Soccer, Sports

4.34.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball talk Spygate, VAR and look ahead to the FA Cup Final. There’s Clash of the Commentators controversy as ‘CAS’ gets in touch. There are more unintended pub names from sport commentary and suggestions for the Great Glossary of Football Commentary. Messages, questions and voicenotes welcome on WhatsApp to 08000 289 369 & emails to TCV@bbc.co.uk

01:00 Ali been to Scotland for the title race, 03:15 ‘They need to strip back VAR’, 07:55 The return of the Reeces, 10:30 An ABBA earworm from Herr Chapman? 13:50 5 Live commentaries this weekend, 14:55 FA Cup Final date ‘not as it should be’, 18:05 Unintended pub names from commentary, 19:10 Spygate allegations discussion, 29:20 Munchgate reaches a conclusion… 33:55 Can Ian respond in Clash of the Commentators? 40:30 Great Glossary of Football Commentary.

5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Sat 1230 Celtic v Hearts, Sat 1500 Man City v Chelsea in FA Cup Final, Sun 1500 Leeds v Brighton, Sun 1500 Brentford v Crystal Palace on Sports Extra, Sun 1730 Newcastle v West Ham.

Great Glossary of Football Commentary: DIVISION ONE 50p head Agricultural challenge, Back of the net, Back to square one, Backside and elbows, Booked, Bosman, Bullet header, Channel of joy, Coupon buster, Cruyff Turn, Cultured/educated left foot, Dead-ball specialist, Draught excluder, Elastico/flip-flap, False nine, Fox in the box, Giving the goalkeeper the eyes, Grub hunter, Head like a biscuit tin, Head like a sheriff’s badge, Head tennis, Hibs it, In a good moment, In behind, Lollipop, Magic of the FA Cup, Managerless X, The Maradona, Off their line, Olimpico, Onion bag, Panenka, Parachute payment, Park the bus, Perfect hat-trick, Postage stamp, Put his cap on it, Rabona, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Schmeichel-style, Scorpion kick, Spursy, Stick it in the mixer, Sweeper keeper, Taking it to the corner flag, Target man, Tiki-taka, Towering header, Trivela, Where the kookaburra sleeps, Where the owl sleeps, Where the spiders sleep. DIVISION TWO 2-0 can be a dangerous score, Asterisk, Back on the grass, Ball stays hit, Banana skin, Beaten all ends up, Blaze over the bar, Business end, Came down with snow on it, Catching practice, Camped in the opposition half, Cauldron atmosphere, Champagne is on ice, Coat is on a shoogly peg, Come back to haunt them, Corridor of uncertainty, Couldn’t sort their feet out, Easy tap-in, Daisy-cutter, Drop zone, Drubbing, First cab off the rank, Giant-killing, Goalkeepers’ Union, Going down in installments, Good leave, Good touch for a big man, Half-time in the tie, Half-turn, Has that in his locker, High wide and not very handsome, Hospital pass, Howler, In the dugout, In the hat, In their pocket, Johnny on the spot, Lackadaisical, Leading the line, Leather a shot, Mazy run, Middle of the park, Needed no second invitation, Needing snookers, Nice headache to have, No-look pass, Nutmeg, On the beach, On their bike, One for the cameras, One for the purists, Piledriver*, Played us off the park, Points on the board, Points to the spot, Prawn sandwich brigade, Purple patch, Put their laces through it, Queensbury rules, Reaches for their pocket, Relegation six-pointer, Rolls Royce, Root and branch review, Row Z, Screamer, Seats on the plane, Sent into raptures, Show across the bows, Sleeping giant, Slide-rule pass, Staving off relegation, Steal a march, Sting the palms, Straight in the bread basket, Stramash, Taking one for the team, Telegraphed that pass, Tired legs, That’s great… (football), Thunderous strike, Tricky winger, Turning into a cricket score, Turns on a sixpence, Twisted blood, Walk it in, We’ve got a cup tie on our hands, We were right behind that, Yo-yo club.

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:06.9

Before you jump into your BBC podcasts, I want to tell you more about news podcasts on BBC sounds,

0:12.9

whether you want to keep on top of the latest news.

0:15.3

There's a lot of questions still about how on earth it really all happened.

0:18.8

Or go in depth on the stories behind the headlines.

0:21.0

How should politics respond to this smartphone-led world?

0:23.9

From global events to current affairs at home.

0:26.4

It's head spinning.

0:27.7

The BBC has a wide range of news podcasts to help you make sense of it all.

0:32.2

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:34.4

The commentator's view on the Football Daily with Alistair Bruce Ball, John Murray and Ian Dennis.

0:42.0

Hello, this is the Football Daily.

0:43.8

I'm Alistair Bruce Ball.

0:45.0

This is the commentators view where we five live commentators talk about the football, the places it takes us, and the words we use to describe the beautiful game as a very exciting season,

0:55.8

home and abroad, is coming towards a close. The World Cup on the way as well. John Murray,

1:01.5

Ian Dennis are both here as we all were chaps on Tuesday night live on the wireless with

1:08.5

Frow Kate, who you got me in a spot of bother with, didn't you at the start of that show? Well kate who you got me in uh in a spot of bother with didn't you

1:12.1

at the start of that show well i think he got yourself into it that's probably don't blame me and john

1:17.3

that was good it was good fun though wasn't it good show enjoyed that yeah i know you wouldn't

1:22.7

agree with this uh alley but i thought she was the perfect host. She was. She was. Yeah. And you've been busy since then, of course, Ali.

1:33.1

Yeah, so I spoke to you Tuesday night. I got on a train in Salisbury at 645 on Wednesday morning

1:39.3

to rattle my way up to Edinburgh. Didn't have long enough in Edinburgh. What a wonderful city Edinburgh is.

...

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