Wright off…

Now age is beginning to wither us and custom doth to erode our most finite variety (yup a certain significant anniversary is almost upon us like the veritable crack of doom), we can take scant solace in the fact that all good things come to an end and some bad ones too.

Hence we weren’t exactly reaching for the Exit manual, a rope and an industrial size bottle of Barbiturates when we learned that Ian ‘Wrighty’ Wright had suffered a hissy fit of the most enormous proportions and decided to desert Gal and the Als on BBC’s Match of the Day on the grounds that Aunty Beeb is ‘out of touch’ and he was sick and tired of playing the ‘court jester’.

While no-one could argue with Wrighty that the Beeb’s footy coverage is dull as dishwater (the admirable Football Focus excepted) and that the unholy trio of Lineker, Hansen and Shearer could cure insomnia at international level, Wrighty didn’t exactly advance his case for change by bouncing around like a hyperactive kid’s TV with presenter with attention deficit disorder, mutter nonsensical analysis and treat with deep suspicion anyone playing right midfield whose surname wasn;t Wright-Phillips.

In our humble and not so unbiased opinion, Aunty Beeb is simply paying the price for exclusively hiring ex-players rather than real journalists to front up its footy coverage.

Just time then to issue a quick 'come and get us' wantaway plea to BBC Sport Director Roger Mosey, we have consulted our diary and find ourselves unsurprisingly available.