- Scotland fans will not be happy to have been subjected to an England analysis
- ITV’s coverage of the opening match featured impressive punditry and a clever intro
- Listen to It all starts! Why Euro 2024 could give us another ‘old school’ tournament
ITV loves an atmospheric intro for a tournament and for Euro 2024 they drew a selection of fairy tales from German storytellers Brothers Grimm.
We had Cristiano Ronaldo as Little Red Riding Hood, Kylian Mbappé as The Wonderful Musician, Toni Kroos having his boots made by The Elves and the Shoemaker, Kasper Schmeichel watching his father Peter lift the Euro 1992 trophy in Snow White’s magic mirror, and Harry Kane climbs into Rapunzel’s hair. If only Norway had qualified, they could have used Erling Haaland’s blonde locks.
In truth, we’ve been treated to better intros – the ITV version for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was a winner – but it was enjoyable enough. It won at least one fan in the Gill household because my wife Jemma said, and I quote, ‘I prefer fairy tales to football’.
Clearly there was no happy ending for Scotland for ITV’s experts to explore as they had to comment on a car crash. The selection of analysts was impressive, apart from Lorraine Kelly.
There was Mark Pougatch, the professional presenter you could find. Experts in Ian Wright, Graeme Souness and Roy Keane, experts who all sent their well wishes to Alan Hansen. The affable Laura Woods and Ally McCoist were both in the center circle as the Germans emerged to warm up to a chorus of Scottish boos.
ITV’s feisty experts provided plenty of entertainment as they analyzed the action
Ally McCoist, pictured with Laura Woods, summed up the atmosphere in the camp in Scotland
Mind you, ITV won’t have won many friends among Scottish viewers who watched some analysis of England after the very first commercial break, including an interview with Gareth Southgate before hearing from Steve Clarke or Scott McTominay.
There was also criticism of the constant reminder that ‘this UEFA Euro 2024 program is sponsored by Visit Qatar’, as ITV cheerfully showed the opening ceremony at the Allianz Arena in Munich, two years after British broadcasters took the lead on the World Cup football of 2022. Damn, McCoist avoided all that singing and dancing as he walked to the commentary booth with Sam Matterface.
A proud Scot, the scorer of his country’s last major tournament winning goal against Switzerland at the 1996 European Championship and one of the match’s most charismatic co-commentators, McCoist was an obvious choice for ITV. Those who play the drinking game where you sip when he adds “it really is” at the end of a sentence will have been disappointed as that habit was kept to a minimum. McCoist was here to sum up the Scottish excitement and sadness after their possible start in Wirtz, and did just that.
Keane and Souness were, as expected, spirited at half-time, while Christina Unkel was a refreshing choice for a refereeing analyst. Ultimately, Scotland couldn’t add anything to ITV’s fairy tales, but from my sofa this was a solid start to a hectic month of football. Your move, BBC.