A bit less bias please Danny, this is the BBC

BY Danny Murphy’s law, impartiality is very much a disposable quality when it comes to England contesting games at a World Cup.

Whatever happened to that old norm on the BBC of keeping it even?

As an example, look at Murphy in his co- commentary role with Guy Mowbray yesterday. There were times when you could just about imagine the former England midfielder in his strip and pads in the stands, playing out a 10th cap behind his mic some 15 years after his ninth in the real world.

In reflecting on the opening-game win over Tunisia earlier in the week, he spoke of it ‘giving us the confidence to produce this performance today’. On innumerable other passages of play, there was a ‘we’. And then another ‘we’, and another, all the way home, possibly honking his horn and flying a St George’s flag on the way.

That is not to be unduly harsh — he actually strikes a decent balance between observations and pithy remarks. He certainly doesn’t sit on the fence with his judgments, so he can never be accused of being dull.

But he does also raise the old question of whether those on the Beeb should wear their heart so brazenly. It’s sport and it’s passionate, so it’s sometimes seen as a little different to the serious matters discussed in other time slots, but it is still the BBC, which does like to make a play of its impartiality.

So while it was acceptable to have a panel and presenter made up entirely of retired England internationals, it also felt necessary to have the play-by-play stuff called with a little more professional distance.

Going back to the studio, the BBC brought in their strongest side for Panama. Rio was again excellent, particularly in his insights into the scorer of England’s third, Jesse Lingard, who Ferdinand first watched as a child at Manchester United.

‘I have seen this from this boy since he was 11,’ he said. ‘People always questioned him, “Is he going to be big enough, is he strong enough?” When you have his intelligence you could be 2ft tall and get through. A generation of kids will remember that goal.’

Alan Shearer, for his part, continued his rather unexpected transition in the past couple of years from a pundit of vanilla shades to one who is brilliant to listen to. Opinionated, critical, forceful — his personality has come out.

He opened with a convincing analysis of how Raheem Sterling’s body positioning against Tunisia betrayed his lack of confidence and by the end of the broadcast he was proposing a solution to football’s concussion problem. He even cut off Gary Lineker when he felt the discussion wasn’t being taken seriously enough.

At the very least, Shearer is being taken seriously now. And so are England at the World Cup. Strange times, indeed.