BT make a balls up of opening day

BT Sport paid top dollar to grab a piece of the Premier League, so no prizes for guessing what they screened on its main channel on Saturday afternoon. Yep...Rugby Sevens! To be fair, it was the big one: ACT Brumbies versus Auckland.

Well, that is always the first date in my diary when the fixture list comes out.

I know, I know. Nobody is allowed to show live football in the sacrosanct 3pm Saturday slot.

But seeing as BT Sport had paid Tony Pulis, Owen Hargreaves and Steve McManaman some serious wedge to sit and analyse the live feeds of the Premier League’s opening day, you’d think they could do so for the full 90 minutes.

Then again, after hearing their ‘expert’ analysis, the random chunks of rugby came as a blessed relief.

This was Hargreaves’ response when anchor Jake Humphrey asked him about a goal in the West BromSouthampton match.

“Erm...was it Lambert, yeah? Great week for him and to cap it off, this. He must be so thrilled.”

It was left to Humphrey – apparently the only man in that hangar-sized studio to realise that viewers at home could not actually see the live feeds – to hastily explain: “Rickie Lambert has scored a penalty.”

Remind me, what main business again?

Oh yes: communication.