This week marked the end of the EFL highlights coverage with Colin Murray on Quest after four years. Next season they transfer to ITV4.
Quest doesn’t really even sound like a TV channel and does anyone watch anything else on it? Fish Tank Kings, Doomsday Preppers (Preppers?!) and Giant Lobster Hunters maybe? Nonetheless, it has been a welcome home for the EFL highlights and it has garnered a loyal following. In part this is because it has been presented so well by Colin Murray in an informal but knowledgeable way. It had settled into a nice groove…so nice I had begun to take it for granted along with a peak audience number of over 600,000 others.
If ITV have any sense at all, they’ll offer Colin the gig and transfer the show lock, stock and two smoking barrels because not only has he proven to be the ideal host of a show, but importantly he is someone that has enthusiasm for the EFL gig and understanding of it. With over 1800 games per season to cover, this isn’t just a mere churn of the facts, because to fully appreciate the EFL you’ve got to get your head under its bonnet and have a good poke around. Under Colin’s stewardship, the overall feel has been one of informed accessibility, of knowledge worn lightly and, perhaps more importantly, of fun. Yes, fun. That thing we used to have at football before people started taking it so seriously and pretending it’s a science.
I’m a firm believer that in order to take anything seriously you’ve got to be able to laugh at it and the EFL highlights show has always had an element of that. There is an implicit understanding that football at this level has a social, civic and cultural context and that money can’t buy you love. And that’s something missing from the coverage: money. Discussion of the game is not weighed down by talk of money in the same way the top flight is, largely because few have any. And what a relief that is.
The noise from the Premier League is so loud and brash that it can drown…
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