Football fans the world over rejoiced when it was announced ‘Masters Football’ will be making its long-anticipated return to our screens.
The fan favourite event ran from the year 2000 until 2011 on Sky Sports. And pitted a selection of retired pros representing a senior club they played for throughout their career, in a six-a-side indoor tournament.
This upcoming competition will take place on Friday, July 8th, in Glasgow’s Braehead Arena, and will be streamed live on 360 Sports TV.
It will be a one-off four team tournament, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Celtic, and Rangers all appearing on the iconic showcase.
They’ve also got some major names on the billing.
Jamie Carragher and Steve McManaman will represent their Merseyside home.
Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Louis Saha will don the famous red of United one more time.
Stiliyan Petrov, Kris Commons and Carlton Cole are back in the green and white hoops.
While the likes of Kris Boyd, Barry Ferguson, Pedro Mendes, Alan Hutton, and Roy Carroll will be fielding out for Rangers.
It certainly lacks the depth of teams, and long-term regional set-up of previous iterations. But, the nostalgia of Masters Football returning after 11 years away will capture the imagination. Which is evident by the event completely selling out.
So, this got us at the Big Kick Off thinking. What other football related television shows need to make a return to our screens?
Premier Soccer Saturday
Just like Soccer AM, it’s sad to see Match of the Day in its current cookie cutter state.
For Irish football fans of a certain vintage, between 1998, and 2013 they didn’t bother with the BBC mainstay. Instead, opting to tune into the Premiership, or Premier Soccer Saturday, for all their Premier League highlights.
The show offered a more cut-throat analysis, compared to the shackles applied by Match of the Day.
Just like Gary Lineker, the legendary Bill O’Herilhy anchored the show for the majority of its lifespan. Flanked by his recognisable crew of John Giles, Liam Brady, and Eamon Dunphy, with other recognisable faces popping in too.
In its later years, it had a segment that involved supporters offering up their own opinion on the action. With the rise of fan-ran media outlets, this could be utilised fantastically in modern football.
Peter Collins, Darragh Maloney and Jacqui Hurley are all competent sports broadcasters that could run the show. But it would miss the energy of the old lads, with the middling pundits RTE offer up these days. Bar Didi Hamann, Didi’s deadly.
The show was axed due to budget cuts, and highlight shows may be a dying breed. But nobody should be forced to listen to Alan Shearer, Martin Keown or Jermaine Jenas on a weekly basis.
Also, RTE, if you could allow some regular League of Ireland content to rub shoulders with Room to Improve and Nationwide. That would be sound.
Special 1 TV
Impressionists are anti-comedy, they have an uncanny knack of sucking all the craic out of a room.
But, hats off to Mario Rosenstock, his puppeteer caricatures of football personalities really struck a chord with many.
Centred around “The Special One” Jose Mourinho during his Chelsea heyday. The show poked fun at the likes of Fabio “Cabbage” Capello, Wayne “The Boy” Rooney, and Sven-Goran Eriksson, along with countless others.
During the short runtime, segments included both the News and Thought of the Day anchored by Jose.
Wayne’s Word, Sven’s Wonderful World of Football, and Footballer’s Tweets also became recurring skits.
The show could easily find a home for itself as a weekly YouTube series, catching up with a modern-day Mourinho during his current escapades in Rome, with a fresh crop of colourful characters.
The only condition we have is the Shola Ameobi obsessed “Dave” has to return with his nonsensical phone calls. Perhaps he could idolise Shola’s younger brother Sammy during the twilight of his career?
The Manageress
We’ve become flooded with documentaries, and scripted shows based around the beautiful game.
Ted Lasso, Sunderland ‘Til I Die, Next Goal Wins and the All or Nothing series have all become smash hits in their own right.
While it would’ve been easy to add the OG, Dream Team on this list, we’ll shake it up a bit.
The Manageress was a short-lived drama series, about the premise of a woman becoming the manager of a professional football team, in the English second division.
It only ran for a year from 1989 to 1990, over two seasons.
But sadly, over 30 years later, the prospect of a woman taking the hotseat in one of the 92 teams in the English Football League still seems lightyears away.
Portraying the tribulations, legacy and rewards that would come with such a challenge sounds like captivating, and dare we say it, essential viewing.
Fran
Sometimes you’re forced to do things at work that maybe you just don’t want to do.
Truth be told, Roddy Collins ‘The Rod Squad’ should make another comeback, as the controversial Irish football figure looks to launch his new autobiography.
However, our dear leader here at the Big Kick Off, Roy Shanahan has confessed his love about this series in the past, so we must show the boss-man some respect.
Fran, follows the rise of, well, Fran. As he takes the reigns of Assistant Manager at Sunday league side, St. Peter’s FC in Dublin, and looks to help lead his team to cup final success.
It’s filmed in a mockumentary style, which can always add some real comical value.
The whole concept of the show is extremely relatable to anybody that has ever found themselves involved with amateur football.
While it found itself on Setanta Sports, and TV3. R.I.P to the pair of them.
Just like Special 1 TV, the series could easily be revived as a low budget YouTube series catching up with Fran Costello himself, or his predecessor, as they navigate through training, dealing with young players, and aiming for local glory.
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TBKO League of Ireland YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCho7IksgYRWKBCFa7-tlqxA
TBKO Football Show YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpFgy_fllL6A9vcESyhNIQA
The Big Kick Off Football Website – https://thebigkickoff.com/