What do you think about David Croft?
Discussion
I think he appeals too much to the slightly drunk, primarily beer-drinking audience of Sky Sports. He really does not appeal to the more knowledgeable motorsport crowd, hyping up potential events that we know are impossible.
The most ridiculous David Croft moment was in the 2015 US GP, in which he suggested Rosberg may let Vettel through to second place to keep his slim championship hope alive. Brundle replied by saying Rosberg would be handed his P45 if he did so.
The most ridiculous David Croft moment was in the 2015 US GP, in which he suggested Rosberg may let Vettel through to second place to keep his slim championship hope alive. Brundle replied by saying Rosberg would be handed his P45 if he did so.
DOCG said:
James Allen was so much better
Croft can get annoying and shouty, but after watching a few race replays that F1 have put on YouTube, the horror of James Allen resurfaced.He's a good journalist, but also gravitated to the shouty crazy commentary, worse so than Croft.
Best combo was Brindle/DC, but we sadly only ever had that for a year.
Badgerboy said:
DOCG said:
James Allen was so much better
Croft can get annoying and shouty, but after watching a few race replays that F1 have put on YouTube, the horror of James Allen resurfaced.He's a good journalist, but also gravitated to the shouty crazy commentary, worse so than Croft.
Best combo was Brindle/DC, but we sadly only ever had that for a year.
DOCG said:
Sammo123 said:
I don’t drink and I quite enjoy listening to Crofty commentate on the F1. He’s so much more interesting to listen to than Jonathan Legard ever was! Yes he gets things wrong but who really cares? Nobody is perfect!
James Allen was so much betterJames Allen is OK where he is now and certainly knows his stuff but he was awful as lead commentator
Over-excited, faux hysteria - he was universally ridiculed
Brundle/DC was great but Brundle simply wasn’t up for being lead commentator.
Crofty is fine - not brilliant, but he does his job perfectly OK.
Croft gets an unfairly hard press around here imo, he is good at what he does and conveys enthusiasm.
I am not sure the main commentator needs to appeal to the hardcore does he/she? That’s what the second person should be doing.
I much prefer the C4 set up with Ben Edwards and DC but given they only cover one race live now, the Sky team are fine (Brundle being better than fine).
I am not sure the main commentator needs to appeal to the hardcore does he/she? That’s what the second person should be doing.
I much prefer the C4 set up with Ben Edwards and DC but given they only cover one race live now, the Sky team are fine (Brundle being better than fine).
James Allen was always going to have a hard time following Murray. But the thing that used to drive me up the wall - at the end of a fairly dull race when everything had settled down and the leader was 12 seconds to the good heading to the chequered flag.... All of a sudden, just as you were nodding off, you would get
"AAAAAAND FERNANDO ALONSO....................
...... WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!
"AAAAAAND FERNANDO ALONSO....................
...... WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!
Racing withdrawal had me watching old race repeats a week or so ago. I wondered why they didn’t take the opportunity to edit out Crofty’s mistakes. It then honestly occurred to me that there wouldn’t be enough commentary left. I had completely by accident formed a clever pithy remark in my head.
I used to watch C4 and found Ben Edward’s excitability annoying. Everybody on here was complaining about Crofty, but I thought that Sky F1 subscribers might just have higher expectations as they are paying to view. This Crofty couldn’t character couldn’t possibly be more annoying than Edwards.
How wrong I was.
Come to Sky, Ben, all is forgiven.
I’ve made my peace with the fact that a colour commentator is probably a necessity but Crofty is just so wrong all the time and is constantly trying to at very high volume make something out of nothing.
I used to watch C4 and found Ben Edward’s excitability annoying. Everybody on here was complaining about Crofty, but I thought that Sky F1 subscribers might just have higher expectations as they are paying to view. This Crofty couldn’t character couldn’t possibly be more annoying than Edwards.
How wrong I was.
Come to Sky, Ben, all is forgiven.
I’ve made my peace with the fact that a colour commentator is probably a necessity but Crofty is just so wrong all the time and is constantly trying to at very high volume make something out of nothing.
I like Crofty although I can see why he grates on some people. He adds a bit of humour, albeit Dad-joke level. I'm a Dad so I'm OK with that 
This might get me strung up but while Murray was entertaining and adorable as a person, he was actually a bit rubbish. I've been watching a lot of old clips during lockdown and he makes errors as often as he doesn't.
For me, Ben Edwards is the best motorsport commentator bar none. He has a genuine passion, a deep knowledge across all forms of motorsport and makes very few mistakes during the race. I feel bad he only got the F1 gig when it moved to pay-to-watch.
This might get me strung up but while Murray was entertaining and adorable as a person, he was actually a bit rubbish. I've been watching a lot of old clips during lockdown and he makes errors as often as he doesn't.
For me, Ben Edwards is the best motorsport commentator bar none. He has a genuine passion, a deep knowledge across all forms of motorsport and makes very few mistakes during the race. I feel bad he only got the F1 gig when it moved to pay-to-watch.
Speed Badger said:
...But the thing that used to drive me up the wall - at the end of a fairly dull race when everything had settled down and the leader was 12 seconds to the good heading to the chequered flag.... All of a sudden, just as you were nodding off, you would get
"AAAAAAND FERNANDO ALONSO....................
...... WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!
They all do that deliberately. The winner crossing the line is the clip that gets shown on the news so the commentators always make it sound like it was a thrilling race to the flag, even when it was Monaco."AAAAAAND FERNANDO ALONSO....................
...... WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!
andycaca said:
Easy there...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_commentator
A ‘colour commentator’ is defined by ‘The color commentator provides expert analysis....’https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_commentator
So the last person that’s going to be is Croft.
He's okay, I suppose - he can be rather 'shouty' and sometimes annoying, but he's a product of the times, maybe. I'd also say he's not a genuine out & out motorsport commentator. He hasn't come up through the ranks covering club/national meetings and built up a wealth of knowledge. He was in the right place at the right time when a football commentator, and got the BBC 5 Live F1 gig. When there's no F1 he's likely to be covering darts, not another motorsport series. Saying that, how many of the current F1 press pack have come up through the ranks?
I quite like him. Seems an affable chap and has made a 'brand' for himself.
It's a tough gig. For every nerdy know-it-all fan (like me) that may become irritated at being told the bleedin' obvious, there's a great many more with a mere passing curiosity as to what's going on. Not easy to strike the right balance whilst also at times, attempting to make duller aspects of what's happening on track sound exciting.
I'm not sure we'd look back on him with the same affection we do for Murray but Murray was (is) a one-off but I thinks he does a good job.
Who misses Jonathan Legard??
It's a tough gig. For every nerdy know-it-all fan (like me) that may become irritated at being told the bleedin' obvious, there's a great many more with a mere passing curiosity as to what's going on. Not easy to strike the right balance whilst also at times, attempting to make duller aspects of what's happening on track sound exciting.
I'm not sure we'd look back on him with the same affection we do for Murray but Murray was (is) a one-off but I thinks he does a good job.
Who misses Jonathan Legard??
You need a dumb everyman to ask the stupid questions so the knowitall will answer.
They would both sit in silence otherwise.
However, its unlikely a bloke that travels around all year in the F1 world knows eff all. So its probably an act.
Better Croft than karen who just frankly talks like its a new thing he just discovered.
They would both sit in silence otherwise.
However, its unlikely a bloke that travels around all year in the F1 world knows eff all. So its probably an act.
Better Croft than karen who just frankly talks like its a new thing he just discovered.
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