Jonathion Legard in Context

[profstoff]

At last, someone in the media has come out and said it...

Planet F1 said:

Apologies are due to Jonathan Leggard. I was looking back through some of my old Murray Walker tapes the other day (Note to self: must get out more) and the number of times he got it completely wrong makes you wonder why he is still revered as an 'authority'. Thus when Jonathan opined in qualifying, "and Vettel posts a good time" as Sebastian put in a 1:51.995, a whole five seconds off the pace, it's tempting to say what a plonker. But really, if you look at what we used to put up with, it's an improvement.

[Project 644]

Nope. He is awful, he butts in, he doesn't have any sort of in depth knowledge of the sport, his analogies leave the viewer working them out for the rest of the coverage. He is horrificly bad. Murray used to have genuine enthusiasm for the sport and he had the knowledge to back up his position. He may have got the odd thing wrong, all commentators do. David Croft on the 5Live coverage thought Glock's Toyota was a Torro Rosso at one point until corrected by Antony Davidson. I wouldn't dream of complaining about Croft because he is a knowledgeable commentator with a good turn of phrase with a genuine passion for the sport. That added to his ability to form a friendship, which produces banter, with his co-commentator makes him ideal in my eyes.

Davidson to Manor for 2010 and Crfty to partner Brundle.

[FNG]

Murray was no use either IMO, his only saving grace being his rampant enthusiasm. The mistakes and gaffes just kept on coming. He used to butt into Hunt's laconic commentary too, to tell us things we could clearly see with our very own eyes.

I never did understand how Murray's been elevated to a position of greatly knowledgeable and venerable F1 sage. He relied even more on his co-commentator's expertise than Leggard does.

That said, Leggard is worse than Murray and better than Allen. But he needs to stop claiming that just about any driver is "on a charge", stop butting in, stop asking a question then answering it (sort of) whilst rambling on for the next 3 minutes, or creating mixed metaphors that leave you scratching your head as to their relevance.

Last night on watching the race I tuned out of his commentary completely when it droned on and on without a break for a few minutes, then had to rewind to glean a little snippet of interest amongst all the dross.

I bear the guy no ill-will but he really needs to listen back to his work, heed some constructive criticism from his bosses and these forums, and do a better job of entertaining the audience and adding value. At the moment he's frequently telling them nothing of note, and boring them in the process.



As an aside, I can't believe how long it took both Leggard and Brundle to realise that Webber had let Glock and Alonso through to prevent a drive-through. How obvious was that?

[Alfie Noakes]

I don't normally join these slagging threads and have given JL the benefit of the doubt until he got up to speed. But having done that I wish he would slow down to a nice consistant STOP and pull over.

The man is dire! He's worse than JA.

Can it be that difficult to find someone with some gravitas.

I find myself saying "Bring back Raymond Baxter".

[CampDavid]

Croft and Davidson are pretty good, Davidson is certainly up there with Brundle and has some superb insight.

Crofty, Davidson and Brundle in a crowded box next year. Davidson to stay a little quiet and let Martin do a lot of the talking and come in when he has something great to add.

That said, I'd love to see him back in F1 next year

[Project 644]

FNG said:

I never did understand how Murray's been elevated to a position of greatly knowledgeable and venerable F1 sage. He relied even more on his co-commentator's expertise than Leggard does.

At least Murray listened to what they had to say rather than repeat what Martin has just said.

[Nick M]

Project 644 said:

FNG said:

I never did understand how Murray's been elevated to a position of greatly knowledgeable and venerable F1 sage. He relied even more on his co-commentator's expertise than Leggard does.

At least Murray listened to what they had to say rather than repeat what Martin has just said.

He was also spectacularly well prepared for each race, having done his homework about each driver and team.

He just got a bit carried away, that's all. And yes, while we probably all shouted at the old duffer to open his bloody eyes , he was the epitome of an F1 fan - an enthusiast's enthusiast if you like.

[motco]

I just wish Leggard would just shut up from time to time. He still thinks he's a radio commentator with the need to maintain a commentary at all times. It wears me out.

[KaraK]

Murray may not have been the most accurate of commentators but that was more than balanced out by his infectious enthusiasm for the sport and his charisma. Whereas by contrast the best thing you can say about Leggard is that at least he isn't James Allen.

[Sam.F]

The most annoying thing about Jonathan Legard is that he describes every driver as "dancing" whenever they are remotely close to another car.

[AlexS]

Project 644 said:

FNG said:

I never did understand how Murray's been elevated to a position of greatly knowledgeable and venerable F1 sage. He relied even more on his co-commentator's expertise than Leggard does.

At least Murray listened to what they had to say rather than repeat what Martin has just said.

Unfortunately in his later years Murray did just repeat his co-commentator, usually prefixing his sentence with 'in my opinion' followed by a repeat of what had just been said.

[townrow]

FNG said:

I never did understand how Murray's been elevated to a position of greatly knowledgeable and venerable F1 sage. He relied even more on his co-commentator's expertise than Leggard does.

He commentated on F1 for and motorsport for over 50 years. He may have had plenty of over excited gaffes but his Knowledge and experiance is second to none. Legard unfortunately should have stayed on the Radio. MB is very good but sometimes misses some the basic of camara action trying to be clever.

Maybe they should do X-Commentator (Factor) style show and let the public vote for thier fav armchair critic...???

[NotNormal]

At the start of the season I was more than prepared to let Legard find his feet and settle down as he was a tad annoying and people quickly ripped him apart on here.

However were getting towards the end of the season and for me he's got worse. The bloke is truly woeful and he talks utter utter rubbish. He doesn't listen to what’s being said around him, he hypes up completely minor things and ignores some of the major stuff. I now find myself getting very frustrated when he’s jabbering on.

For me the BBC coverage has been sensational this year, really really impressed to say the least. The commentating team are overall a great success and although I wasn't a fan of EJ at the start I think he works well now with the other two. However if the BBC need to make one single change next year it’s to get rid of Legard, period.

[munroman]

I just hate the way he says 'Yesterdaaaay', 'Todaaaay', and why does he have to shout, is it because he has nothing useful to say?

I for one would be happy to have him 'elsewhere' , next season.

The rest of the team are good, I would like to see DC belt EJ though, fed up hearing how wonderful EJ has been, almost all the drivers seem to owe their position to him!

[Gillet]

Leggard is st, end of, i tried to listen to the standard BBC commentary this race, but i couldn't hack it and flicked over to 5 Live instead. Davidson and Crofty are great, i really hope Davidson gets a drive next year, but if not him and Crofty should take over on BBC1. I love the banter and they both know what they're talking about.

[TheArchitect]

i assume its crofty who is with Anthony during practice sessions, but they are great and i like listening to them, ill certainly be seeing if i can watch a race on time instead of chase playing it and listen to the 5 live coverage soon.

[custardtart]

Agree on Davidson and Croft as soon as possible, can't say how impressed I am with Davidson's, he's been good from the off and he's the most current person out there.

I've been a big fan of Brundle over the years but he seems bored or uninterested at the moment, maybe cos he has to work with Leggard which can't be easy - still, would be a brave man that didn't include him next year.

[hornetrider]

I have to disagree with the general opinion here. I was most vociferous on many of the 'Leggard out' threads so far this season as he was truly awful, however when watching yesterday it occurres to me he had dramatically improved.

After the SC car came in I flicked back and forth between the two commentaries and whilst Crofty was going ballistic as if he was commentating on a horse race, on flicking back Leggo and Brundle were chatting quite calmly and it was relaxing to listen to. I realise Crofty has to describe everything for radio... but still. It was draining to listen to.

I think Leggo has taken criticism on the chin and modified his output appropriately.

[Project 644]

hornetrider said:

I have to disagree with the general opinion here. I was most vociferous on many of the 'Leggard out' threads so far this season as he was truly awful, however when watching yesterday it occurres to me he had dramatically improved.

After the SC car came in I flicked back and forth between the two commentaries and whilst Crofty was going ballistic as if he was commentating on a horse race, on flicking back Leggo and Brundle were chatting quite calmly and it was relaxing to listen to. I realise Crofty has to describe everything for radio... but still. It was draining to listen to.

I think Leggo has taken criticism on the chin and modified his output appropriately.

I did the opposite, I started on BBC1 commentary and switched to R5. I found it more relaxing to listen to because the commentary team have a rappor. I switched back to BBC1 commentary when a golf score (or somesuch irrelevant crap) came on and I switched it back so quickly that I caught the end of the golf score. Leggard is dire.

[andygo]

Leggard has one very small saving grace.

He keeps on moving the mike away from his mouth so the sound of his voice fades away.

Either that or MB or a sound man are doing it for him.

He is awful.

Like the banter AD and Crofty have, but remember folks they are doing radio commentary firstly, their commentary is an add on to the tv feed.

Like the way they take the mick out of Holly Samos.

Legard is awful, please get rid