MARTIN SAMUEL: The BBC have made a mistake in their decision to do away with the classified results

MARTIN SAMUEL: The football results used to be compulsory listening on the way home from a match, but no doubt market research will have shown that people get all they need from smartphones these days

  • The classified football results used to be compulsory listening on the way home
  • Some people cannot access their smart phones to search for the results
  • It is about more than being abreast of the results across the Premier League 
  • Fans can often have second teams whose results they want to find out

From this season, Sports Report on BBC Radio will no longer feature the football results at 5pm. 

It used to be compulsory listening on the way home from a match, the voice as quintessentially British as the shipping forecast. Now it is gone.

A condensed programme is the official line, although no doubt market research will have shown that people get all they need from smartphones these days. 

The classified football results – formerly read by James Alexander Gordon – is gone. It was as quintessentially British as the shipping forecast

There will fans of Spurs or West Ham who will like to listen out for the result of Leyton Orient, for example

There will fans of Spurs or West Ham who will like to listen out for the result of Leyton Orient, for example

Not if there are 40,000 in the ground and you are trying to access the Wi-Fi, though. Not if you are at work, or otherwise occupied. 

That is why people listen to the radio. And even if you are abreast of the top division, you may not be across the leagues below. 

There will be plenty of supporters of West Ham or Tottenham listening out for a second team like, say, Leyton Orient. A Manchester City fan who is invested in how Stockport fare. 

And having tuned in for the results they might stay for the rest of the programme, the interviews, the reports from the grounds. No more. 

Another bit of us gone. You can probably get the shipping forecast on your smart phone too, these days.

Charlotte Green took over from James Alexander Gordon and was warmly received by many

Charlotte Green took over from James Alexander Gordon and was warmly received by many

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