Shortly after the BBC’s coverage of Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Morocco had finished, it was time for a quick pitstop as they refreshed their line-up of pundits for Scotland versus Haiti.
Operating from a studio in Salford, which features an LED background of the various World Cup venues, it was a swift turnaround.
Working on the broadcast for the first game of the Group C double-header had been Gus Poyet, Joe Hart and Hassan Kachloul, a former Moroccan international.
What big names would the Beeb roll out for Scotland’s World Cup return? What Tartan Army heroes could they find?
Scott Brown, Rachel Corsie and, erm, Joe Hart.
As two former Scotland captains, Brown and Corsie both have solid credentials. But Hart, a former England goalkeeper, felt like an odd choice.
Scott Brown, Rachel Corsie and Joe Hart were pundits on BBC’s coverage of the Scotland game
Hart appeared to feel that the Tartan Army’s celebration of a 1-0 win over Haiti was excessiveÂ
Perhaps it was easier to have Hart work the double shift rather than hiring someone else. After all, cost-cutting measures have been at the core of much of the BBC’s decisions around this World Cup.
The key difference with them, however, is that their budget comes from the taxpayers’ pocket. Did the average Scotland fan really have any interest in what Joe Hart had to say about their team?
Since retiring, he has appeared regularly as a pundit on TNT Sports and their coverage of Celtic matches in Europe.
Hart spent the last couple of years of his career playing for Celtic. That he should now work as a pundit on their matches seems logical enough.
But to have him on Scotland duties just looked strange. Would Brown or Corsie be expected to work as a pundit on an England match? Unlikely.
That’s not to say that the line-up of pundits always has to be entirely Scottish or English for matches involving those nations. Far from it, in fact.
But if you are going to deviate from that, then the pundits need to add genuine value, insight and knowledge. Hart didn’t really do that.
He dealt largely in cliches and platitudes, although, in fairness, the same could be said of Corsie. In the build-up, she had stated that the match wasn’t necessarily must-win for Scotland. Make of that what you will.
It was Brown who was the punchier of the three, albeit he got carried away towards the end. This is where Hart actually got one thing right.
Although he didn’t say it in as many words, he clearly felt Scotland’s celebrations at the end were ever so slightly excessive.
He seemed to be the only one willing to acknowledge that scraping a 1-0 victory over a team ranked 83rd in the world might need to be viewed with a sense of perspective.
The BBC have defended their decision to essentially have their pundits work from home during this World Cup rather than actually being there.
But when ITV then roll out the likes of Ange Postecoglou and Juan Mata against a star-lit New York skyline, as they did for Australia’s win over Turkey, well… there are levels.
