Seemed to struggle quite a bit with some quite simple pronunciations of the Lazio players names, it was as if he'd never laid eyes on those names before. Would have thought some homework would be part of the job. Thought it was quite embarrassing and cringe inducing

KellyClaret wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 8:51 am

Seemed to struggle quite a bit with some quite simple pronunciations of the Lazio players names, it was as if he'd never laid eyes on those names before. Would have thought some homework would be part of the job. Thought it was quite embarrassing and cringe inducing

The announcer struggling with names isn't something new!

And I agree that some homework would have been useful.

It's common courtesy to pronounce names correctly - his attempts were dreadful.

At least he's dropped "WE ARE MOMENTS AWAY FROM KICK OFF" and replaced it with "WE ARE SECONDS AWAY FROM KICK OFF".

Apparently the club have had lots of emails saying how good he is (no I don't believe it either).

He tries to act as some sort of cheerleader. He’s beyond annoying.

LETS HEAR IT FOR BURNLEY! **** off.

The end of the game against Sheffield United was embarrassing.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 8:56 am

It's common courtesy to pronounce names correctly - his attempts were dreadful.

At least he's dropped "WE ARE MOMENTS AWAY FROM KICK OFF" and replaced it with "WE ARE SECONDS AWAY FROM KICK OFF".

Apparently the club have had lots of emails saying how good he is (no I don't believe it either).

The trouble is, lots of fans react to him by doing exactly what he asks them to do, there's always cheers when he shouts his, lets hear it for Burnley line. Perhaps it's those fans who email the club

On a day when there were so many positives on the pitch, there were too many cringeworthy moments off it. The announcer being the worst. Treats the match like he's entertaining children at a kid's birthday party

I know in the grand scheme of life that I shouldn't let the 'LET'S HEAR IT FOR BURNLEY!' thing annoy me so much, but it really does. It's starting to actually fill me with rage haha.

Apparently Les won't be picked until he's mastered Ugochukwu.

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 9:30 am

Apparently Les won't be picked until he's mastered Ugochukwu.

That’s a real shame, I think we could do with him before Christmas.

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 9:30 am

Apparently Les won't be picked until he's mastered Ugochukwu.

Let's hear it for big Les . !!! See it's easy

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 8:56 am

It's common courtesy to pronounce names correctly - his attempts were dreadful.

At least he's dropped "WE ARE MOMENTS AWAY FROM KICK OFF" and replaced it with "WE ARE SECONDS AWAY FROM KICK OFF".

Apparently the club have had lots of emails saying how good he is (no I don't believe it either).

That’s like when we originally had the goal music and the club said “we know the fans like it because when we play it they jump up and move around”

Completely missing the point of why they are playing it in the first place

You just know they are going to play goal music next season when we score a last minute consolation to make it 1-4.

The announcer doesn’t annoy me at all.

Does anyone else feel the same?

JoeAM89 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 9:28 am

I know in the grand scheme of life that I shouldn't let the 'LET'S HEAR IT FOR BURNLEY!' thing annoy me so much, but it really does. It's starting to actually fill me with rage haha.

Proper gets to me as well and I know it shouldn’t but it’s so annoying makes me cringe

Yes he is annoying

We are going to be against teams with a lot of foreign players so homework on that should be part of the job. I remember watching an interview with John Motson and he put a lot of research into opponents named pre match.

On a bit of a tangent but I see we are using a few different interviewers now which is a good thing. We still have one who has been doing it for a while who interviews the players who I cringe at every time. He says far too much and trys to answer his own questions and it’s a really really poor questioning style. It looks really Mickey Mouse.

It’s frankly embarrassing that he gets the main part of his job so badly wrong. Knowing all the players names is surely a key responsibility? How long has it been going on for now? Why is no one pulling him up on it? It’s proper tinpot.

We are now back in the Premier League again and wouldn’t it be too much to ask for an announcer who fits the role and isn’t as cringeworthy!

Also every match warning the crowd what the club won’t tolerate is as irritating as anything else!

This guy should be on a summer kids camp with a microphone next to a bouncy castle that’s his level

Rant over

Time to give Michael Buffer a call....we must have a spare £200k in the dry powder store.

I’ve no idea, can’t hear anything in the BL stand still.

I’m not a professional announcer and never will be but when I used to introduce the players at the supporters clubs player of the year evening, I would make sure I got them right. They were mostly easy but getting my tongue round Ulvestad wasn’t easy (and it’s a silent d at the end). Always recall checking with James Tarkowski, Matt Lowton and Dan Agyei too.

Ben Mee wasn’t too difficult.

Quick fact, the guy that does the let’s hear it for Burnley does the voice over for all the stadium announcement on the fifa games or whatever they are called now

123EasyasBFC wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 11:01 am

Quick fact, the guy that does the let’s hear it for Burnley does the voice over for all the stadium announcement on the fifa games or whatever they are called now

He also does Wigan Warriors where he's far more suited as they love a bit of razmataz in rugby league, with fireworks and cheerleaders etc. He has fewer foreign names to struggle with too.

Embarrassing

What I found poor yesterday was not using the screens to let us know the Lazio team in the run up to kick off. Just reading out a list of names poorly was no help at all.
Then when the two team lists were finally shown, it seemed to be in a smaller font than last season, as I was having to squint to read the names, meaning it took me longer to get all the way down the list.
I had an eye test 3 weeks ago, with no change to my prescription.
Of course during the game if a player showed a bit of skill, I would look at the screen to see who it was and I would have a long wait before the team list came back 9n again.

DCWat wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 9:32 am

That’s a real shame, I think we could do with him before Christmas.

Christmas of which year?

Wasn't there, didn't hear him but looking at some of the Italian names unless you speak the language you need to check on the pronunciation. I wouldn't expect him to master "Cancellieri" but there are enough online aids if you look for them.

ecc wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 12:56 pm

Wasn't there, didn't hear him but looking at some of the Italian names unless you speak the language you need to check on the pronunciation. I wouldn't expect him to master "Cancellieri" but there are enough online aids if you look for them.

Every time Phil Bird mentioned him on commentary I thought he was referring to Tom Hagen.

On a similar note - with all the long serving members of staff we've had leave over the last year or two- I can't believe Phil Bird has managed to keep his role.

Watching the stream yesterday with his commentary- it's amazing how many times he just gets things wrong

It started badly when the players were walking out and he described the teams as Burnley in their "new light blue away kit" and Lazio in "what must be their dark blue 3rd kit"

claret10 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:00 pm

On a similar note - with all the long serving members of staff we've had leave over the last year or two- I can't believe Phil Bird has managed to keep his role.

Watching the stream yesterday with his commentary- it's amazing how many times he just gets things wrong

It started badly when the players were walking out and he described the teams as Burnley in their "new light blue away kit" and Lazio in "what must be their dark blue 3rd kit"

He corrected himself,but didn’t acknowledge his previous error, it was majestic. What a pro!

claret10 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:00 pm

On a similar note - with all the long serving members of staff we've had leave over the last year or two- I can't believe Phil Bird has managed to keep his role.

Watching the stream yesterday with his commentary- it's amazing how many times he just gets things wrong

It started badly when the players were walking out and he described the teams as Burnley in their "new light blue away kit" and Lazio in "what must be their dark blue 3rd kit"

I loved how excited he got by that overhit back pass which was going wide of the post and the keeper headed it out for a corner. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything quite like that at the Turf!

Tannoy (speaker address system) was awful from the RH side of the Bob Lord near Jimmy Mac. Delay on the speaker, couldn't hear any of the subs properly. Was broken at the end of last season and still hasn't been fixed.

Wonder if the announcer is being lined up for the new DJ booth once the work is complete. ‘Let’s hear it for Burnley’ every 5 minutes as all home fans are slowly squeezed in to the only entrance possible.

claret10 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:00 pm

On a similar note - with all the long serving members of staff we've had leave over the last year or two- I can't believe Phil Bird has managed to keep his role.

Watching the stream yesterday with his commentary- it's amazing how many times he just gets things wrong

It started badly when the players were walking out and he described the teams as Burnley in their "new light blue away kit" and Lazio in "what must be their dark blue 3rd kit"

It didn't really get any better from that point
Getting Burnley players mixed up
Doing an interview during some of our more promising attacks
Going overboard with how crazy the save was that the Lazio goalie made, obviously not realising that if hed touched the ball with his hands, instead of his head it would have been deemed a back pass.
It's the first time I've listened to him for 90 mins....never again

claret10 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:00 pm

On a similar note - with all the long serving members of staff we've had leave over the last year or two- I can't believe Phil Bird has managed to keep his role.

Watching the stream yesterday with his commentary- it's amazing how many times he just gets things wrong

It started badly when the players were walking out and he described the teams as Burnley in their "new light blue away kit" and Lazio in "what must be their dark blue 3rd kit"

There was some confusion with the teams coming out as well with us combining out of the tunnel to the right as we look at it, as we’ve always done, meaning we had to “cross over” with Lazio to get to the lineup handshake.

Luckily Cullen realised on the approach and was speaking to the Lazio captain

I don't know how anybody can listen to Phil Bird for 90 minutes.

There seemed to be some speakers on the longside roof now pointing towards the Bob Lord. Sat at front of Bob Lord was a bit better than last year. Couldn’t tell if speakers in the Bob Lord were on or not. Bottom line, it is still a sound system not fit for purpose. You should only be able to hear the speakers in your actual stand. Rant over.

Only thing I can think of is it's a big electrical wiring job to improve the BL sound system, and they don't deem it a priority and worth it.

Mounting a few decent speakers and running some wires and then buying the proper amplifiers may well cost say 100k but it’s peanuts compared to the other alterations going on around the ground. They just need to get the correct people in to advise and install it.

… and I’m sure it’s a health and safety issue in the event of the need to evacuate.

Procrastinate B wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:03 pm

He corrected himself,but didn’t acknowledge his previous error, it was majestic. What a pro!

My personal highlight was when we won a throw down near the corner which he had decided was a corner. He then went on a long description of how many corners we've had which went on about a minute after we'd taken the throw and worked it across to the other side of the pitch. At which point he picked up the comms seemlesly, with no mention of the non existent corner that he'd just spent a minute talking about.

Whitgord wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:39 pm

… and I’m sure it’s a health and safety issue in the event of the need to evacuate.

Apparently that uses a different system.

Would have been a nice touch to get someone to read their team in Italian for their fans. Plenty of Italian speakers round these parts too.

I don’t mind the guy as much as some on here, but it really did seem like he was encountering these names for the first time yesterday, which is incredibly amateur and unprofessional.

Phil Bird is just too biased. It's as simple as that. Maybe he's told to be, perhaps he's afraid to tell the truth. But he's just not objective.

I’m amazed we haven’t employed a new announcer. He is so so embarrassingly poor and annoying !!!!!

It winds me up.

It's the main (only?!) part of the job description and there is absolutely no excuse for mispronouncing names.

Your normal fan down the pub? Sure but even then it takes thirty seconds to google how to pronounce something.

But if you're paid to announce names and consistently get them wrong? I know I sound a bit dramatic and there are plenty of more serious things to be concerned about but not doing it properly comes across as lazy, arrogant and incompetent.

Whenever I’ve watched a stream of a game, I’ll always choose the opposition’s coverage. It’s generally very fair and professional. I’ve had people sat next to me on the Longside give more balanced commentary on a game than Phil Bird.

Pickles wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 10, 2025 3:31 pm

It winds me up.

It's the main (only?!) part of the job description and there is absolutely no excuse for mispronouncing names.

Your normal fan down the pub? Sure but even then it takes thirty seconds to google how to pronounce something.

But if you're paid to announce names and consistently get them wrong? I know I sound a bit dramatic and there are plenty of more serious things to be concerned about but not doing it properly comes across as lazy, arrogant and incompetent.

Agreed - when you see the “homework” that match commentators do and the lengths they go to to prep for a live game, and this guy sounds like he got handed a teamsheet at 2.45 and that’s the first time he saw all their names.

Got to say too that the commentary is poor. Watched the stream yesterday and I had to check it wasn't lagging because what was being said just didn't match up with what I was watching. But no it was in time, just not great commentary!