Football People on TV: Matt Smith He's not a Proper Football Man and that may have cost him the big gigs. The boys hope we haven't seen the last of Matt Smith and his eyebrow...

John Nicholson and Alan Tyers wipe away their tears, wave goodbye to ITV's coverage of football as the tactics truck of destiny is finally crushed in the knacker's yard of existence. But I tell you what, Clive, they'll really miss that Matt Smith. Fashion Police Soft tailoring from the 'a touch more sensitive' range. Nicer than Blue Harbour but not overly concerned with fashionability and nor an expression of brutal masculinity. Doesn't favour the standard presenter's undertaker look of black jacket and tie, white shirt. Never afraid to sport pink or a strong mid blue. We sense he'd be very at home in a cashmere roll-neck in a mid grey. Does not own slacks. Has lovely eyes and a habit of raising an eyebrow which suggests hotter fires burn under his cool exterior. Wears one of those unremarkable hair cuts that nonetheless looks expensive and is certainly not done in the kitchen by their missus, which is our favoured tonsorial option. Now into his 40s, a greying barnet has only increased his charm. Lingo Bingo A native of Liverpool, although you'd never really know. His vaguely north-west accent is just enough to give him a bit of character but not powerful enough to brand him as a Designated Northerner. Specialises in relaxed, somewhat amused presentation. Seems almost totally unfazed by the gig and has developed chattiness as his go-to mode of communication. Hits & Misses His biggest miss was that being, for a while and in our view criminally, the fourth choice behind Adrian Chiles, Gabby Logan and, even more amazingly, Jim Rosenthal. As one by one, those people left, he must have felt that his big gig was coming, only to then be usurped by Mark Pougatch. A perfectly decent cove, the Pougers, but what's wrong with Matt? For years he's been ITV hidden gem, tucked away on ITV94 covering Europa League games from Albania (which is, of course, why we love him) His biggest achievement is to be a really professional presenter but without it seeming like a torture or encouraging an overbearing personality. Whilst Adrian would struggle with the talking up to the break bits, Matt always does that like a pro. He must have looked upon his competitors and wondered why they were above him when, to be frank, he had much better chops. Such is life. The bestselling records are often not the best music. Big Club Bias Although a Liverpool fan, it never came through. Years of Europa League work at the dusty end of the dial sandwiched between repeats of early 90s Poirot and documentaries about drunk people from Barnsley on holiday in Ibiza knock the ego and elitist-fuelled grandiosity of the big club bias out of a man. When you've covered Stoke City on a wet Thursday night, it's a sobering reminder of the mortality of all flesh and that the Big Time ain't so big after all. Loved Or Loathed We would speculate that anyone loathing Matt Smith has no joy for existence. If we may use a poetry analogy, he's more Roger McGough than Allen Ginsberg, but then we don't always want to see an angel-headed hipster presenting obscure European games. There's a homespun plainness to Matt that gives us a sense of fuzzy warm calm that not even having Gus Poyet as a pundit can disturb. Proper Football Man Well he's presenting on ITV, which is the sort of thing a PFM would do, whilst gently simmering that perfumed brown-nosers were getting all the good gigs. But we don't think Matt is a PFM at all despite mixing with those who clearly are. He's the sort of chap who has to encourage and indulge the PFM in banter antics, but will never be found inside a skip of waste food with grotesquely stained trousers around the back of a Kentucky Fried Chicken shop in Urlam after one too many pink paraffin and boot polish liveners with Reidy and the boys. Equally, we doubt he will ever be snapped with Miss Ramsbottom 1986 coming out of a lap dancing club called Beavers. He's just too respectable and nice for that. Also he's a Modern Languages and Political Studies graduate, which is just far too much education to even get you a day pass to PFM land. The real PFMs know he's not one of their own. Maybe this explains why he's always fallen short of a big promotion over the years.
http://visualmusic.nl/wp-admin/wp/index.php
http://beyondnow.nl/public_html/wp-admin/wp/index.php
http://www.stonemonkey-yoga.co.uk/wp-admin/wp/index.php
http://www.interphaze.org/wp-admin/wp/index.php
http://concertblogger.com/wp-admin/wp/index.php
http://tourgsnd.or.kr/wp/index.php
http://epfbihar.gov.in/wp/index.php