I really didn't enjoy the interviews with managers whilst the game was going on. They always had two eyes and at least half a brain on the action to ever say anything of interest. An innovation Setanta did just because it was the Blue Square and they could, rather than considering whether they should. A step too far in getting the viewer right to the heart of the action.
A sad loss on the Sky EPG will be Setanta Sports News but for all the wrong reasons. A kind of Drop the Dead Donkey version of Sky Sports News. It seemed far more based in the world of sitcom than in the world of sport.
However, for the football viewer who was happy to watch any action at all whether it was a pointless England friendly or a game at the bottom half of the Conference, Setanta was a welcome addition to football broadcasting and a million times better than anything ITV Digital ever offered.
They will be especially remembered as the only broadcasters who were ever considerate enough to show a live game from Vicarage Road with cameras pointing at the Rous Stand rather than the emptiness of the East. Although you wonder whether this sort of frivolous decision making was partly what led to their downfall.
I won't greatly miss them, but will probably regret their demise on a dull Thursday night next season when there isn't any other football on.
