These Guys Are All Greatly Missed

I dearly miss Brenner Woolley and Mick Mills, and the very professional way they comment on Ipswich matches. I still subscribe to ifollow, but these days it sounds like any other local radio station. We all want Ipswich to win but not with rose-tinted spectacles on! There has to be a happy balance and BBC Radio Suffolk have found it.

In 2001, Brenner arrived in Ipswich as a broadcast journalist at BBC Radio Suffolk; initially doing bulletins and producing shows. He had previously worked freelancing for Radio City on Merseyside, and Hallam FM in Sheffield, and earlier in his life found himself selling mobile phones and cinema tickets!

And yet, this Berwick-upon-Tweed journalist and commentator’s real talent lay in the art of communication. He found his home here in Suffolk more than twenty years ago, and he has become an intrinsic part of BBC Radio Suffolk sport’s success story.

Along with Graeme Mac, (17 years in Suffolk with the BBC) and who is the stations Sports Editor and hosts the Final Whistle show, and former Ipswich and England footballer Mick Mills, whose very analytic approach towards all things football adds an educational dimension to supplementary commentary, this is far and away the most professional presentation of football at a local radio level.  And how I miss it!

Without naming names, I am very disappointed with the ifollow commentary team – even if this does include former Town players.  I want an honest and accurate verbal description of the game I am watching, and not some hugely distorted depiction of it.

Yes, I want Town to win, of course, I do, but I don’t want to hear such a jaundiced set of opinions, which is what the ifollow team is all about. They could get away with it on the radio maybe, but we are all watching! The broadcasting team on ifollow do not do enough research and consequently, there are inaccuracies. For example, Cameron Burgess is NOT an Australian!  Ipswich Town have changed many things for the better recently, but they must guard against throwing the baby out with the bath water.