On Sky Sports News, Rob McCaffrey's gravelly voice impersonation (no matter how hard he tries, he'll never produce a Stelling performance) plummeted to new depths as John Salako, who was watching Richard Keys, became the second person to relay the news on air. Newstalk followed and sports newsdesks everywhere knew that the Curse of Keane had struck once more . . . they wouldn't, yet again, catch last orders in the pub.

Ron Atkinson knows a bit about last orders. The career rehabiliation which crashed a few weeks back with Excuse My French . . . sample quote from Ron's wife Maggie, "Ron uses his French when in Spain and his Spanish when in France, but he's not going to use it very much around here [Birmingham], is he?" . . . is likely to burn with Big Ron Manager.

Sky One's experiment of appointing Atkinson as a 'football troubleshooter' at a lower league club in a soft-focus charm offensive has a certain sadistic appeal, but no one is going to come out of this smelling of roses.

There's Barry Fry, the Peterborough United director of football, who accepted the £100,000 cheque for allowing a camera crew onto the training pitch and into the dressing room in a season where the club were sitting pretty in sixth position and looking good for a play-off spot for promotion to League One. There's Steve Bleasdale, the caretaker manager, whose insecurities as a first-timer are magnified by a pair of tangoed old farts massaging their egos for the entertainment of Sky One viewers. And then there's Big Ron:

"Terry Venables said to me, 'When are you going to stop apologising? I'm fed up with hearing you apologising.' And that's right, " Atkinson said at the start of the show in reference to the racist remarks made about Marcel Desailly. "I'd prefer to be judged by people I've worked with and that includes any number of black players."

Terry Venables, Barry Fry, Big Ron:

three peas in a pod. At least Atkinson will have the memories of the champagne and cigars. And he'll always have Maggie, standing by her man.

Big Ron Managermakes for entertaining viewing and we'll likely be tuning in for the rest of the series. But for all you Peterborough fans out there (is that tumbleweed blowing down the street? ), we understand if you are peeved, early doors.

Back home, which did you choose on Friday night? Shamrock Rovers against Bohemians in the cup on TG4 or Barcelona v Sevilla in the Uefa Super Cup on TV3. On paper for us, it was six of one, a baker's dozen of the other. Of course, maybe you chose dinner and conversation with friends and family. Weirdos, the lot of you.

Look at what you missed. This from Packie Bonner in the TV3 studio: "Sevilla, we don't know a lot about them but the one player that's in there is Kanoute, who played with Tottenham Hotspur." "Yeah, Tottenham andWest Ham, " said knowit-all Mark Lawrenson. Ah, the good old Premiership touchstones trotted out once again. Come on lads, where's the insight? Two bar stools could come up with that kind of stuff while a pair of barstool pundits would at least crack a few gags.

Lawrenson, it should be noted, raised his game at half-time but reverted to form afterwards. Looking to put Sevilla's 3-0 victory into context for your average TV3 viewer, he had this to say: "It's a bit like West Ham beating Chelsea 3-0 in the Community Shield. . . Questions will be asked about Chelsea ie Barcelona and then everyone saying what chance West Ham ie Sevilla [had of winning]." Phew, thanks for clearing that up for us, Mark.

Trevor Welch and Frank Stapleton provided the commentary.

It's a package like that, ladies and gentlemen, that should persuade everyone to pay the licence fee. Give RTE the loot to win the 'bidding wars' for coverage of top sporting events. The 'churn it out, keep the plates full . . . never mind the quality, feel the bandwidth' ideology has its place, but it's not on primetime Irish television.

And finally, here's a quick thumbs-up to a relative newcomer, ESPN Classic, which you'll find on channel 442 (see what those clever clogs did there) if you're a Sky Digital customer. Tonight, for example, they're showing Real Madrid: The Movie at seven o'clock, followed by a halfhour highlights reel of the 1960 European Cup final at Hampden Park.

Tomorrow night on ESPN Big Fights, Floyd Patterson is the star. Nostalgia, it seems, is as good as it ever was.