Mark E Smith 1 - 0 Ray Stubbs

I'd completely forgotten about this, but did anyone else see / hear The Fall's Mark E Smith reading the football scores during BBC1's 'Final Score' on Saturday?

It's the second time the Man City fan and notoriously grumpy old man has been invited to do the honours - stemming from the fact that they use The Fall's 'Theme From Sparta FC' as their theme music.

Smith hasn't quite mastered the James Alexander Gordon inflection, but substituted for it a whole new style which involved declaring the home team's name boldly but then mumbling his way through that of their visitors as though losing enthusiasm mid-score - not without its charm, it has to be said, and it made hearing the 3-0 scoreline at Stamford Bridge almost bearable, though there was no variation depending upon whether it was win, lose or draw for the home side.

Best of all was the impromptu "post-match" chat with Ray Stubbs, in which Smith enquired as to why "Stubbsy" (sorry, I've come over all Lawrenson) had had a #1 haircut, telling the presenter that it made him look as though he'd just escaped from Strangeways.

And then it was back to the diamond-encrusted insights of Garth Crooks and Carlton Palmer.

Personally, I'd have thought that handing Smith a role on live TV would be about as perilous as playing Russian Roulette with every chamber filled, but full credit to the 'Final Score' team for sticking their necks out in the name of entertainment.