Match of the Day should have "less football" says BBC chairman - has he lost his mind?

Don’t worry - I could hardly believe it when I heard that, either. But it’s true, Samir Shah wants Match of the Day to have less football and more analysis during each programme.

The show has been the BBC’s flagship football programme since 1964, and the format has remained unchanged since that day. But Shah wants to move towards giving a “deeper insight” into the action, rather than actually showing it.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: “It should be built around analysis and examination of the match to give viewers a deeper insight.”

Personally, I’m still trying to wrap my head around this. You have a football programme, but the thing you want to cut is the football... why?

There are a few possible explanations, but none of them really add up. It could be a cost-cutting exercise from the BBC, paying less for rights to matches because they broadcast fewer minutes of them. But I would have assumed that having the rights to games is a simple yes/no, rather than being negotiable depending on how much footage they use. You still need access to the full 90 minutes to pick and choose your highlights from, after all.

Another possibility is that with more time analysing and breaking down games, you have more time spent with the pundits where funny or viral clips can emerge from. CBS Sports has perfected this form of social media engagement with its Champions League coverage, which has multiple funny moments from each programme.

The difference is that CBS has lightning in a bottle, with pundits Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards bouncing perfectly off each other and presenter Kate Scott. Are you really going to replicate that cameraderie by wheeling out Danny Murphy each week? I doubt it.

They won’t even have Gary Lineker to steer the ship next season, with the ex-Barcelona and Leicester City star stepping down at the end of the Premier League campaign. He will be replaced by a trio of presenters sharing the role - Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan.

I’m not the only one who thinks this is a bad idea either. Speaking to the Sun, Harry Redknapp said: “It's not a talk show. People tune in because they want to watch the football.

“I know it's different to the old days, when it was the only way to see football on TV, but you still want to see what's happened, not listen to someone telling you why.”