I spent quite a long time writing a thing about Thierry Gilardi the other day, explaining how decent he seemed, how he also loved rugby, how he was vice-president of Stade Francais, how the French football and rugby communities each gave what appeared to be heartfelt tributes to him on the national news before the England game, how the news presenter only just made it to the goodnight bit at the end without breaking down because he was with him the morning he died, how they illustrated his commentary alongside memorable sporting moments from the last few years, and how it was all really quite moving... and the board timed me out and I couldn't be arsed to re-type it all.

However, on the subject of popular commentators, I will say that despite his tendency to become increasingly precious, I always had a lot of time for Barry Davies.

Mainly this is because I once had to contact him and several other people in the world of TV football. Not only was he one of the few to be decent enough to ring me back, but he also left a message on my home answerphone that began, "Hello, my name is Barry Davies, and...". Not "THIS IS Barry Davies..." It struck me that this said a lot about him as a person. Funnily enough, I never heard a word from Alan Green.