BBC Radio 5 Live legend Mike Ingham slams lost 'discipline' and reveals he now tunes into talkSPORT

Mike Ingham, the former BBC Radio 5 Live chief football correspondent, has publicly criticised the broadcaster for losing its editorial ‘discipline’ in the years since it scrapped its iconic classified football results segment in 2022 — and revealed he has since turned to rival station talkSPORT as his preferred listening.

Ingham, 76, spent nearly a quarter of a century at 5 Live, forming a celebrated commentary partnership with Alan Green between 1990 and 2014. Together they covered FA Cup finals, World Cup tournaments and major European competitions. Ingham was appointed the station’s chief football correspondent in 2004 before stepping back after the 2014 World Cup.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Ingham was pointed in his criticism of the decision to drop the classified results read — a segment he compared to a broadcasting institution. “It’s like building a house without the bricks,” he said. “Those two-and-a-half minutes were like taking stock at the end of a hurly-burly afternoon. It was a great bit of broadcasting when it was done by James Alexander Gordon, like the shipping forecast.”

He went further in questioning the broader direction of 5 Live. “I think 5 Live has lost a lot of, not professionalism, but discipline,” Ingham said. “I was reared on hitting the pips. My family gets so exasperated with me now because I’m such a stickler for time. A lot of that has been lost, it has become much more easy come, easy go.”

Ingham also argued the BBC has overextended itself at the expense of its core strengths. “I just think the BBC has spread itself too thinly. It’s just trying to do everything, as opposed to trying to concentrate on the things it does best. For me, the programme should always come before the podcast.”

When the classified segment was axed in 2022, the BBC explained the decision was driven by the addition of a 5.30pm live Premier League match to 5 Live’s schedule, which condensed Sports Report from one hour to 25 minutes. The corporation acknowledged at the time that the results read had been taking five to seven minutes — roughly a third of the shortened programme.

Despite his long association with the BBC, Ingham said talkSPORT now provides the “comprehensive service” that keeps him coming back as a listener — a pointed endorsement from one of British football broadcasting’s most respected voices.