I WAS both intrigued and relieved to read that the editor of Match of the Day had recently completed his tour of all 92 current league grounds.

It was reassuring to discover that the head of the BBC's flagship football programme realises that there is life outside of the Premier League.

According to his blog, Paul Armstrong was in Shropshire for his in-laws' diamond wedding celebrations and took the opportunity to bring up the full set at Shrewsbury's New Meadow.

News of Paul's feat came hot on the heels that the Football League had awarded its television contracts for 2009-2012 to a joint bid from the BBC and Sky.

The deal will see the Beeb televise as many as 10 live Championship matches per season together with highlights from the lowly Football League.

Paul claims the acquisition of the rights "is going to bring us into welcome week-to-week contact with everyone in the Championship and Leagues One and Two".

However, having been a regular viewer of Match of the Day, I just hope this deal will not bring us into unwelcome contact with Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen.

The last thing I could stomach would be to listen to this pair of predictable ex-professionals patronising the lower leagues.

In my humble opinion, expert analysis of football matches constitutes telling me something I don't already know or highlighting incidents an untrained eye may have missed.

I know Derby are in deep trouble marooned at the foot of the table and I also know that Sam Allardyce must be under huge pressure at Newcastle.

I don't need to be told that Cristiano Ronaldo is good at taking free kicks or that Steve Bennett is a hopeless referee. I witness these things with my own eyes every week.

As pundits in a privileged position, Lawrenson and Hansen are experts at nothing more than stating the obvious and have become stale, tired and complacent.

Thankfully, the likes of Alan Shearer often save the day, while although Gary Lineker is okay as a front man, Adrian Chiles is far more watchable on a Sunday.

When the BBC's coverage of the Football League kicks-off, maybe they should consider doing away with resident panellists and start using different experts each week.

Alternatively, they could do a lot worse than ask Ian Holloway and Neil Warnock to trade their respective roles as managers and become regular pundits.

Hopefully, they will also give some consideration to the small matter of post-match interviews because, frequently, the choice of interviewee on MOTD is baffling.

I tuned in on Boxing Day to listen to Gus Poyet and Avram Grant and couldn't understand what they were saying, while even Michael Carrick's thick Geordie lilt had me straining my ears.

Nothing comes remotely close to the inane ramblings of Lawrenson and Hansen though, and, at the murment, Gary, they are both a major turn-off.