Aidan Smith: BT didn’t miss the coconut but Sky might have. There’s its challenge.

The main reason for having BT Sport is the channel’s coverage of Scottish football. It’s not the Champions League which frequently underwhelms. Promises much but doesn’t deliver, last week’s Manchester United-Barcelona match being a case in point. Poor game, lousy broadcast. Steve McManaman’s turn as co-commentator almost made me want to cancel my BT contract there and then. He’s one of the ex-pros deemed absolutely essential to televised football now, so much so that we’re left to wonder how we ever survived on Arthur Monford’s mix of gentlemanliness and enthusiasm and Archie Macpherson’s mix of learnedness and “Woof!” Sensing early that Man U-Barca wasn’t going to be the football fiesta as advertised, McManaman decided the best way to keep us watching was to slag off the Catalans. We were invited to believe that a glorious era was coming to an end and this would be significant. Man U were talked up but what did they do? Fail to produce a single shot on target, that’s what. The evening’s nadir was McManaman, pictured, condemning Lionel Messi for his “poor first touch” in the lead-up to the goal. I didn’t think it was poor; indeed I’m convinced Messi deliberately went wide to create room for the cross. But I’m not the ex-pro; what do I know?