Andy Townsend’s return to ITV commentary provoked an inevitable reaction

It's that time of the year again where people are beginning to complain about the commentators.

And while the Football League doesn't start back until next week, and the Premier League until the following week, Thursday night marked the unofficial return of English football. Everton's Europa League tie against Ruzomberok provoked a stronger reaction than one would expect and mainly thanks to the man in the gantry for ITV. Andy Townsend was in and around Goodison Park for Everton's 1-0 victory and back on commentary duty for ITV. The reaction was inevitable. Townsend worked on the channel for 15 years, until 2015 when they decided not to renew his contract after losing the rights to live coverage of the Champions League. At the time, a lot of people seemed inordinately happy that a man had lost his job. Townsend wasn't the most popular co-commentator around, and regularly received criticism that's now reserved for Michael Owen. It appears the masses, or at least those who watched the game and posted on Twitter about it, weren't too happy about his return. https://twitter.com/danielminsky/status/890672437980839940 https://twitter.com/DJAshleyAmore/status/890671780326658050 https://twitter.com/anaIdirgeprat/status/890669202369003520 https://twitter.com/KBURKE1878/status/890665709281329153 https://twitter.com/I_See_M0nsters/status/890666277475307522 https://twitter.com/skybattalion/status/890667480783388672 https://twitter.com/EpsomGas/status/890667968803348480 https://twitter.com/Darren_Oakley/status/890652292419952640 https://twitter.com/jimmylowson/status/890657964553641985 https://twitter.com/maphyo79/status/890658549260353537 https://twitter.com/ALilSliceofLime/status/890660109902385152 https://twitter.com/Drury83/status/890670088793210881 https://twitter.com/MattLostBoyo/status/890670913116659713 https://twitter.com/jamesh5500/status/890680253974282240 https://twitter.com/JamieSmiff/status/890651243378425856