I yield to no one in my love of the old days — warm beer, cricket on the village green, bobbies on bicycles two by two, all that — but it's rare a chance arises to compare the rose-tinted past with the brave new world, as it did on Saturday evening when Sky's high-octane Premier League coverage went head-to-head with Arsenal v Reading in the FA Cup semi-final on the BBC. As we know, the Premier League has the money and prestige, but what the FA Cup has is history, and boy does the BBC love a bit of history? Lest you were in any doubt, its coverage of the semi-final kicked off with footage of the late Sir Laurence Olivier doing the St Crispin's Day speech from the film of Henry V ('We happy few, We band of brothers,' and so on). Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Jason Roberts and Ian Wright fronted the BBC's coverage at Wembley . BBC presenter Lineker prepares to present the Match of the Day 50th anniversary special broadcast . Reading defender Nathaniel Chaloboah (left) chases Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey (right) on Saturday . Gunners forward Alexis Sanchez celebrates after scoring his side's winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final . Stand-in Match of the Day presenter Gabby Logan (left) with pundits Phil Neville and Robbie Savage (right) The excuse, I guess, was that Reading's nickname is the Royals, but as the second-tier team are also known as the Biscuitmen. The BBC even gave us a moment of history at half-time with a breakdown, something that used to be a regular feature of TV outside broadcasts, when a feature on Crystal Palace's shock semi-final victory over Liverpool 25 years ago came to a shuddering halt halfway through. In such instances, the BBC is lucky to retain the services of Gary Lineker, the best presenter of live football on TV. Sky have never really replaced the disgraced Richard Keys, who had the benefit of longevity in the post. The BBC needs to fight hard to avoid Lineker falling into the hands of rivals. Not that Sky's presenters are less than competent — David Jones did the job — but it's never a good sign when you have to go to Google to check which one it is. The price of live Premier League football is now way beyond the reach of the BBC, which may be the clincher in Lineker's future. While the BBC's match had the lion's share of the goalmouth action, it was difficult to resist turning over to Sky on occasion. Having invested its billions in the Premier League, Sky doesn't skimp on the peripheries. The sound always seems a little crisper, and in punditry, where Sky offers us the Rolls Royce of analysts, Gary Neville, the BBC counters with the mid-range Danny Murphy. In the commentary box, Sky fields Martin Tyler for its big games in the knowledge he'll rarely make a bad call, while the BBC never seems sure who its best commentator is. The man on the job on Saturday, Steve Wilson, is unfussy and made the most of what was the bigger story. The outcome on Sky was depressingly predictable. The BBC may miss out on the Premier League's pricey weekly thrills, but took the biscuit on Saturday. The BBC's Dan Walker talks pitchside with Sportsmail's Martin Keown at Wembley . Sky Sports pundits Graeme Souness (left) and Thierry Henry (right) discuss their match analysis .
The weekend saw BBC's FA Cup coverage compete with Sky's Premier League . It was a refreshing throwback to see the BBC's use of archive footage . Gary Lineker remains one of the BBC's prized assets and they must keep him .