October 9 - Motty’s MOTD Bow

WHETHER you think that fact that the Euro 2008 final was John Motson’s last live football broadcast was good or bad news, there can be no doubt that the sheepskinned commentator has been a long-standing presence in all of our lives for decades.

It was on this day in 1971 that a young Motty made his first appearance on Match of the Day.

After starting his career as a junior reporter on the Barnet Press he moved on to the bigger regional title the Sheffield Morning Telegraph which was where he got his first break into the world of broadcasting.

BBC Sheffield recruited local journalists to head up their new radio service and Motty had made his first leap from print to live work.

He said: “I did some radio reports from games at places like Barnsley and Rotherham, and then one night when I was sitting on the sports desk at the newspaper I saw a senior sub-editor screwing up his face as he read my copy. After some time, he said, ‘John, on the evidence of this copy, I really think you should try the world of the voice rather than the written world.’”

His sub was spot on, Motty had found his calling and he soon bagged a small part on MOTD after the grizzled boss of BBC Sport Sam Leitch (he of the “they’ll be dancing in the streets of Raith tonight” gaffe) gave his his chance.

Motson was very much a junior member of the team until one day when he was sent to cover what was hardly the plum match in the FA Cup draw: a replay between non-league Hereford and First Division Newcastle United.

The match was scheduled to have a five minute segment at the end of the Match of the Day roster but Newcastle proved hilarious comedy cock-ups were still their forte even then, and went and lost 2-1 to the pluckiest of underdogs. It was the biggest shock since sliced bread and suddenly Motty’s insignificant match was top of the bill.

“Anyone could see it was a huge story when Hereford won 2-1, but it was still incredible to hear my commentary at the top of the show,” he recalls. “Sam Leitch must have thought I did all right because I got a contract soon after that.”

Motson had arrived and over the next few years he would go on to vie with Barry Davies for the position as England’s top commentator, with Motty shading it and getting the nod for most of the biggest gigs including the FA Cup finals and most of the prestige and England matches at major tournaments.

With his fact-based, chuckling and slightly naive style Motson has always divided opinion among football fans but he could always be relied upon for a comedy gaffe including his famous lines: “For those of you watching in black and white, Tottenham Hotspur are playing in yellow,” and: “Brazil – they’re so good it’s like they are running around the pitch playing with themselves.”

Our favourite however, has to be his impassioned words which accompanied David Platt’s winner for England against Belgium in Italia 90, and went on to be used in the Three Lions song. “And chipped in. AND VOLLEYED IN!!! And it’s there by David Platt! England have done it! In the last minute of extra-time!”

We will all have to do without Motson at the 2010 World Cup after he decided Euro 2008 would be his last tournament. He said: “I thought about the prospect of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 and I just didn’t feel quite up for it. I thought it would be better to go when I still felt good and confident about my work. I didn’t want to risk the chance that one day, while covering a big game, I no longer had the conviction for it, that something had gone out of me.”

We will leave you with a few of Motty’s best moments below, but click here to read about the passing of a true Newcastle legend.

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