John Motson

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John Motson OBE

Motson preparing for a match in 2008
Born John Walker Motson
July 10, 1945 (1945-07-10) (age 62)
Salford, Lancashire
Nationality Flag of England England
Education Culford School, Bury St Edmunds
Occupation Football commentator
Employers BBC Sport
Spouse Anne
Children Frederick

John Walker Motson OBE (born 10 July 1945, Salford, Greater Manchester), known as Motty, is an English football commentator.

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[edit] Biography

The son of a Methodist minister, 'Motty' was educated at Culford School, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, where much to his disdain, rugby, hockey and cricket were played and football was not. He was in the same year as Gary Newbon, who still holds the record for the most appearances in the school's 1st XV rugby.

Motson's career began in the newspaper business as a reporter on the Barnet Press and the Sheffield Morning Telegraph, where he first covered Association Football. It began to take off when the BBC hired him in 1968 as a sports presenter on Radio 2. Three years later, he replaced Kenneth Wolstenholme at Match of the Day. After initially having a small role on MOTD, Motson covered the famous FA cup fourth round replay between Hereford United and Newcastle United on 5 February 1972, which the BBC thought would be a five minute segment following their two main games. Non league Hereford won the match 2-1, it became the main featured game on the show and launched Motson's career.

In fifteen years, Motson commentated at a total of 29 consecutive championships: World Cups, FA Cups, and European Championships. More recently, he was commentator for the 2006 World Cup. He loves his "champagne football". He has also commented on over a thousand matches broadcast on the BBC. He was commentating on the FA Cup Semi-final of 1989 between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest when the Hillsborough disaster occurred. 96 Liverpool fans were killed in a crush at one end of Sheffield's Hillsborough stadium. Motson found himself commentating on a tragedy rather than a football match, and he would later appear as part of the Hillsborough enquiry, since he had been a witness.

Apart from a brief spell in the 1990s, when his friend and rival Barry Davies was selected for two FA Cup final commentaries and the 1994 World Cup final, Motson has been the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC since the late 1970s. His first FA Cup Final as commentator was 1977 in the match between Manchester United and Liverpool.

Motson's popularity has extended to the Internet, where BBC Sport Online created a Mini Motty "desktop toy" to keep fans up to date on action in the Premiership, FA Cup, and other leagues throughout England and Scotland. In 1996, Motson published a book entitled Motty's Diary: A Year In The Life Of A Commentator. Two years later, BBC One gave him his own TV programme, entitled The Full Motty.

John Motson is famed for his sheepskin coat, which, on satirical quiz show They Think It's All Over, he revealed that he bought off a man in Hornchurch along with 7 identical coats, hoping that they would span his career. However, they appear to have petered out over the recent years so his career may have lasted longer than expected.

Previously Motson and an ex-professional summariser, including Mark Lawrenson and former Rangers star Ally McCoist, lent their voices to U.S. videogame maker EA Sports as English-language commentators for its popular FIFA series, but were replaced for FIFA 2006 by Clive Tyldesley and Andy Gray.

When Premiership television highlights moved to ITV in 2001, and MotD was no longer a weekly fixture in the schedules, Motson returned to radio on BBC Radio Five Live's coverage of the Premiership, but continuing to make frequent appearances on live TV coverage and contributions to BBC Sport's website – which he has been doing since the site was launched in July 2000.

In 2001, speech therapist Jane Comins conducted a voice profile analysis to study the patterns of eight top television and radio commentators. The criteria included pitch, volume, rhythm and tone, and Comins found that Motty scored the best results. This was backed by 32% of football fans who voted him Britain's favourite commentator.[1]

Motson resumed his weekly place on Match of the Day when the rights returned to the BBC in 2004 although he has continued to perform occasional radio commentaries.

In 2006, Motson appeared in the Aardman Animations movie Flushed Away, playing the part of the football commentator.

Although suspected by some of supporting Charlton Athletic, Ipswich Town, Derby County (often seen at matches with his son) or Manchester United, he is in fact a self confessed Barnet F.C. supporter.[citation needed]

John lives in England with his wife, Anne, and their son Frederick (Derby County FC fan).

In 2007 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives and he nominated Brian Clough as his 'great life'.[2]

[edit] Quotations

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  • "Radford...now Tudor's gone down for Newcastle...Radford again...OH, WHAT A GOAL!!! What a goal! Radford the scorer! Ronnie Radford! And the crowd...the crowd are invading the pitch! No goalkeeper in the world would have stopped that!" - after arguably the most famous goal commentated upon by Motson; Ronnie Radford's spectacular equaliser for non-league Hereford United against Newcastle United in 1972 - regarded as the goal from which Motson's career has never looked back.
  • "Jimmy Greenhoff with the header on for Pearson, a chance on here - and Pearson is the scorer!" - the first goal in an FA Cup Final commentated upon by Motson; Stuart Pearson's opener for Manchester United in the 1977 game at Wembley.
  • "For those of you watching in black and white, Tottenham Hotspur are playing in yellow" - seconds into a 1978 league fixture for Match of the Day at The Dell between Saints and Spurs.
  • "It's like they the Brazilians are running around the pitch playing with themselves
  • "Mrs Thatcher has her own cup final later this month" - after the BBC camera spotted the then Prime Minister in the Wembley crowd prior to the 1987 FA Cup Final, which was played just before the 1987 UK general election.
  • "The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club!" - reaction to the final whistle as Wimbledon defeated Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final.
  • "And chipped in. AND VOLLEYED IN!!! And it's there by David Platt! England have done it! In the last minute of extra-time!" - On Platt's winner against Belgium in Round 2 of Italia '90, commentary later featured in the song Three Lions.
  • "It's delirious! It's delightful! It's Denmark!" - reaction as Denmark won Euro 92.
  • "None of the players are wearing earrings. Jakob Kjeldberg, with his contact lenses, is the closest we can get
  • "Over The Top, Over The Bar, And He Knows He Should Have Done Better!" His most famous words on the FIFA '98 World Cup Game.
  • "England versus Germany games have often caused the tea-cups to topple off the table, so those of you at home watching tonight be careful with the crockery" - Motson before England versus Germany in a crucial 2002 World Cup qualifier in Munich. England would go on to win the match 5-1.
  • "Just like a falling oak, he manages to change direction" - on David Seaman
  • "This is the biggest thing that's happened in Athens since Homer put down his pen" - after Greece won Euro 2004
  • "They are nearer to being out of the FA Cup now than any other time since the first half of this season, when they weren't ever in it anyway" - Commentating on Tottenham Hotspur.
  • "The roof is on but the gloves are off"- Commenting during the 2006 World Cup game between England and Portugal.
  • "Oh Pearler! Pearler from Pirlo!"-Commentating during the 2006 World Cup, in a game between Italy and Ghana.
  • "What Drama Here!"- Used in many of his matches.
  • "That tackle was so hard, it hurt his whole family!" Another famous quote from the FIFA '98 World Cup game.
  • "Shevchenko can't hit a barn door with a banjo for Chelsea!" Commentating after Shevchenko misses a goalscoring opportunity in the 2006/07 season.
  • "It's come out to Joe Cole, there's the volley AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!" Joe Cole's volley for England against Sweden in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
  • "Kranjcar will shoot from here...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH ITS GONE RIGHT THROUGH!!!" Motty's disbelief at Scott Carson's blunder as Niko Kranjcar tried his luck from long range to produce the opener during England's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Croatia.
  • "Beckham, Crouch waiting in the centre........CROUCH...SURELY...YES!!! YES!!!" Motson enjoys Peter Crouch's equaliser for England against Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
  • "Say something, Mark, say something!" A shellshocked and disheartened Motson imploring his broadcast partner Mark Lawrenson to make some sense of England's disastrous loss to Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
  • "Wayne Brown with the ball now ..." A classic Motson mistake, as he fuses Wayne Bridge's and Wes Brown's names in the England vs Switzerland game in February 2008.
  • "The FA Cup needs a cuddle"

[edit] Publications

  • Motson, John (1972). Second to None: great teams of post-war soccer. Newton Abbot, Sportsmans Book Club. ISBN 072070605X. 
  • Motson, John (with J. Rowlinson) (1980). History of the European Cup. Queen Anne P. ISBN 0362005125. 
  • Motson, John (1986). Motty's Diary: a year in the life of a commentator. London, Virgin Books. ISBN 1852276207. 
  • Motson, John (1994). Match of the Day: the complete record. BBC Books. ISBN 978-0563370628. 
  • Motson, John (2004). Motty's Year. BBC Books. ISBN 978-0563521747. 
  • Motson, John (2004). Motson's National Obsession: The Greatest Football Trivia Book Ever. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1860746017. 
  • Motson, John (2005). Motson's FA Cup Odyssey. Robson Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1861059031. 
  • Motson, John (2006). Motson's World Cup Extravaganza. Robson Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1861059369. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ Motson Britain's favourite commentator Independent on Sunday
  2. ^ BBC - Radio 4 - Great Lives

[edit] External links

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