IT WAS nice to see John Motson chose to mark the 40th anniversary of his first Match of the Day commentary by watching Huddersfield Town take on Stevenage as a guest of the Galpharm club.
The 65-year-old who was once a reporter in Sheffield, kicked off his TV career at Anfield, where Liverpool took on Chelsea on the same afternoon Town hosted Manchester United in the top flight.
It was a goalless draw on Merseyside (Ian Greaves’ Leeds Roaders were beaten 3-0 by United in a match recalled in the last Saturday’s Examiner).
Motty was on trial with the Beeb at the time, and struck lucky when a few months later, he was assigned an FA Cup third-round replay between Hereford and Newcastle.
It was expected to be a routine Magpies victory – until Ronnie Radford and Ricky George intervened to set what is still the benchmark for romance in football.
Motson, who is closing in on the 3,000-match milestone and has been at every major championships in his 40 years, has become a sheepskin-coated institution.
“My voice hasn’t changed much – I’ve been blessed there,” he said. “And touch wood, I’ve never missed a game through illness.”
Out of interest, Motson, who has stayed loyal to the BBC in the face of offers from both ITV (in 1998) and Sky (in 2004), rates his top three games that Hereford cup shock, Italy’s 3-2 win over Brazil in the 1982 World Cup and England’s 5-1 win over Germany in their 2001 World Cup qualifier.
He also commentated on two Town games for Match of the Day at old Leeds Road, a goalless draw against Chester in March 1981 and 2-0 win over Oxford in January 1982, both in the old Division III (now League I).
“The ironic thing is,” added the man who moved into TV from radio, “I didn’t make a particularly good start. I was very self-critical, kept thinking of things I should have said, or things I should have noticed.
“Without Hereford-Newcastle, I wouldn’t have made it!”
