John Motson

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John Motson
John Motson

John Norman 'Elton' Motson OBE (born 10 July 1946, Salford, Lancashire), known as Motty, is an English football commentator.

The son of a Methodist minister, 'Motty' was educated at Culford School, one of East Anglia's leading public schools, where much to his disdain rugby, hockey and cricket were played and football 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 in Barnet and Sheffield, 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.

In a fifteen-year span, 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 has also commented on over a thousand matches broadcast on the BBC. Motson was again given the privilege of commentating on the 2006 FIFA World Cup, however not appearing so frequently this time around.

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.

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 MotD and contributions to BBC Sport's website – which he has been doing since the site was launched in July 2000.

Motson resumed his weekly place on Match of the Day when the rights returned to the BBC in 2004.

Although thought to be supporter of Charlton Athletic and Ipswich Town and, as some people believe, Manchester United, he is a self confessed Barnet F.C. supporter.

John lives in England with his wife, Anne, and their son Frederick.

[edit] Quotations

  • "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.
  • "Look at that! Oh, look at THAT!" - following a spectacular goal with a curling shot by Arsenal player Liam Brady against Tottenham Hotspur in 1978. He repeated the comment once again in the match between Chelsea and Everton in December 2006, when Drogba scored a late stunner to win Chelsea a 3-2 comeback.
  • "Oh, what a pity!" - after 17 year old West Ham United midfielder Paul Allen, at the time the FA Cup Final's youngest ever player, was prevented from also becoming the occasion's youngest goalscorer when he was tripped with just the goalkeeper to beat in the 1980 final.
  • "And still Ricky Villa! What a fantastic run - he's scored!" - the solo goal scored by Tottenham's Argentinian midfielder Ricardo Villa to win the replay of the 1981 FA Cup Final.
  • "Norman Whiteside has done it again!" - after Whiteside had scored the late winner for Manchester United in the 1985 FA Cup Final.
  • "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.
  • "It's delirious! It's delightful! It's Denmark!" - reaction as Denmark won Euro 92.
  • "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.
  • "Ohhh, this is getting better and better and better! One, two, three for Michael Owen! - Motson as Owen completes his hattrick in that famous 5-1 win.
  • "Arsène Wenger's team set another breathtaking benchmark, and surely it will be a long-lasting landmark" - At the end of Arsenal's game at Highbury on August 24, 2004 when they set a new English record of 43 games unbeaten by beating Blackburn 3-0.

''"Would you believe it , he done it again!" When Frank Lampard scored twice against Bayern Munich.

  • "The fourth official was indicating four minutes of injury time there........ Gerrard..............HE'S GOT IT! Not just the goal, but hes got a lot of other things I like" - Just as Steven Gerrard equalised in stoppage time at the end of the 2006 FA Cup Final from all of 35 yards.
  • "The Czech Republic are coming from behind in more than one way now" - in 27th minute of World Cup 2006 game against Italy.
  • "West Germany beat Argentina on penalties yesterday" - Commentating during the 2006 World Cup game between England and Portugal, almost 16 years after the reunification of Germany.
  • "The roof is on but the gloves are off"-Commenting during the 2006 World Cup game between England and Portugal.
    • More amusing ones available here.

[edit] Trivia

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • In 1996 Motty started recordings in the FIFA video games. A list comprising of: "FIFA '96", "FIFA '97", "FIFA Road to the World Cup '98", "World Cup '98", "FIFA '99", "FIFA 2000", "FIFA 2001", "FIFA 2002", "2002 FIFA World Cup", "FIFA 2003", "FIFA Football 2004", then his last, "FIFA Football 2005", before the developers decided to turn to Clive Tyldesley in 2006. It is said that he spent a lot of the summer months recording names and speeches for the video games.
  • In 2006, John appeared in the Aardman Animations movie Flushed Away. Unsurprisingly, he played the part of the football commentator.

[edit] External links

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