John Motson’s TV career, at least according to himself, would never have taken off had he not been part of the cup action by the feeble Hereford United in 1972. As a radio talent, he was allowed to try out for a year. BBC football programme Today’s match, with a small match on the edge of the broadcast. And then Hereford won against Newcastle United and opened the football bulletin with his voice skipping to Ronnie Radford’s equalizer. It even became 2-1 to the insignificant provincial club.

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In her terrified dreams she saw Radford explode on the mast or fly beside her, he once said, and Motson was never the voice of English football. He worked his way from a Bible shop to local journalism, through sports coverage for newspapers to football commentary for BBC radio, where he stood out with his flair for precise words and a pleasant voice.

His powers of observation took shape in the age of television where you had to see it and say it. No repetition. In Motson’s early years, BBC Sport had one video device with rewind function, but that was for horse racing where head length dictated and therefore replay was essential. So you always hope, Motson said in one interview on his own BBC, that what you shouted in the heat of the match actually matched what people saw that night. “You sometimes look at her in horror at night.”

1990 World Cup

He is one of the top three British football commentators, along with Brian Moore (ITV) and Barry Davies (BBC). He was at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi-final on 15 April 1989, when 96 Liverpool fans were killed. He immediately realized that the supporters who had come onto the pitch had no evil intentions, but had narrowly escaped death. Although his comments were never broadcast on the evening program, which, of course, did not contain football images, but only reports of the disaster.

The semifinal round of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when West Germany beat England on penalties, was highlighted by Motson as a commentator for the England national team. Right after retiring in 2018, the team embarked on a strong string of tournament appearances. Motson was not granted to go into eternity with the iconic one-liner, like his predecessor Kenneth Wolstonholme („They think it’s all over”) in the 1966 World Cup final won at Wembley. He wasn’t looking for that either, it seemed.

‘Motty’ remains the voice of football for generations of football fans in the UK and beyond, thanks in part to his participation in the video game FIFA. In a career spanning more than 45 years, he linked the swamp football at Hereford United in the early 1970s to today’s hyper-commercialization of the Premier League. In his sheepskin coat and, sometimes, hat to match, he himself grew up to be a relic from another time. Stadiums have become safer, games are quicker, interest has increased and distance to players and coaches too.

He regretted the latter. “The informal ones are gone,” he said. John Motson is 77 years old.