As the original Jack of all journalistic trades and master of erm, none, over the last four and a half decades I can safely say that at least one old adage is true: Every Picture Tells a Story.***
Reading swiftly through the red top on Saturday morning my attention was quickly grabbed by the traditional-style photograph of some of the guests immediately before they entered the Oak Chapel at Crownhill Crematorium in Milton Keynes to attend the funeral of surely the BBC’s best-known football commentator of all time, the much-loved John Motson.
A few years ago now I wrote in MFW of my experience in meeting Motty at Vicarage Road, Watford, as Harlow Town’s epic FA Cup run of 1979-80, which saw the demise of both Leicester City and Southend United came to an end with a 4-3 defeat courtesy of the Hornets.
I remember mentioning Motty in said article and highlighting what a gentleman he was, not least by his pointing out the priorities of the world of TV and radio taking temporal precedence over the printed media, and while this was mitigated by Watford’s proximity to state-of-the-art facilities in London that some regional BBC studios were yet to possess, an early protocol had already been established!
Motty’s methods of communication were definitely “My dear chap, would you mind awfully…” over “Oi, you, do as you’re told.”
He had also asked me a fair bit about Harlow Town before the match and after all our work was done he spent a more than fair bit of time in the directors’ lounge chatting with myself and my counterpart from the Watford Observer, which he didn’t have to do. We all seemed to enjoy ourselves equally, gassing on about the game, and it was a genuine pleasure to meet him, especially as the Observer lad had warned me how up themselves a couple of other national journos had proved to be while using his Press Box in the then-recent past.
It’s just like having your own season ticket, honestly, and on a matchday many a local journo is likely to be driven by the territorial imperative and a loyalty that in some cases they might not even have known they possessed. 😀
In comparison with, say, MFW colleague Mick Dennis who enjoyed a long and successful career intensively focused on the beautiful game, I didn’t get to meet that many famous footy faces, so I never really passed that tipping point of it ceasing to be a real treat for me when I did, if you see what I mean.
I’ve always been lucky throughout my career as big things have come to me unheralded. I’ve never had a need to seek them out, they’ve just turned up in their own way if and when they’ve wanted to. So when I saw the pictures from Motty’s funeral, another memory leaped off the page when I saw former Scotland and Arsenal goalkeeping legend Bob Wilson enjoying a chat with Sir Trevor Brooking.
When ex-England and Arsenal striker John Radford opened the Greyhound in Thaxted in deepest Essex [the picturesque part in the north of the county] me and Lenny T, the photographer, went along to “cover” the official opening night for the Bishop’s Stortford slip edition of the Harlow Gazette.
I knew Raddy a bit but had never met Bob Wilson or George Armstrong before that night. Len and I struggled to understand Geordie Armstrong – really – but he was a right laugh whereas Bob Wilson had a much more serious air about him.
This gravitas was to be seen in full effect during a successful career change which saw the genial Scot working on Football Focus, Grandstand, and Match of the Day. Bob Wilson was also unfortunate in that he was allotted live commentary duty for the Hillsborough FA Cup semi-final in 1989.
He would have known John Motson very well indeed.
The signing of John Radford by Bishop’s Stortford was really quite something back in its day and would be seen as roughly on par with Dereham Town persuading Danny Welbeck or Jamie Vardy to sign for them today. Extremely physical players like Radford do not really exist in the Premier League these days, so my comparison is that of fitness/career stage and most certainly not that style of play.
Admittedly we’re going back well over 40 years but Wilson insisted then that for keepers training is only good for fitness work and learning how to marshal the defensive unit he was playing behind for any given game. Given how settled the Arsenal back four of that time was [Peter Storey, Bob McNab, Frank McLintock, Ian Ure] he reckoned that wasn’t too vital in his particular case either.
He wasn’t a bighead, far from it. A really good bloke and, looking back, probably more than a little bit ahead of his time.
I didn’t find out until years afterwards, but his middle name is Primrose, as in the cute little indigenous Spring primula. It derives from his mother’s maiden name and it can be part of Scottish tradition to pass things on in this way.
Raddy went on to with the FA Trophy with Bishop’s Stortford against Sutton United at Wembley the week before I moved for a new job in 1981, so unfortunately that matchday turned out to be the last time I saw him.
*** The couple of live versions are abysmal and the studio one is showing its age more than I’d realised so we’ll jump from a picture to a book, in this case, the Book of Taliesyn courtesy of an early incarnation of Deep Purple:
Dear old Motty, and now we have progressed to Linker. Beam me up Scotty.
Hi Cutty
For *Sports Presenters I have met*, add the genuinely lovely Sue Barker to my list and it’s complete.
It’s a short list, but pretty high on quality I’d say!
Cheers
Nice piece, as ever, Martin! Though I have to say I always preferred Barry Davies over old Motty. The latter seemed to get the better BBC matches, maybe Barry D had upset the hierarchy somehow?
Hi Dan
Yes Barry Davies was pretty popular too, as was Brian Moore who I got to see a lot of via *The Big Match*, which was very much a London show – probably Thames TV?
Gerry Harrison was particularly divisive hear in East Anglia where he was outed as a City fan very early on and always got a *friendly wave* from the 1p5wich fans when the cameras were in town, Whether it be at Carrow Road or Portman Road he always got the same treatment from Town fans!
Cheers
That’s interesting, as I only ever heard him referred to as Gerry “Ipswich” Harrison!
Hi Graham
Really? 🙂 ? 🙂 ? 🙂
I should have mentioned Richard Futter or Malcolm Robertson instead!
Cheers
Like yourself I have done the rounds of non-league reporting and the big difference between then and now is that well-known players – such as John Radford – would drop down from the Football League to get one last pay-day. I remember seeing Steve Daley play for Gresley on a roped-off pitch in Ipswich in the FA Vase eight years after Malcolm Allison signed him for £1.4m. Now, however, a couple of decent Premier League contracts set you up very nicely for a good life. It’s a very rare sight to see an ex-PL star in non-league. And if you’re the likes of Gerrard or Lampard you then decide you want to become a manager, but rather than cut your teeth at a lower level, such as a former England international I once dealt with, you won’t touch anything lower than the Championship or the Scottish Premiership!
And as for full names you didn’t know, I give you Llewellyn Charles “Alan” Curbishley.
Hi O-t a s-t h
My big-bonced comment about the big things coming to me was actually fact-based as that apart from Harlow’s Cup run of 79-80 and Stortford’s Trophy win in 1981 neither club has ever done anything like that either before or since!
The trip with Diss to Wembley doesn’t really count as I went to enjoy myself and not to work, a bit like half of Norfolk and a fair bit of Suffolk it would seem.
I’ve no idea what Radford and his ilk earned from the Isthmian, Northern Prem or whatever but several did indeed take an unglamorous drop for the £££. The Stortford skipper that day, Dave Blackman, reckoned anybody with a professional pedigree would be singled out by opposition players for all the wrong sort of treatment and from what I saw over two short seasons he was spot on.
You’re so right about Gerrard and Lampard, and they’re by no means alone. There is much respect for, say Vincent Kompany who has proved himself in a relatively short period of time although I am not so sure about the other two.
There are so many examples of players who loved Norfolk so much they simply never left when their careers finished whether early through injury like Billy Steele who ran [I think] the Ironmongers off the market, Flecky who eventually became a teaching assistant and Greg Shepherd, who became a BroadsBeat officer and was probably. based at Acle nick when it had one.
No I didn’t know that was Curbishley’s real name – you wouldn’t think so by listening to him speak, anyway!
Thanks – good comment.
Brilliant article Martin.
It evokes co many great memories of great days past.
I was never lucky enough to meet “Motty” but the recent excellent BBC documentary really showed Motty’s absolute love for the game, his lovely eccentricities and the amazing research he and his wife did before every game he commentated on.
I well remember the Arsenal team of the early seventies, Wilson, Armstrong, George, McLintock, Radford et al that was one of the games in that first season in the First Division at Carrow Road that I just couldn’t wait for. It wasn’t long after Arsenal had done “The Double” win the First Division and FA Cup. It wasn’t like today when such achievements are much more commonplace. It was huge news.
And we beat them 3-2 !!!!
I do remember with fellow Norwich supporters on our way back from Old Trafford, meeting and having a long chat with Kevin Keegan in a cafe, he was then at Liverpool.
He was a lovely fella and he told us Martin Peters would be a fantastic signing for us. He was a bloody good judge on that.
I have spent time briefly with quite a few City players over the years and haven’t met a bad one yet, though a certain mercurial Northern Irelander was “different”
You couldn’t meet nicer people than John Deehan and Robert Fleck.
The really “oh my god” moment was at Carrow Road for, I think it was a Sky TV forum, and I actually got lost 😂but so did one certain Georgie Best.
I spoke to him and his then girlfriend for a while and we then managed to find our way to where we needed to be. What struck me was how shy he was. Great memories.
I do love talking to our own Mick Dennis, now I may not agree with Mick’s view on the present ownership but he is as a fervent Norwich supporter as any of us are and his Tales from The City are brilliant reads.
I remember Clive Woods playing for Newton Flotman, Luther Blissett playing for Fakenham Town and unbelievably World Cup winner Martin Peters playing for Gorleston. Those were the days😂.
I can remember a few ex professionals playing in 5- a side competitions around Norfolk in the summers back in the eighties.
And a funny thing just struck me as I write this Martin, all the old successful ex-pros were good guys, modest and just went along to enjoy the day, even though one ex West Ham fella pulled me back when I was clean through 😂
But it was the “failed” ex players who were the ones giving it large, arguing with the referees and one in particular actually kicked a guy in the head while on the ground. And no he didn’t get sent off.
It really is a funny old game.
Hi Tim
You’re certainly right in that the Arsenal achievement was considered momentous back in those days, especially as Tottenham had been the only previous side to do the double since well before WWI!
Growing up and working in London as I did I have probably met fewer City players than other Norfolk supporters have but like you say not one of them had anything of the butthole about them.
I remember Woodsy in the Combination Premier Division too as I lived in Blofield throughout the 1990s and Newton Flotman visited the Rec several times in that period – this must have been at the very end of a very long career. He was a really good bloke; very approachable as I remember..
Mind you, you could probably have written a book about Blofield United itself if you’d had a mind to – there was plenty of material there!
Mick D’s Tales From The City volumes are indeed top class reading. I particularly like being reminded of incidents in games I’ve physically been at myself.
It’s the only thing that could come to close to somebody coming up to me in the summer of 74 at Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre to tell me that 30 years later I would be able to listen to that night’s gig while driving in my car.
The band? Queen when they were heavier than they were camp and Seven Seas of Rhye was about to become their first hit single.
If that [or another] somebody subsequently told me I’d be able to watch it ON MY MOBILE PHONE some five years further on from there I would have freaked – the days of the Stones and *Got Live if you Want it* are well and truly gone!
Cheers
To say the world has changed since our youth is an understatement Martin.
We had an outside loo, a black and white telly, a boiler thingy for washing clothes and a tin bath. Saturday night only 😂 I wouldn’t have wanted to be down wind of me on a Friday😂 that’s for sure.
My poor lovely mum when she got that accursed alzheimer’s went back to that memory, thinking she only bathed once a week😥
Plus she asked me to put Izal toilet paper on her shopping list !!! I wonder what youngsters would make of that today.
I am getting a little bit Monty Python there.
Greg Downs, Dave Stringer, Peter Silvester, Mark Bowen among many others are great people to talk with. And of course the legend that is Duncan Forbes. What a great fella he was.
And wow Queen !!! Both me and my wife regret not seeing them live.
Dave Stringer was a nice guy who peaked around his *flat cap at Colney* era in the early 1990s – ironically just before he quit as manager!
Queen: Live at the Rainbow 1974 – SuperDeluxeEdition
(96) Queen Live At The Rainbow ’74 Full Concert – YouTube.
Cheers:
Frost on the inside of the house windows, Tim??
That Iremember only too clearly….along with the “thunderbox” at the bottom of the garden!
O T B C
You ‘ad it toof… ‘Ad ter get oop at 3 to have roard licked clen with; toooungue bah six or Dad wood,,, Ok, that should stop the Monty Python before it starts.
Hi Martin
Many Blues Moons have passed since I met a cigar smoking, Fedora wearing Malcolm Allison in all places The Shay Stadium in Halifax his high priced stars v the old Halifax in the FA Cup it would be 1980.
I was doing a sport of security for Granda TV that was covering the game. David Vine was the commentator, who I met a few years previously when he was doing a BBC quiz in Gibraltar for the Services Br9adcasting.
One of the crew told me he is the nicest man to your face but has a big knife if he thinks you’re getting one over him, I never saw that side of him.
Similar Big Malcolm Allison his Cigar and Fedora were props to cultivate a persona, an old Middlesbrough supporter told me his front was everything to hide a shyness, not sure on that.
An extremely old Man City supporter said he wouldn’t give Allison any credit for their title win it was all Joe Mercer but Allison convinced the City owner he was the man to take them forward.
Allison like Bond, Brown, Redknapp were all part of a group of like minded players that met and discussed how to take the game forward and Redknapp could have been a city manager after Bond had left but went to Wet Spam
Keep safe and well
Hi Alex
I think it’s great that even in this technological age the tales we can remember are still passed down the line to younger people, even if the comparative gaps seem to be much larger now than they were.
Thinking quickly of *heroes* that seem to be socially vital to us, I’d say that quite a few of Dad’s generation (b. 1926) spoke to us of three categories:
Very few film stars of the previous century are still mentioned today by the youngsters. At 65 I am thinking of people like John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Marylin Monroe, Bette Davis.
Ditto musicians: Dad and most of his mates liked swing, some jazz and later on rock ‘n’ roll, but Dad himself stuck mainly with swing although he loved Jerry Lee and importantly for me Buddy Holly, cos I might have been young but I knew what I liked!
Ask my boy who Carl Perkins is and he’s most likely to say he works down the chip shop with the Big Bopper and Elvis but that’s where it all changes in that while he has his own heroes he has inherited a lot of mine and metal has successfully been shared, and often with the same artists – I like a lot of his far more modern stuff too and I have a similar musical relationship with Sue’s son Jonny.
Sportspersons transcend both film stars and even musicians. Ali, Frazier, Moore, Pele, Beckenbauer, Nadal, Federer, Ronaldo, These and so many more will continue to be remembered and revered further down the generations.
This is basically my long-winded way of saying people of our generation particularly were able to meet our idols on pretty much equal terms and in the right sense of the phrase we should be eternally grateful that we did.
Telling your Dad that Bobby Moore waved and shouted *hello boys – awright!* when he was washing his Jag on his front garden as you went past his house on the way home from school has a *j’en sais pas* about it that a glimpse of Rhianna jumping a black cab can never emulate. Sorry boys ‘n’ girls 🙂
Cheers
Oh, those 1971 double winners! Great stuff like always Martin! Bob Wilson didnt use gloves at least in basically all those youtube Arsenal game videos in the early 70s. Best time in football, amazing atmospheres! Pitch were often not in great shape, Arsenal banged quite a lot of header goals in 70s, Ray Kennedy as a surprise weapon with Radford whose physicality played an important role.
Then to pitch problems. Finland played 2 Euro 2024 qualification games. The first was in Denmark, where the pitch was not in good shape. The second one in the Northern Ireland pitch was even way worse. Finland scored 1 goal in each game and Teemu Pukki assisted both. Finland didnt go to Denmark to defend, Denmark deserved their win and Hradecky was brilliant and kept numbers close. Hradecky is brilliant, in Leverkusen he has to try to make basically impossible saves, because they defend so badly. Goal vs Denmark was very well made, Hradecky kicked the ball to Pohjanpalo who headed it to Pukki who like always made a brilliant pass to Antman who scored once again. Antman is a strange player, for the national team he keeps on scoring every time he gets a chance. Outside scoring I dont really rate him high, he was bad and played in a too high level game. Höjlund and Bah were the difference why Denmark won, both are about 20 years old so the future for Denmark is brighter.
Game vs Northern Ireland was more like a ball fight. Pitch was abysmal which of course suited way better for Nothern Ireland. Finland prefers to play short pass possession football, in my opinion too far. Källman scored a winner, another strange player who performs for the national team very well but who is nothing special. Källman and Antman have been over performing based on how they are playing in their clubs. Finland midfielder Rasmus Schuller commented after the game that they found out that North Irish are tactically only trying to kick crosses. So they put basically a 7 player defensive line, because the pitch made it impossible to control the ball. In my opinion Finland should take home games to plastic, to maximize home advantage. The only reason why games are played in olympic stadium is of course money, but getting to the euro 2024 final tournament has surely a bigger financial impact.
From the Norwich perspective what did we learn about those 2 games? Finland attacking players are able to score goals when Pukki creates for them a scoring chance. For Norwich he should be able to create plenty of scoring chances to get 1 goal. His passing game is brilliant, vision and timing are perfect. He, Kamara and Hradecky plays always because their level is backbone to the whole team. Norwich backbone is Pukki. That situation when Pukki and Sargent went 2 against goalkeeper vs Stoke proved perfectly problems. Sargent had no ability to look anywhere else than the ball, if you have to look at a ball all the time you cant see a pitch. By the way, against Hudds if there would have been var that foul against Pukki would have been 100% sure penalty. So yes Teemu can still win games also for Norwich and basically is doing that but he cant control what level his team mates are playing.
Hi 1×2 , yes Denmark looked a good side , but what happened to them in Kazakstan 2-0 up 17 mins to go and lost it 3-2.
Funny old game.
Bernarnd the penalty what Kazakstan got was bad refereeing. Now it seems that the trend is giving a penalty if the ball hits the players hand someway. Their second goal was a long distance shot, great shot but Schmeichel is not anymore at the same level he was. A very strange result, like you said funny old game.
Hi 1×2
I remain convinced that Pukki can do a good job as part of a *three* up front but equally you are correct that Sargent’s vision approaching and particularly within the box are not of the best.
Hernandez was just beginning to get to grips with cutting the ball back from the dead ball line to a yellow shirt when he got injured and it would be great to see him quickly return to see if he can continue to improve in this skill, which is definitely something that can be coached into the player.
The traditional spine of a team such as Norwich would be Hanley, Sara and P.ukki. It is regrettable that the further forward we go the less aerial ability there is presenting itself. Oukki likes the ball played to him with him running towards goal, not away from it, and he does not always get the benefit of decent service in this respect.
I would go as far as to say that Idah is more effective as a version of a target man than Sargent but neither are the finisher that Pukki is.
In other words you can’t have everything – and we certainly haven’t got the full deck of cards in the final third of the pitch although I would say that Dowell’s vision equals that of Pukki but he doesn’t have the pace over that crucial final 10 metres that Pukki still does despite their relative ages.
In the UK it easy to rank our nations thus: #1 England #2 Wales #3 Scotland #4 Northern Ireland but #4 are quite a long way behind #3 #2 and #1.
It is ironic they have had arguably the UK’s GOAT in George Best and one of the very best GKs as in Pat Jennings with very little in between 🙂
Kiitos
Hi Martin;
From personal experience I can confirm that Gerry Harrison is a true gentleman. NCFC or 1p5wich Town I’m not sure but there have not been too many better on ITV since he hung up his microphone.
As for Motty, if only at the Bayern Munich (away) game he had patented/copywrited his phrase “this is almost fantasy football” when Mark Bowen scored our second goal…….years before “Fantasy Football” actually became a thing! He would have been an even richer man!!
O T B C
Thanks John
Thus Gerry Harrison remains a debate – if by making a simple but life-changing decision all those years ago he has built up a local legacy over the years he has left a fine one – that of a BlOOdy Great Mystery involving ourselves and ITFC.
I agree with you that he was a great commentator whatever his footballing persuasion, which actually turns out to be quite an accolade from both of us!
Cheers