The cuddly anorak who's still talking a good game

13 April 2012

Is the word 'Motty' a trademark? I think I'm right in saying (to quote John Motson) that it is not. Something must be done. The patron saint of the sheepskin jacket has become a brand name beyond compare. Dependable and unchanging, Motty does exactly what it says on the tin.

Thirty years have passed since the departure of Kenneth Wolstenholme prompted the BBC to look the way of a certain 26-year-old radio reporter.

Listen to some commentators from 1971 and they sound as if they were broadcasting in black tie from Alexandra Palace circa 1938.

Motson, aged 26, sounded exactly as he does now, approximately 1,500 commentaries later.

He would probably make some self-deprecating joke about that, but his lack of glamour is one of the characteristics his listeners most like. It seems right that in person, even on first acquaintance, he is instantly physically familiar as archetypal Motty, vaguely reminiscent of Mole in the Wind In The Willows.

Yet not everything about him is warmly unsurprising.

The day we met, he wore a deafening Stars and Stripes tie, not at all of the garden variety discreet navy blue one might expect. He bought it in on holiday in New York in the summer because it amused him, and since 11 September has worn it frequently.

He said: "There seems to be a meaningful reason for wearing it just now.

"Anyway I'm no good at dressing informally. I know I'm not dashing or dazzling. Being wrapped up in facts and figures gave me a label when I was trying to be distinctive from other commentators. So cuddly anorak will do me."

It began 30 years ago when he was at Wembley for radio's Sport On 2, on the day Arsenal won the Double.

"I bumped into David Coleman whom I'd never met," recalled Motson. "He was an elevated figure in television and I was a junior in radio. He looked at me and said, 'I've just recommended you to the editor of Match of the Day. You'll be hearing from us.' I was gobsmacked. A week later I got the call.

"Back then, the step from radio wasn't natural. I was the first to do it at the BBC. I was under a lot of scrutiny, not just from television people but football people. My first broadcast television commentary was Liverpool v Chelsea. It was nil-nil and the commentary was equally forgettable.

"I didn't really stop being nervous until 1994. The best break I ever had was not getting the World Cup Final that year. Until then, I worried intensely that if I had a bad day it would cost me. After that I felt I wasn't on a precipice anymore. I'd been on the high wire too long. When I came back after that, Ken Bates of all people told me I was a much more rounded commentator than before. And people became more affectionate."

Actually that is an abbreviated version of what Motson said. In life, as at the microphone, he supplies plenty of information. It is as much a part of him as his instinctive courtesy and friendliness. It makes him a natural for the wider work available to television "personalities" (terrible word).

Tonight, for example, he and Mark Lawrenson are "hosting an evening of fine wine, fine food and football" at a London hotel.

Yours for £90 per ticket, or £510 for a table of six. Lucrative stuff. Clearly there is more to being a cuddly anorak than we imagine. Motson makes it implicitly clear he is also an able politician.

At present he is "helping out" Five Live with commentaries on Saturdays. The two matches he has done so far turned out to be the two most startling games of the season - Manchester United against first Newcastle and then Tottenham. Alan Green must be thrilled.

"I told Bob Shennan (Controller of Five Live) that I was concerned not to be seen to take away somebody else's work," said Motson. "He said he had spoken to those directly affected, so I felt no need to do so myself. Besides, (commentator) Ron Jones told me they are all delighted."

About Motson's arrival or what it means for Alan Green is interestingly unclear. Asked if he would rather be commentating on those same matches for television, Motson replied: "As long as it's for the BBC I don't care.

"Anyway I've got a better deal now doing England and the FA Cup. People got it wrong last May writing obituaries for Match of the Day. There will be 41 Match of the Day programmes this season, nearly as many as last year and more live football than ever.

"All people see now is that Match of the Day isn't on. What they mean is that we don't show Premiership highlights, but in November when the FA Cup starts, we begin again."

So the Premiership is no loss? "It's a loss, but what a gain England is. By the end of the season I think it will be clear we've got the better deal."

He declined to comment on ITV's treatment of the Premiership. They did not approach him to be a part of their coverage. He had already turned down ITV just before the late Brian Moore's retirement.

"I just felt like there was a ring on my finger with 'BBC' engraved on it.

"I wouldn't want to work anywhere else. I love the BBC. I feel blessed to have worked there. I'm old-fashioned. The BBC's high standards are admired all over the world. I don't know if people in this country appreciate it."

Or the art of commentary in general, perhaps. Amid the tidal wave of ex-sportsmen and women flooding broadcasting, not one has sat at the principal football commentator's microphone.

They may sit at his right hand as an analyst, but commentary remains a vocation. Not for nothing is Motson receiving his OBE at Buckingham Palace next month.

"It doesn't seem like 30 years," he smiled. "The game, especially the Premiership, is a more exciting spectacle now than I can ever remember. And I've never been as excited about covering England. I hope that's not tempting fate against Greece. That will be a difficult game. I can't wait, though.

"I always feel like that. Of course at age 10 I wanted to be a player, but I never sit at the microphone and wish I was playing instead.

"Second-rate thrills - Joe Royle once said of management, but this will never be second best to me."

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