Legendary commentator John Motson has died aged 77.
Motson had a phenomenal 50-year career with the BBC. He covered countless competitions, including 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships, 29 FA Cup finals and more than 200 England games before retiring in 2018.
A statement from Motson's family read: "It is with great sadness we announce that John Motson OBE died peacefully in his sleep today (Thursday)."
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NottinghamshireLive takes a look at his remarkable career, including his famous spat in a televised interview with Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough in 1979.
The son of a Methodist minister, he became a junior member of the Match Of The Day team in 1971 and soon became one of its key contributors. He interviewed Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough many times – and on occasions was on the wrong end of a tongue-lashing from the Reds boss.
Motson first met Clough in 1969 when he was the young, brash manager of Derby County. In one of his books, the commentator recalls: “It was my first year in BBC Radio, and Derby had just been promoted from the Second Division.
“They had beaten Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park – Dave Mackay had been awesome for Derby – and I was detailed to interview Clough for Sports Report. He came in wearing a grey checked overcoat. I told him there would be a short delay while they read the football results. He smiled and said he was happy to wait.
“The results took longer than I expected, and I was worried that Clough would walk away. He detected my anxiety. ‘Just relax, young man,’ he said. ‘You can’t do anything unless you are relaxed’.”
After Clough took over as manager of Nottingham Forest in the mid-1970s, Motson recalls how sometimes he would hang around the City Ground corridor for hours, having arranged to interview him.
Then Clough would bound in waving his squash racket.
Face to face with Clough in a televised interview in 1979, the young commentator found the Forest boss in an abrasive mood.
Motson said: “When you went to interview Brian Clough you were never quite sure what to expect. He could berate you one minute and could be tremendously kind the next. He was an absolute journalist’s delight because you knew, whatever attitude Cloughie took towards you, you would be getting a tremendous interview.
“He set the tone for the television coverage that we take for granted today.”
Motson saw Forest lift the League Cup in 1978 after winning a replay at Anfield. Clough was in a typically bombastic mood when Motson interviewed him after the game.
“Perhaps now, John, people like you will realise we are a good side,” he barked.
Soon after Clough’s team stormed to the league championship.
The famous televised interview spat came in 1979 when Clough lambasted Motson about the BBC’s Match Of The Day coverage. Confident Clough said too much football was being shown on television.
And he told the young commentator: “You and your colleagues are turning us off from family entertainment on Saturday night by lecturing us as the moment.”
Asked to enlarge on his comments, Clough then added: “You are setting yourselves up as judge and jury.”
Motson countered by pointing out that it was television’s job to “report controversial incidents in a match as fairly as we can”.
And, refusing to yield, he reminded Clough that he had worked for the BBC as a television pundit.
Clough then uttered these withering words. “I am far more qualified than you or any of your colleagues. I suggest you shut up and show more football.”
Motson suffered another tirade in 1987 when Clough accused the BBC man of favouring Arsenal in his commentary of a North London derby against Spurs at White Hart Lane.
Soon after, Forest lost to Arsenal in a League Cup quarter final.
It was a bitterly cold night as Motson gingerly made his way round the frozen track at Highbury to interview the Forest boss.
As he got closer Clough handed him a plastic cup.
“Ere, get this down yer, young man,” he shouted.
Motson recalled: “I took the cup of kindness from Clough, expected it to be either tea or coffee. I should have known better. It was full to the brim with whisky.”
Motson and Clough had huge respect for each other’s achievements. And it’s worth pointing out that Forest are among Motson’s top five teams for their performance from 1978 to 1980 in winning two European Cups and one league title.
But Forest fans might prefer to forget one of the commentator’s choices for his five favourite games. He picked out a First Division match in 1988 when Forest were beaten 5-0 at Anfield!
Describing his career, Motson, 72, says: “I’ve absolutely loved it. I’ve really been very lucky.”
His passion for the game, instilled by his father when he was boy, has never wavered.
As he explains to readers in his book: “Friends who said I was so lucky to be paid for my hobby were not far wrong. It was by making the effort to go to matches, not always in the First Division, that I got to know managers, players and club officials who became close contacts over many years. Getting their telephone numbers became something of a mission. As Brian Clough once said, I didn’t want the day to come when I couldn’t get a ticket!”
Motty: 40 Years In The Commentary Box, was first published by Virgin in 2009.
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