Legendary commentator John Motson, who had an illustrious 50-year career with the BBC, has died aged 77.
Tributes have been flooding in for the football icon after the news of his passing was confirmed on Thursday morning. "It is with great sadness we announce that John Motson OBE died peacefully in his sleep today (Thursday)," said a statement from Motson's family.
Paying tribute, Everton tweeted: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of John Motson OBE, a broadcasting legend of our game whose iconic voice brought football to homes for more than 50 years. He will be sorely missed.RIP Motty.”
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His stunning reel of work included 29 FA Cup finals, 10 World Cups and 10 European Championships. Some of his hundreds of iconic lines included moments involving Everton.
Motson also narrated the first official video history of Everton FC in 1988, then when the official package was updated in 2007 he was recruited again to present the story.
His most famous line involving Everton came when Graeme Sharp famously scored at the Anfield Road end back in 1984. It was, at the time, the first time Everton had won at their arch-rivals for 14 years.
Motson said: "And he got behind Lawrenson there did Sharp. And what a fantastic goal. An unbelievable finish from Graeme Sharp. And the Evertonians have gone berserk. I haven't seen a goal quite like that in a Merseyside derby for years."
Another classic Motson line involving Everton came during that same season when Andy Gray scored against Sunderland at Goodison. He said: “[Peter] Reid’s cross, Gray - what a fantastic goal!”
“It’s Arsenal 0 – Everton 1, and the longer it stays like that the more you’ve got to fancy Everton,” was another of Motson’s great lines involving the Blues.
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