“Oh what a goal! Radford the scorer. Ronnie Radford! And the crowd are on the pitch. What a tremendous shot by Ronnie Radford.”
That was the iconic line from John Motson that would kick start his broadcasting career with Match of The Day as Hereford upset the odds to dump Newcastle United out of the FA Cup. Motson, who will be synonymous with many as the voice of football, has sadly passed away this morning aged 77.
The legendary commentator who had a 50-year broadcasting career, covering 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships and 29 FA Cup finals for BBC Sport, passed away in his sleep this morning, Thursday, February 23.
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"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.
Motty, as he was known up and down the country, worked as a freelancer for BBC Radio Sheffield before he joining the BBC on a full-time basis in 1968. He started out as a sports reporter on Radio 2 before breaking onto the Match of The Day scene in one of the biggest FA Cup upsets in history.
Originally a five minute segment on the programme, the game was moved to the feature game as Ronnie Radford scored a 30-yard strike to dump the Magpies out of the competition with a 2-1 win. Motson himself says that was the game that forged his career.
When asked about Radford's goal and the game, Motson told Four Four Two: "The game was bumped up to be top of the bill on Match of the Day, and the bosses decided I could be trusted with a major match after that. I suppose I did take confidence from that day.
"It became the story of the season and it happened under my watch so yes, I did take confidence in the fact that I hadn’t cocked the whole thing up. I now watch Ronnie’s goal and think, please don’t hit the bar because the truth is, without his strike, I may never have had a career. The BBC gave me a three-year contract on the back of it."
Motty was well known for his sheepskin coats and encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and became an OBE in 2001 for services to sports broadcasting. His final game for Match of the Day was between Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion in 2018, where he was invited on to the pitch after full-time and given a brilliant send off from both sets of fans, with Palace boss Roy Hodgson presenting him with a framed copy of the programme from his first and last matches at Selhurst Park and a crystal microphone.
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