Or Stuart Hall
I left out Ray French too.
Barry Davies was my favourite commentator. Just read up on him, the Beeb shafted him.
Davies’s reason for retiring from football commentary was that he felt he was not getting enough “big” matches, and was being “downgraded”. Indeed, the two-year extension he was being offered on his contract made clear that he would not be covering any “live” football, and there was no guarantee that he would have any involvement at all with the 2006 World Cup. He felt this unacceptable and declined the offer
Yet they see fit to keep Motson on the payroll.
Local GAA commentary is still great because most of the commentators happened into it rather than be media trained, hence that sense of authenticity. Eg, yer man Willie Joe from Roscommon, that Laois lunatic, Liam Spratt etc.
Hon Jack.
Motson is a national treasure, like the Queen or Terry Wogan
Sure is there anyone he hasnt ridiculed at this stage.Thats his stchick.
Was that the same group where we were shafted afree Fran Stapleton? scored a perfectly legitimate goal against Belgium away but it was disallowed?
Did Linekar take it as a grievous insult or just Eamonn on his behalf?
Do ye think you need to be a cunt to succeed in football or does it just turn people into cunts?
Not too many honourable nice guys like GT around anymore.
Think so
Pards
It was in the 2-0 defeat away to France that Stapleton had a goal mysteriously disallowed. Brady had one ruled out in that game in the Heysel before Eric Gerets blatantly dived to win a free-kick on the edge of the box in the final minute. It hit the bar and Ceulemans climbed all over everyone to head in the rebound. A draw would have sent Ireland to Espana 82.
The Belgians have a long history of cheating and corruption in football.
I was heartbroken. I had the full Irish kit at the time, it was class. That was truly our golden generation, some quality footballers across that team and a very good coach who I don’t think has ever been fully recognised by Irish football.
Had the same kit. The packaging it came in featured a photo of it being modelled by David O’Leary.
Great team alright. My ould lad has a long history of taking a most vitriolic dislike towards certain people. Chris De Burgh, Bertie Ahern, Gay Byrne were all targets, for example. Of the Irish team of that era, his particular target was John Devine. What he ever did to upset him I’ll never know, but he could do nothing right. Every time he touched the ball was accompanied by a prediction of doom. Devine had a bit of a shaper’s haircut and maybe that was it but, as soon as Jimmy Magee mentioned his name, you’d get “look at this bollix, he’s useless”!
Didn’t Devine marry Michelle Rocca?
I can remember when the 82 world cup was on and have sketchy memories of some games. I remember the furore about Schumacher’s ‘tackle’ quite well and Boniek was my new hero.
The first game I recall looking forward to and sitting down to watch is when the great Danish team came to Dublin a few years later and gave us a football lesson after Stapleton put us ahead early on.
He did indeed. Played for Arsenal and Norwich.
I have vague memories of the 78 World Cup but 82 was the first one I really remember. Rossi emerging from disgrace, Tardelli’s goal celebration in the final, Bryan Robson scoring after 27 seconds against France, Norn Iron and the 17-year-old Norman Whiteside, The Anchluss between West Germany and Austria, the crazy semi-final between France and West Germany including Schumacher’s attempted decapitation of Patrick Battiston and Jimmy Magee’s “Horst Hrubesch from Hamburg is the man they call the Monster”.
Ah, I could go on…the Kuwaiti Sheikh calling his players off after someone blew a whistle in the crowd and his players stopped before Alain Giresse scored for France, Socrates and Eder’s goals v USSR, David Narey’s rocket for Scotland v Brazil, Joe Jordan and Graeme Souness running into each other and getting flattened allowing the Soviets to score.
Great childhood memories…
Johnny Sievebeck did damage. And earlier we had beat Russia 1-0 thanks to mickey walsh
How old are half you cunts?