Farewell, John Motson

[Mr Angry]

Just announced that John Motson has died, agedd 77.

Sad news for those of us of a certain age.....

[Orion1871]

Loved his line when we played Man United in the Cup and Motty said Stephen Hunt asked him if his sheepskin coat was for sale.

[PATRIQT]

RIP Motty. A wonderful voice and energy when commentating. Another piece of my childhood crosses over the veil.

[scumbag]

I'm only in my late twenties but he was still the voice of my youth. Legend. RIP

[NathStPaul]

[Sutekh]

Hopefully the BBC will schedule something suitably nostalgic at some point in the coming weeks as a mark of respect.

[Hendo]

This is pretty cool.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/16 ... 7964536832

Motty's signed notes below are framed in the Directors Lounge from our 1-1 draw with
@ManUtd
in our inaugural Premier League season in 2006

A permanent reminder of a man who loved football
@premierleague

[Sutekh]

This is pretty cool.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/16 ... 7964536832

Motty's signed notes below are framed in the Directors Lounge from our 1-1 draw with
@ManUtd
in our inaugural Premier League season in 2006

A permanent reminder of a man who loved football
@premierleague

What a professional, wonder how many of us prepare like that for interviews and other one off events at work etc.

Wonder if the club have a set of Tim’s crib notes on display for that Scunthorpe game?

[South Coast Royal]

This is pretty cool.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/16 ... 7964536832

Motty's signed notes below are framed in the Directors Lounge from our 1-1 draw with
@ManUtd
in our inaugural Premier League season in 2006

A permanent reminder of a man who loved football
@premierleague

Brilliant posting Hendo.
I heard on the radio yesterday that Motson would go and watch a team 2 or 3 teams if it was one that he wasn't too familiar with and would be about to do a commentary on.

Also heard that he was a great horse racing fan and that his hero was Peter O'Sullevan-Motson modestly acknowledged that to commentate on a race at speed was so much harder than watching 22 players only doing bits on the pitch now and again over 90 minutes.

[Green]

What a professional, wonder how many of us prepare like that for interviews and other one off events at work etc.

Indeed - not many on this portal I'd wager.

RIP, what a legend.

[RFCMod]

Surprised there wasn't a minutes round of applause for him Saturday

[AthleticoSpizz]

Surprised there wasn't a minutes round of applause for him Saturday

there was at Portsmouth, I’m told

[Sutekh]

Surprised there wasn't a minutes round of applause for him Saturday

there was at Portsmouth, I’m told

In the 77th minute. God knows why you’d have a silence/applause for a commentator though, unless they happened to be a supporter of your club.

[tmesis]

He was at the Barnet v Reading fixture in 1994/5 that got postponed because of a sudden snowstorm.

I saw him outside, by the turnstiles, and he was in that same hat and coat, with the snow coming down.

[Dave the rave]

This is pretty cool.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/16 ... 7964536832

Motty's signed notes below are framed in the Directors Lounge from our 1-1 draw with
@ManUtd
in our inaugural Premier League season in 2006

A permanent reminder of a man who loved football
@premierleague

Was gonna post that myself as I have a photo on my phone from when me and my lad did the stadium tour a few months back.

Once sat next to Motty at Upton Park whilst he was commentating. We were in the sponsor's 'box' which was just a fenced off bit of the stand next to the commentary position. I was pretty young at the time but he made an effort to chat which was nice.

[Mr Optimist]

There’s a really good documentary on bbc iPlayer at the moment. You may have already seen it as it was produced for when he retired in 2017 to 18, but I hadn’t seen it until this week so other people may have missed it too. Didn’t know his son was a Derby fan and that Motty himself tried to get along to Barnet games as his local side for years.

Showed his copious hand written notes that his wife used to help him with, just made me think how the internet has made it so much easier to obtain and retain this kind of information and statistics, but years ago that was the only way of doing it along with the Rothman’s year books etc!