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Motty’s Last Game (Remix ’18)

Crispin Thomas

Sunday, March 11th, 2018

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 call him old fashioned but he had his own style
churned out facts like an old speed dial
started out way back in sixty nine
fifty years on and Motty’s called time
hanging up his mike and calling it a day
won’t be the same come any Saturday

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 the first commentating that I ever heard
were Kenneth Wolstenholme’s old skool words
but some began with Brian Moore
and never knew the truth about Stuart Hall
Archie McPherson’s a passionate Scot
but none of them prepare like old Johnny Mott

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Peter Jones had a fabulous style
and David Coleman by a country mile
Bob Wilson kept it all thoughtful and mild
and Glenn Hoddle still drives psychics wild
Barry Davies had a powerful throat
but John’s got a beautiful sheepskin coat

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 some find ‘Greeny’ feisty and rude
in between the passion and the attitude
Jimmy Armfield had depth and soul
and brave Jacqui Oatley broke the mould
Jimmy Hill drove me totally potty
but for stats- on- acid you couldn’t beat Motty

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 here among the sheep at FGR
you might not know him or know where we are
but he likes saying “truthfully” a lot
and Bob Hunt* sure is the finest we’ve got
win or lose mate he’s always there
getting quite excited tearing out his hair
‘but Motty’s the one for the real classic lines
one of them’ll probably last for all time :
“For all of you watching in black and white
Spurs are all- yellow” he said one night
and here’s another that was really well meant:
“The World Cup’s a truly international event”

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 but I think of Motson wherever I go
standing in a blizzard knee deep in snow
notes in his hand cap on his head
looking like Dell Boy longing for his bed
serious expression standing all alone
telling us “It’s off!”….. as if we didn’t know

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 call him old fashioned but he had his own style
churned out facts like an old speed dial
started out way back in sixty nine
fifty years on and Motty’s called time
hanging up his mike and calling it a day
won’t be the same come any Saturday

Notes

(Shameless updated re-mix of a poem written a year or so back.)

John Motson / ‘Motty ( 72) delivered his final live BBC commentary at Arsenal v Watford on Sun March 11 2018

He announced in September that he would call time on his BBC career at the end of the season, and he will continue to appear on Match of the Day until May.His first radio commentary was Everton v Derby in December 1969.

“It seems a long time ago,” Motson told BBC Radio 5 live. “Everton beat Derby 1-0 with a goal by Alan Ball.

“When I came back to Euston on the train that night I was walking behind two guys who were blind and I heard one of them saying to the other: ‘Wasn’t it great to be able to listen to the game?’ “I learned then how radio service could support so many people who could not watch the game on television.” During his career, Motson has covered 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships, 29 FA Cup finals and more than 200 England games.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/mottys-last-game-remix-18/