以下內容出自天空體育 Sky Sports：
John Motson: Legendary football commentator dies aged 77
Thursday 23 February 2023 23:32, UK
Legendary football commentator John Motson has died at the age of 77,
the BBC has announced.
Motson - whose career in broadcasting spanned more than half a century -
covered 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships, 29 FA Cup finals and
over 200 England games during his long career.
A statement released by his family read: "It is with great sadness we
announce that John Motson OBE died peacefully in his sleep today
(Thursday)."
An announcement on the BBC Sport website read: "Legendary commentator
John Motson, who had an illustrious 50-year career with the BBC, has
died aged 77."
After starting as a newspaper reporter in Barnet and at the Sheffield
Morning Telegraph, Motson joined the BBC in 1968 as a sports presenter
on Radio 2.
Motson's commentary on Ronnie Radford's famous long-range strike which
helped non-League Hereford knock top-flight Newcastle out of the FA Cup
in 1972 saw him take top billing on Match of the Day - pushing him into
the spotlight and the affections of the sporting public.
His long career also took in two Olympic Games and Wimbledon's memorable
1988 FA Cup final triumph against Liverpool at Wembley as the Crazy Gang
beat the Culture Club.
Awarded the OBE in 2001 for services to broadcasting, Motson hung up his
microphone for the BBC at the end of the 2017-18 Premier League season.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said: "John Motson was the voice of a
footballing generation - steering us through the twists and turns of FA
Cup runs, the highs and lows of World Cups and, of course, Saturday
nights on Match of the Day.
"Like all the greats behind the mic, John had the right words, at the
right time, for all the big moments.
"He will rightly be remembered as a legendary figure in British sports
broadcasting, respected by those in the game, loved by fans and an
inspiration to those who followed him in the commentary box."
A truly iconic voice of the game and a friend of Chelsea.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 23, 2023
Our thoughts go out to John’s family and loved ones at this incredibly sad time.
RIP John Motson, OBE. 💙 pic.twitter.com/Vw3A9u6wEQ
RIP to an English football icon. A fantastic commentator who enriched each game that he was assigned to. His voice is worthy of a place in a museum.
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) February 23, 2023
Coincidentally, he did his last live match at Stamford Bridge. https://t.co/RsSpmRwyFQ
So sad to hear John Motson has died. He was the man who got me into football commentary & sheepskin coats! An iconic voice whose passion & poetry came across in every game. "The Crazy Gang beats the Culture Club" was one of his best lines from the 1988 FA Cup Final. RIP, Motty.🙏 pic.twitter.com/vWnBSuC6V6
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) February 23, 2023
It's interesting how commentators permeate sporting culture more than you think. At an U21 game at the Bridge years ago a bunch of kids, maybe 8yo, were there watching and talking among themselves whether Martin Tyler + Alan Smith were commentating. That was football to them.
— Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) February 23, 2023
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Remembering the Bridge’s major role in John Motson’s life
23 FEB 2023
Following the sad news that legendary football commentator John Motson has
passed away at the age of 77, we recall how his passion for the game was
forged while watching Chelsea alongside his father on the terraces of
Stamford Bridge. Here, in his own words, is the story of how the Blues,
and one striker in particular, played a major role in his early love of
football…
John Motson provided the soundtrack to some of the most iconic moments in
football for more than 50 years, with his commentary on the BBC spanning
no less than 10 World Cups and nearly 30 FA Cup finals, before he retired
in 2018.
Having become a legend of the game in his own right, Motson’s commentary
spanned generations as the voice of football, with Chelsea and Stamford
Bridge featuring throughout, as SW6 played host to his first-ever game of
live football as a fan as well as one of his last as a commentator.
The Bridge had the honour of hosting 'Motty' during his final season
before hanging up his microphone, and iconic sheepskin coat, as he
commentated on our draw with Leicester City in January 2018, before he
retired that year. Needless to say, Chelsea bid him a fond farewell, with
then chairman Bruce Buck making a presentation in front of his fellow
media in the Stamford Bridge press room.
However, his association with the Bridge began a long time before that,
almost 70 years ago in fact, when his father brought him to a Chelsea game
as a boy and helped spark his passion for football.
Motson himself recalled those days stood on the terraces in west London
when talking to the Chelsea matchday programme towards the end of his
commentary career.
‘I got attached to Chelsea with my dad in the late 1950s,’ explained
Motson. ‘He brought me to Stamford Bridge for the first time on Christmas
Day 1957, when Jimmy Greaves famously scored four goals against Portsmouth
and it finished 7-4 to Chelsea. I sat in the old North Stand in the
corner, the one raised on stilts.
‘Then, from 1958 to 1963, we were season ticket holders in the East Stand
and on the far side out in the open was the big terrace and on the left
was the Shed, where I stood a few times as well. I was just a typical
young fan, and I remember staying behind to get Jimmy Greaves’ autograph.’
It is clear the sight of the teenage Greaves tearing defences apart for
the Blues made a big impression on Motson, with those memories of coming
to the Bridge dominated by the goalscoring exploits of our homegrown
striker.
‘At the end of the Fifties, Jimmy Greaves would score four at one end and
at the other end Chelsea would let in five,’ he remembered. ‘Jimmy Greaves
at 17 was an absolute genius. At 17 he was the most fantastic thing I ever
saw. As I gave up my season ticket, Peter Osgood was just coming on the
scene and he was 17 and also the best.
‘Chelsea had two of the greatest geniuses come through at the club. There
are those who will say Greaves’ better years were at Tottenham, but I
don’t know. He had a terrific burst of speed, an uncanny eye to finish. In
those days it was easier to get one-on-one with the centre-half and he’d
just go past them and glide the ball past the goalkeeper as if he did it
just for fun.
‘He had great instinct to be in the right place at the right time, but he
could also beat three players to score. If you came to Chelsea in the
1950s you came to see Jimmy Greaves. He finished with a 4-3 win against
Forest when he scored all four and was chaired off the pitch. If Chelsea
defended as well as he attacked at the other end they could have been
champions.’
However, that was far from his last appearance at a Chelsea game, as he
continued to commentate on the team as part of his duties with BBC Match
of the Day right up until 2018, creating many more fond memories,
including Roberto Di Matteo’s opening goal 43 seconds into the 1997 FA Cup
final against Middlesbrough.
‘Fortunately I had a stop watch in front of me and realised straight away
it was a record,’ he added. ‘There was also the cup tie earlier that
season when Chelsea were two down to Liverpool at half-time, then Mark
Hughes came on and it finished 4-2.
‘Charlie Cooke made a big impression on me. Then when the team wasn’t
necessarily doing so well there were still special players like Kerry
Dixon. But the big change was the arrival of all the overseas players,
when Glenn Hoddle signed Ruud Gullit and he then signed Gianluca Vialli,
and like many Chelsea supporters it’s hard for me to look past Gianfranco
Zola.’
It seems Chelsea and Stamford Bridge had a special place in Motson’s
heart, then, even if he was ever the neutral professional when behind the
commentator’s microphone.
However, in many supporters’ minds, having spent so many years listening
to his voice while watching the Blues on television, he seems almost as
big a part of the sport as those players who inspired his infectious
passion for football.
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以下內容出自太陽報 The Sun：
EXCLUSIVE I'VE MOTT BEEN HONEST John Motson reveals he’s been a secret
Chelsea fan throughout his career
Updated: 1:33, 26 Jun 2018
LEGENDARY football commentator John Motson has revealed he is a secret
lifelong Chelsea fan — having pretended to support Barnet throught his
career.
The BBC’s Motty, 72, who has retired after 50 years, says he has spent his
whole life giving questioners the wrong answer so he could not be accused
of bias towards the Blues.
In a new book he says: “You can’t evade the question for ever — especially
when I look up from my desk while writing this and see two shelves of
Chelsea programmes covering 40 years up to 1985.
“When I got to Match of the Day in 1971 Chelsea figured in my first,
faltering commentary. Somehow my Chelsea loyalties were pushed into the
background.
“It was essential that I sounded unbiased and neutral when I was at the
microphone.”
Motty said he was repeatedly asked who he supported during his career.
He added: “I deliberately avoided answering honestly. ‘Barnet’ was my
usual response.
“It was not entirely inaccurate. I had grown fond of the club when I was a
reporter on the local paper.
“Chelsea played in the first match I went to with my dad in 1952.”
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FIFA 2000 的遙遠回憶，RIP John。
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