John Motson looks back on 50-year career after decision to hang up mic

John Motson has announced that he is to hang up his sheepskin coat at the end of this season. The most renowned football commentator in British broadcasting, who has covered ten World Cups and ten European Championships in his time at the BBC, Motson will spend his final season conducting a farewell tour, providing commentary from all 20 Premier League stadiums.

The first stage of his swansong will be this Saturday, when he reports from Brighton’s game with West Bromwich Albion for Match of the Day.

Motson began his career on radio in 1968, moving to the television in 1971. He first came to wider prominence with his bubblingly enthusiastic commentary on Hereford’s unexpected FA Cup replay victory over Newcastle in 1972.

And to mark his retirement after what will be 50 years in the commentary box, the Telegraph asked him to share some of the highlights of his quite remarkable career.

Favourite game covered

"Three stand out for me.  England 5-1 Germany in 2001, for obvious reasons. Brazil against Italy in the 1982 World Cup, what a fantastic match that was. Everyone thought Brazil were going to win the World Cup but Paolo Rossi had other ideas. Brazil lost, people were crying in the stands, I remember Bobby Charlton was crying.

"And I think for the sheer unexpectedness of it, Wimbledon winning the FA Cup against Liverpool in 1988. That really was extraordinary."

Favourite manager to interview

"Brian Clough, no question. So outspoken, so contentious, always testing you, you had to stand your ground in the to-ing and fro-ing. But I never came away with a bad interview. And that was down to him not me."

Favourite player to interview

"When I first started Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton were coming to the end of their careers, I’ve seen a lot. But my favourite English player of my time was Paul Gascoigne. I interviewed him several times, always entertaining."

Favourite ground

"Things have changed so much in my time. And the way the game has moved on since Taylor Report is quite extraordinary. It is now a pleasure to go to any of the Premier League grounds. They are so welcoming, not just to me but to all the broadcasters, all media really you have to say."

Most ludicrous commentating position

"I once did a cup replay at Southend under a tarpaulin because it was snowing. But I do remember once going to Salzburg in Austria, Liverpool were playing a European game there and they put me in a box behind glass. I hate being behind glass; I always want to feel part of the action.

"I complained to Brian Barwick, who was then the show’s producer, though obviously he went on to greater things. He came up with a simple solution: he smashed the glass for me. I don’t know if the BBC ever got the bill."

Best line of commentary

"I’ve got two, one was spontaneous, one wasn’t. One was in my first Cup Final in 1977. I’d done my research and noted that there were 39 steps up to the royal box and also that the Manchester United captain was Martin Buchan, sharing a surname with the author of the book of that name.

"So I said how appropriate that a man named Buchan should climb the 39 steps to receive the cup. Nobody made much of it at the time. Strangely enough it grew with the telling.

"But ‘the Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club’ after Wimbledon overcame Liverpool in the 1988 Cup Final, now that was entirely spontaneous. It just came to me."

Event most liked to have covered outside football

"No doubt about it, the Grand National. But that must be the hardest thing, to call all those horses in the right order.

"I did a bit of boxing when younger. Once I was joined by Muhammad Ali as my co-commentator. I’ve got a picture of the two of us together ringside at the Albert Hall on my wall at home. Joe Bugner was going to fight him and Ali had come over to Britain to see his warm up fight. The BBC got him involved and at the end of the first round I had the wonderful privilege of saying: and Muhammad Ali how do you think the fight is going? He said his piece, then the second round started and Bugner knocked his man out straight away. I turned to him and said: ‘Muhammad Ali what about that?’ But he’d gone. He’d leapt out of his seat and was up in the ring having a shadow box with Bugner."

Favourite sheepskin

"It’s the new one I’ve just bought as a celebration for my last season. I had it made to measure and it’s lovely. I looked far and wide for someone to make me a new one and the extraordinary thing was, I found a woman to do it who lives in the same village as me. Remarkable. It will get a first airing when the weather turns. November probably."