today : sorry motty

One thing that the World Cup has thrown into sharp relief is the sad fact that Motson is over the hill. The sheer amount of footie on the TV means that the world of footie commentary is now full of alternatives. The modern commentator has a career path. Many of them are professional journalists who begin covering news as well as sport. In commentating terms they will usually start off on local radio, often covering many sports, before moving towards local TV coverage. Then comes the step-up into national radio, where they really start to develop their commentating chops. After that, a move into the big time: national TV.

Motson is old school. One of those people who came up in the times when competition wasn't so fierce, when the BBC seemed full of correspondants whose principal qualification was that they went to the right school. This was no bad thing, and the world of Bloers and Johnners, Arlott, Eddie Waring and Sid Waddell has a delightful and quaint nostalgia about it.

Don't get me wrong. Motson's pretty good. But he's just been overtaken by the new breed of commentators that have grown up in an era where, as local radio reporters, they routinely followed their teams across Europe, and possess a range of knowledge that shines through.They are at home covering a league cup first round match and a Champion's League Semi Final. The likes of Simon Brotherton, having cut their teeth on radio, are precise, witty and incisive; and knock Motson into the stand. (incidentally, Brotherton called the 2005 Baseball World Series on Radio Five and I pretty much consider it the finest bit of commentary I have ever heard. He beautifully balanced a detailed analysis of the game and the atmosphere with a perfectly judged nod to his audience of interested but not necessarily knowledgeable Britishlanders. It was so brilliant that his American co-commentator more or less gave up and went home in awe)

But it's time the old boy was put out to grass. It might mean that Barry Davies gets to do one important match before he dies.