'Motty' Set For Final Filbert Way Appearance
With half a century of commentating for the BBC under his belt, ‘Motty’ has been the voice of English football since the early 1970s, providing his unique and iconic verdict on the game’s biggest matches.
Distinguishable by his sheepskin coat on matchdays throughout the years, at both Filbert Street and King Power Stadium, Motson’s voice has become a household staple for fans across the country.
Motson was first recruited by the BBC in 1968 as a sports presenter on Radio 2 before replacing the legendary football personality Kenneth Wolstenholme on Match of the Day in the 1970s.
In 2001, he was awarded an OBE for his services to broadcasting. After stepping back from frontline commentary 10 years ago, Motson has acquainted himself with a new generation on Cbeebies show Footy Pups.
Meanwhile, this term, to mark his final campaign at the BBC, the 72-year-old broadcaster is embarking on an 18-game Premier League tour, leading him to Saturday's fixture against Watford (3pm kick-off).
Throughout his career, City have enjoyed two League cup triumphs and three European campaigns, while also embarking on eight promotions - lifting four league titles, including the Premier League in 2016.
In that time, the Club have sunk to their lowest and risen to their highest points, from the depths of the third tier to being crowned English champions – including 26 top flight campaigns and eight trips to Wembley.
Upon announcing his retirement from the BBC in September, Motson said: "I’m not retiring from everything! I’m retiring from the BBC. I’m certainly not going pipe and slippers.”
Before hanging up his sheepskin coat this summer, for the BBC at least, everybody at the Club would like to wish Motty the very best of luck in his future endeavours.
City’s highlights across Motty’s career:
- An 1969 FA Cup Final and the entertaining Bloomfield years which followed in the 1970s when the Club boasted four England internationals in the same side.
- The eighties saw Gary Lineker, Steve Lynex and Alan Smith score over 150 goals between them in three years.
- In the nineties and the first year of the 21st century involved seven trips to Wembley, which included two Play-off victories for a place in the Premier League and three League Cup Finals.
- Winning the League Cup twice qualified Leicester City for two UEFA Cup campaigns.
- The first decade of the new century saw the move to the new stadium, the trauma of administration, an unprecedented season in League 1 and the beginnings of the Club’s renaissance under King Power.
- The current decade has seen the club win the Championship title for a record seventh time in 2014, winning the Premier League in 2016 and reaching the UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals in 2017.