Showing posts with label Jimmy Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jimmy Hill. Show all posts

Thursday, 18 June 2026

Golden goals: David Narey (1982)

If you are going to score one goal at international level then you might as well make it special. Argentina's Jose Luis Brown scoring in the 1986 World Cup takes some beating, yet there could be honourable mentions for many others, such as Kieran Trippier (World Cup semi-final), Scotland's Gary Mackay helping Ireland reach Euro 88, and the general hilarity of Davide Gualtieri's sole strike for San Marino.

Another player who can be added to this list is Scotland's David Narey. The fact that Narey scored his only international goal at the 1982 World Cup finals is part of the reason it is so memorable. Add into the mix that Narey scored a screamer against Brazil and it is obvious why it the goal is still talked about. But it was also the response to Narey's moment of glory that made an impact.

Wednesday, 26 November 2025

1985: BBC Sports Review of the Year

This may be my last time, it may be my last time I don't know. Every year I ask myself the same question: should I bother watching the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme again? Yet every year I give it one last go. But maybe 2025 is the time to say goodbye.

I have been moaning about the demise of a once great show for too long now. Back in 2013, this article had me harking back to the good old days, complaining about an evening that has lost its way. Little has changed in the intervening period to persuade me that the situation is about to change for the good.

Tuesday, 13 September 2022

1980: Clive Allen's disallowed goal

There have been a few recent examples in football of poor decisions costing teams dearly. West Ham had every right to feel aggrieved after a late equaliser was chalked off against Chelsea, and although the mayhem at the end of the Juventus-Salernitana game was very entertaining, you can understand why the home team felt they were robbed of a dramatic victory.

These are cases of football officials, despite the video technology at their disposal, getting things so wrong that it makes you wonder if they are in the appropriate profession. But sometimes even the technology can fail, as Huddersfield found to their cost with the recent Hawk-Eye glitch. Maybe we just have to accept that both humans and machines are fallible.

Monday, 7 March 2022

1983/84: Manchester United v Tottenham

There was very little hype. No cheerleaders on the pitch, no fireworks, no whole new ball game as Sky would have us believe at the start of the Premier League. The first live league match on the BBC on Friday December 16, 1983, was in many ways the complete opposite to what we experience now. An undersold product that on the pitch would exceed expectations.

The Division One fixture between Manchester United and Tottenham was an ideal beginning for live league football on the BBC. But circumstances would play a part in this. It had been intended that the Watford-West Ham match in October would be the first live league match on the BBC. But a technicians strike prevented this.

Thursday, 4 June 2020

The BBC and live top flight football

As news broke that Premier League football would be returning from June 17, one bit of the announcement stood out to me. Live top flight football would be returning to BBC television after an absence of 32 years.

In fact, the relatonship between the BBC and live Division One football was a relatively brief affair. Between December 1983 and March 1988, 26 live league matches were shown - plus a Division Two match between Manchester City and Chelsea - as a revolution swept the game.