Commentator Alan Green interview in The Times

Bonnyloyal

Well-Known Member
Alan Green has been one of the greatest, most distinctive commentators in the history of BBC radio. Sheer excitement fills his voice as he finds the perfect words, accelerating with the move towards the defining moment, especially in Champions League finals. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s winner in 1999 was captured with a breathless “absolutely astonishing . . . Manchester United rule Europe. I don’t believe it — but it’s happened.” Didier Drogba running up to take the penalty to make Chelsea European champions in 2012: “Drogba to win it . . . Come on, Didier!”

But this week, as the Champions League continues, Green will not be behind the microphone as the BBC phases him out. “It feels really awful not to be involved,” he says. “Champions League games are the highlight for me every season.” His absence is being noticed not simply in European weeks. He was at Hillsborough last week for the FA Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City. “Somebody said to me, ‘Are you in semi-retirement?’ I said, ‘I suppose I am but it’s not of my choice.’”


After 45 years working for the BBC, Green’s contract commentating for Radio 5 Live is not being renewed when it expires this summer. “They have shown me very little respect in how that is ending,” the Belfast-born 67-year-old sighs. “I feel a mixture of disappointment and anger. I don’t think it’s justified. I was basically told, ‘You don’t fit our profile.’ I got a fair idea of what they meant by just listening to the output over the last year or so. There isn’t an ageist, sexist, racist bone in my body. I only care about ‘Can somebody do the job?’ There are new people in favour. They match the requirements in terms of ‘bants’ — banter with presenters.”
There’s a poignant moment in our chat when he realises “I am speaking in the past tense already”. The clock is running. Such a familiar voice on our airwaves, so good he won a Sony Award as Sports Broadcaster of the Year, is another casualty of the BBC’s much-debated changes. (In the interests of balance, I have to record that I contribute to 5 Live, as well as talkSPORT, and took a brief kicking in his 2000 book The Green Line).
Green laments the loss of news-breaking shows on 5 Live like the Sunday morning staple Sportsweek, which he describes as “a much-respected programme that was discarded” late last year. “It’s not the organisation I loved for so many years,” Green continues. “I hear about [the departure of] Mark Pougatch, an absolutely outstanding presenter, and I’m really pleased that he is valued by so many other people [like BT Sport] that he probably doesn’t notice not doing 5 Live any more. Certain people have been discarded wrongly in pursuit of change. That’s OK if it is thought through and it works but I’m not sure it is working.”

The exit of the popular Pougatch caused plenty of criticism, following on from news of Cornelius Lysaght leaving as a revered racing correspondent. Now Green is out. The BBC defends its position, as a senior source says: “Yes, the BBC is having to look at its strategy for young audiences otherwise we will become quickly irrelevant, but that does not come at the expense of authority, knowledge and experience.”
What seems strange about the BBC not wanting to keep Green is that, in many ways, he is the ideal commentator for many in this era who want spiky opinion. “Being honest is the only way I know how to do it,” he says. It’s brought him some run-ins, most notably with Sir Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce.
“I had immense respect for Alex in what he did as the manager of Manchester United. It is a matter of great sadness to me that we haven’t spoken for 28 years,” Green adds. “It was all about one incident when he misled the Friday press conference about team news [about Mark Hughes’s availability]. I was doing the commentary on the Saturday at Old Trafford and I said, ‘I’ve learned not to listen to any propaganda that might be coming out of the manager’s afternoon office on a Friday. I will try to recognise the United players when they come out on to the pitch!’ It was done as much for humour but by God, somebody obviously told him, and he confronted me, and he said, ‘You don’t f***ing pick my team’. I said, ‘Don’t tell me f***ing lies, tell me nothing.’ 28 years of silence since.
“With Allardyce, I just didn’t like the style of football his teams tended to play. I do remember going up to him at the end of one season, 2004, when Sam was out working [at the European Championship in Portugal], and I was staying at same hotel. I said, ‘I can’t speak highly enough of how well you have done this season [when Bolton finished eighth].’ I put my hand out, and he turned away.
“I am perfectly happy for people to disagree with me as long as they accepted it was honest and heartfelt. Other people [in broadcasting] say something stupid to provoke a reaction on social media. Definitely! It’s not my style. I get threats on trains, and threats outside certain grounds. You just have to take it and walk on.
“After the 1999 Champions League final, early the following season, I was at Old Trafford, and this guy came up to me, and I thought, ‘Oh, God, what’s he going to say? Is it going to be hostile?’ He said, ‘I’ve got to get you to listen to this.’ And he played his ringtone which was my commentary on the Solskjaer goal! Fantastic!”
Green’s thoughts scrolled back to United’s semi-final that year against Juventus. “I always had this gritty admiration for Roy Keane,” he says. “I thought Roy was immense in terms of his character and drive. I remember vividly the night of the Turin game when Roy was booked and would miss the final. We journalists always got on the plane after the players were already sitting there. Roy was sitting on his own, window seat. I just leant over to him, and said, ‘I’m so, so sorry, you don’t deserve to miss the final, you were key tonight’. He just looked right through me! But I meant every word. Keane, for me, was immense, the way Steven Gerrard was for Liverpool, the way [Jordan] Henderson is now.”
Administrators did not always take kindly to Green’s occasionally withering verdicts. “One of the difficulties I had with [the former Premier League chief executive Richard] Scudamore was [that] I was strong on my opinions on the Premier League. We are the most watched league in the world, for good reasons, we are a great watch but it doesn’t make the football always the best. Scudamore made it known to me that he didn’t like that. He thought I should be more involved in ‘selling’ the Premier League. The Premier League is outstanding but that doesn’t mean it’s faultless. That’s my commentary style: if something’s wrong, I’ll call it’s ‘wrong’ but when it’s good I’ll make sure I’m screaming to the skies that it is bloody good.”
I found him in understandably reflective mood when encountered at Hillsborough last Wednesday. The ground brings back the bleakest of memories. Green was commentating on that fateful day in April 1989 that claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans. “I hate going back. I can’t stop looking towards the Leppings Lane end.”
After the game was abandoned, Green left the peerless Peter Jones, the senior commentator, to take over the broadcast and took on the grim assignment of gathering news on the unfolding disaster. “I interviewed Graham Kelly [the FA chief executive at the time] live and he was already crying, he’d just been given the latest casualty figures. The death toll was beyond 50. I was crying as well. I think about Hillsborough every day.”
He thinks, too, of those he has worked with like the late Jones, “so helpful” and Jimmy Armfield, whose “death hit me hard. He was like a broadcasting father to me and Mike.” The Mike to whom he refers is Mike Ingham, who he worked with for years, sharing commentaries. Ingham has now retired to the West Country and has written a book. “A couple of months back, the Daily Mail ran a story about Mike’s forthcoming book, and made the point that he didn’t mention me once in the book, and what’s the story behind that? The truth is I don’t know. Yes, it did hurt me.” In essence, Ingham was urbane, Green occasionally prickly, yet they blended into a magnificent broadcasting double act.
“I swear hand on heart, I’ve never done anything against Mike,” Green adds. “It’s very sad. We were so close. Think of all the times we shared. The only Alan Green mentioned in the book is the former Coventry player! I can’t imagine it was deliberate. Mike surely wasn’t like that. I hope not. Mike was a constant theme throughout my book.
“Mike retired at the World Cup final in Rio (in 2014) and there was a blaze of publicity for that, and Mike deserved it. I remember during the commentary when I handed over to him, and saying not only how much I had appreciated his friendship and being a work colleague, I said he’s been like my brother for all these years. I can’t say anything more to show how much I appreciate Mike. I am not in touch with him. It’s a delicate subject.”




https://www.thetimes.co.uk/topic/media
 
Green surveys his industry with his usual keen eye and ear. “The best television commentators, and I put [the BBC’s] Guy Mowbray highest of all, don’t over-commentate,” he says. “They get the balance right between opinion, description and silence. Silence can do wonders in terms of your appreciation of a game. There are many occasions when I shut up in a commentary because that couple of seconds of silence said it all. I wish commentators would sometimes back off a bit. Atmosphere is so important on radio, so don’t talk over the crowd. If the crowd is really noisy, let the crowd dominate for those few seconds.” He is surprisingly modest about his own delivery, and waves away compliments about his best lines. “I can’t stand the sound of my voice. Neither does my wife [Brenda]!”
He turns pensive again. “I don’t know what I’ll do next season. I’d like to work for Premier League Productions and do some commentaries for them. I can’t conceive of not working. My wife will not want me at home! Forty years of marriage is one thing, but seven days a week? Not a chance! I haven’t a clue how she puts up with me. It is to her enormous credit. She must love me deep down or she couldn’t stand any more.”
“Greeny” can be grumpy, insightful and entertaining all in the space of a few words. He has the gift of the gab, and a deep passion for football. “I love the game. I’d miss the game.”
 
Green was the first commentator I actually took a dislike to. The first who came to think his opinion was important rather than simply commentating on the game.

That‘s national commentators, of course. I wouldn’t give the modern Scottish commentators the time of day.
 
Although I would not describe myself as one of his fans, I enjoy listening to Alan Green as he's never short of an opinion. Reading what he's said about Fergie and Allardyce, it makes you realise the size of the egos that they must have. I was brought up to appreciate that in most aspects of life, particularly politics, religion and football, opinions will differ. To bear a grudge for 28 years over a difference of opinion about football tells me something about Fergie.
 
Green surveys his industry with his usual keen eye and ear. “The best television commentators, and I put [the BBC’s] Guy Mowbray highest of all, don’t over-commentate,” he says. “They get the balance right between opinion, description and silence. Silence can do wonders in terms of your appreciation of a game. There are many occasions when I shut up in a commentary because that couple of seconds of silence said it all. I wish commentators would sometimes back off a bit. Atmosphere is so important on radio, so don’t talk over the crowd. If the crowd is really noisy, let the crowd dominate for those few seconds.” He is surprisingly modest about his own delivery, and waves away compliments about his best lines. “I can’t stand the sound of my voice. Neither does my wife [Brenda]!”
He turns pensive again. “I don’t know what I’ll do next season. I’d like to work for Premier League Productions and do some commentaries for them. I can’t conceive of not working. My wife will not want me at home! Forty years of marriage is one thing, but seven days a week? Not a chance! I haven’t a clue how she puts up with me. It is to her enormous credit. She must love me deep down or she couldn’t stand any more.”
“Greeny” can be grumpy, insightful and entertaining all in the space of a few words. He has the gift of the gab, and a deep passion for football. “I love the game. I’d miss the game.”
Lost all respect for him when he tried reinventing himself as English when discussing an up coming euro championship or World Cup.
Referred to England as “we”.
I was straight on the phone to 5 live to challenge him but never got on.
Nothing against England but no Belfast man should be doing that.
 
Barry Davis best of English commentators for me in terms of drama...motson more popular but Davis came up with best lines,
Maradona against England...”you have to say that’s magnificent”
Argentina knocking out Brazil in 1990....”and Caniggiaaaaaa.....scores!”

best commentator about at moment is bbc radio guy that does the boxing
 
I don't particularly like him myself,but can't stand the dumbing down of the 5live football output nowadays. Having both Sutton and Savage doing the phone ins makes me turn the station off when before i listened to 606 all the time.
They also have some terrible women commentators on most sports now.
 
To be honest, I've always found his commentary to be self centered, as if he was as much a protagonist as the players in the pitch. He always comes across as being far too self important, he could have done with someone telling him a few home truths years ago.

I hope he enjoys his retirement, or whatever he's planning to do now. But personally, I won't miss him.
 
I don't particularly like him myself,but can't stand the dumbing down of the 5live football output nowadays. Having both Sutton and Savage doing the phone ins makes me turn the station off when before i listened to 606 all the time.
They also have some terrible women commentators on most sports now.
My first thought reading the interview. I never particularly liked Green, too much time sharing his “withering” opinions, but he was at least honest and had a personality behind the contrived “shock for effect, retweets and mentions” guests so commonly now sat alongside the most banal presenters.

I still listen to Five Live in the late evenings, but it’s nowhere near as good as the days of Glover, Bannister and even more recently, Phil Williams. But the daytime output is now utterly dreadful and a far cry from its early-2000s heyday.
 
I remember reading about Green a number of years ago I can't remember who it was that wrote the article but he wasn't kind on Green and apparently Green was not like amongst the football fraternity.
 
My first thought reading the interview. I never particularly liked Green, too much time sharing his “withering” opinions, but he was at least honest and had a personality behind the contrived “shock for effect, retweets and mentions” guests so commonly now sat alongside the most banal presenters.

I still listen to Five Live in the late evenings, but it’s nowhere near as good as the days of Glover, Bannister and even more recently, Phil Williams. But the daytime output is now utterly dreadful and a far cry from its early-2000s heyday.

5live was superb in the early 2000s, I could easily spend all day listening ( with a break for Mark and Lard) cant listen now to any of the daytime shows bar Kermode and Mayo, the commentary on games is still good though as long as the likes of Nevin, Sutton and Savage aren’t on co-coms.
 
smacks a bit of an old man bitter that times have changed,but he hasnt, he has had a right good run at things and should bow out gracefully,we know that the target audience is mostly towards a very younger crowd and so a 67 year old man will hardly be appealing, times move on and we all have to accept that in whatever role we have in society
 
Barry Davis best of English commentators for me in terms of drama...motson more popular but Davis came up with best lines,
Maradona against England...”you have to say that’s magnificent”
Argentina knocking out Brazil in 1990....”and Caniggiaaaaaa.....scores!”

best commentator about at moment is bbc radio guy that does the boxing
Agree Barry Davis is the best about on any sport
 
5live was superb in the early 2000s, I could easily spend all day listening ( with a break for Mark and Lard) cant listen now to any of the daytime shows bar Kermode and Mayo, the commentary on games is still good though as long as the likes of Nevin, Sutton and Savage aren’t on co-coms.
Am the same. Still listen to Mayo and Kermode. Rest is dumb downed trash especially that 2 guys who are on early Friday afternoon
 
He began to believe his own hype and 'celebrity. Initially, though, I thought he was great along with Bryon Butler, Peter Jones and Mike Ingham - voices of Radio 2 and 5Live.

The BBC and "its strategy for young audiences" will be the death of them.
 
Thought he was an awful commentator who would actually make me turn off some games

Don’t agree with how the BBC etc are trying to push cunts like Jenas, Murphy, Micah Richards but Green was fucking awful.
 
Barry Davis best of English commentators for me in terms of drama...motson more popular but Davis came up with best lines,
Maradona against England...”you have to say that’s magnificent”
Argentina knocking out Brazil in 1990....”and Caniggiaaaaaa.....scores!”

best commentator about at moment is bbc radio guy that does the boxing
His Franny Lee one was brilliant. "Interesting, very interesting, just look at his face". Don't know if it's an age thing but with fewer games on TV back then the quality of commentator was better and more genuine, especially when something special happened.
 
Barry Davis best of English commentators for me in terms of drama...motson more popular but Davis came up with best lines,
Maradona against England...”you have to say that’s magnificent”
Argentina knocking out Brazil in 1990....”and Caniggiaaaaaa.....scores!”

best commentator about at moment is bbc radio guy that does the boxing
Davies was effortless.
 
Couldn't go him as commentator. I agree though that the BBC is on a downward spiral with their moving with the times mantra. Just look at Radio 2 for proof. Plus, I agree with him on his view of Scudamore. This pushing the product constantly is excruciating. Bill Hicks was right (as always), "If you're in advertising, kill yourself".
 
Although I would not describe myself as one of his fans, I enjoy listening to Alan Green as he's never short of an opinion. Reading what he's said about Fergie and Allardyce, it makes you realise the size of the egos that they must have. I was brought up to appreciate that in most aspects of life, particularly politics, religion and football, opinions will differ. To bear a grudge for 28 years over a difference of opinion about football tells me something about Fergie.

It should surprise no one.
 
Have to admit that I didn't particularly mind Alan Green as a commentator. As with most on national radio, firstly Radio 2 then 5Live, he could describe the setting and the game as though the listener was there. Unlike now where most of the commentary is around the game and not on the game.

What he says about not over commentating is bang on. Too many nowadays, Crocker and every dullard at BBC Scotland, love to hear their own voice. Constantly.

In the past Scotland had the likes of Francey, Alexander, Begg, Park when we're a staple for me on a Saturday afternoon growing up.

Another point, already mentioned, is the lack of decent programming on 5 Live as the BBC dumbs down and concerns itself more on "minorities" rather than the quality of broadcaster/commentator.

The BBC could dump it now to save cash and it would hardly be missed.
 
So in 1999 someone had his commentary as a ringtone? There was me thinking things just made beeping noises and Snake was the state of the art game at the time.
Usual pish from Green
 
In a strange way I feel sorry for young folk nowadays who have multiple ways to get updates and commentaries. When I was young there was a magic of listening to midweek commentaries especially. Radio reception was not very good so had to hold it in a funny position and there would be waves of crackles but it somehow added to the experience. David Francey for Scottish games and Peter Jones down south both could make you feel you were right there.
 
I grew up in an era when we had top sportswriters like Hugh Taylor and John Mackenzie and top broadcasters like Archie McPherson and David Francey. Problem these days is that newspapers want their writers to be broadcasters on podcasts and tv and radio stations want their broadcasters to be writers on websites. They are two very different disciplines so we are ending up with people who are mediocre at both
 
In a strange way I feel sorry for young folk nowadays who have multiple ways to get updates and commentaries. When I was young there was a magic of listening to midweek commentaries especially. Radio reception was not very good so had to hold it in a funny position and there would be waves of crackles but it somehow added to the experience. David Francey for Scottish games and Peter Jones down south both could make you feel you were right there.

In the same way I miss TV commentary from Eastern Europe counties coming down the crackly phone line.
 
I never really warmed to him - he has always been incredibly negative about the matches that he is being paid a handsome sum to describe for listeners.

That said... the way that the BBC is phasing out people who do not meet a preferred set of demographic characteristics is quite vile.
 
Reading that interview, there seems to be a recurring theme of people falling out with him. Draw your own conclusions.

Was just about to say the same thing, he's definitely got a lot to say for himself and that's probably got him into more trouble than he's'fessed up to.

That said, he was a character and you could get involved with his commentary in a way that's missing today.

I've put the commentary on a few 5 Live games recently and it just goes off after a few minutes.
 
smacks a bit of an old man bitter that times have changed,but he hasnt, he has had a right good run at things and should bow out gracefully,we know that the target audience is mostly towards a very younger crowd and so a 67 year old man will hardly be appealing, times move on and we all have to accept that in whatever role we have in society

Why should the target only be a younger audience? And who’s to say that a young audience can only listen to someone of a certain age?
 
In a strange way I feel sorry for young folk nowadays who have multiple ways to get updates and commentaries. When I was young there was a magic of listening to midweek commentaries especially. Radio reception was not very good so had to hold it in a funny position and there would be waves of crackles but it somehow added to the experience. David Francey for Scottish games and Peter Jones down south both could make you feel you were right there.

I remember having to very slowly turn the tuner to get the station for the football when we played away in Europe. Finally get it and as you say the occasional crackle then out of nowhere the radio would pick up a Spanish radio station. You could still hear the commentary in the background so persevered with it for a while before going back to the tuner and losing everything.
 
Barry Davis best of English commentators for me in terms of drama...motson more popular but Davis came up with best lines,
Maradona against England...”you have to say that’s magnificent”
Argentina knocking out Brazil in 1990....”and Caniggiaaaaaa.....scores!”

best commentator about at moment is bbc radio guy that does the boxing
Agree Barry Davis was No1 for me.
 
So in 1999 someone had his commentary as a ringtone? There was me thinking things just made beeping noises and Snake was the state of the art game at the time.
Usual pish from Green
To be fair, my Nokia at the time had the A-Team ringtone as I knew a boy who knew a boy who worked for a company selling whatever format the files were. But I digress lol
 
Have to admit that I didn't particularly mind Alan Green as a commentator. As with most on national radio, firstly Radio 2 then 5Live, he could describe the setting and the game as though the listener was there. Unlike now where most of the commentary is around the game and not on the game.

What he says about not over commentating is bang on. Too many nowadays, Crocker and every dullard at BBC Scotland, love to hear their own voice. Constantly.

In the past Scotland had the likes of Francey, Alexander, Begg, Park when we're a staple for me on a Saturday afternoon growing up.

Another point, already mentioned, is the lack of decent programming on 5 Live as the BBC dumbs down and concerns itself more on "minorities" rather than the quality of broadcaster/commentator.

The BBC could dump it now to save cash and it would hardly be missed.

Im sorry but David Begg was a Rangers hating lady's front bottom.

Alan Green has an over inflated ego, 67 years is a decent shift.
 
Barry Davis best of English commentators for me in terms of drama...motson more popular but Davis came up with best lines,
Maradona against England...”you have to say that’s magnificent”
Argentina knocking out Brazil in 1990....”and Caniggiaaaaaa.....scores!”

best commentator about at moment is bbc radio guy that does the boxing
Mike Costello, 2nd to none. Makes you think you're ringside. Very knowledgeable.

Oh and Green's a cock.
 
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Although I would not describe myself as one of his fans, I enjoy listening to Alan Green as he's never short of an opinion. Reading what he's said about Fergie and Allardyce, it makes you realise the size of the egos that they must have. I was brought up to appreciate that in most aspects of life, particularly politics, religion and football, opinions will differ. To bear a grudge for 28 years over a difference of opinion about football tells me something about Fergie.

I took the opposite from that article.

I have never liked Green and reading that very few if any do like the guy.

He comes across as an arrogant bastard
 
He's from good stock, his old man never missed a Linfield match sat in the same seat every other week in the old South Stand below the media box decked out in a hand me down (or is it up?) 5 live jacket
 
Although I would not describe myself as one of his fans, I enjoy listening to Alan Green as he's never short of an opinion. Reading what he's said about Fergie and Allardyce, it makes you realise the size of the egos that they must have. I was brought up to appreciate that in most aspects of life, particularly politics, religion and football, opinions will differ. To bear a grudge for 28 years over a difference of opinion about football tells me something about Fergie.
i would simply call it some people with loads and loads of money are just quite simply stuck up their own shitey fu-cking stinking arse's.
 
Im sorry but David Begg was a Rangers hating lady's front bottom.

Alan Green has an over inflated ego, 67 years is a decent shift.
My point was about the quality of commentary from Begg etc. Regardless of allegiances the standard was excellent in the main.

That on itself shows the difference between BBC Scotland of the 80's/90's to now.
 
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