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" I've been fortunate enough to witness some of the biggest moments in football history mere yards away from the action, but I wanted to go out on a high rather than stay too long. I didn't want to get to the stage where people say, 'Oh blimey, Motty's lost it. He's getting the players wrong, and his voice is going.' "

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" 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. "

John Motson

Picture

Boxing

Home

" My favourite English player of my time was Paul Gascoigne. I interviewed him several times, always entertaining. "

" I have had a wonderful time. I don't think things could have gone any better for me because I was football-mad as a boy, and to get a job watching the game and going to all the major events I have been to has been very rewarding. "

" The World Cup is a truly International event. "

" I might feel a little bit empty, and it might get to me for a short time, but I'm hoping to keep my association with football and with broadcasting - I'm not retiring from everything; I'm retiring from the BBC. I'm certainly not going pipe and slippers. "

John Motson

Time

Football

" And Seaman, just like a falling oak, manages to change direction. "

John Motson

Falling

Direction

" That shot might not have been as good as it might have been. "

" I just thought my 50th year in the BBC is 2018, and it has to end sometime, and I thought that would be a good note to go out. "

John Motson

Good

End

" Brazil - they're so good it's like they are running round the pitch playing with themselves. "

" The competition to get above the rest and be the lead commentator, or whatever you want to call it, is much fiercer than it was when I was starting out. By the same token, there were not as many jobs going back then, so to get one was an achievement in itself. "

" The FA Cup as a tournament was very good to me. I'd like to think I can still have some association with that because it was the Ronnie Radford goal for Hereford against Newcastle which really put me on the map in 1972. "

John Motson

I Can

Think

" I still use felt tip pens for my notes, on a white board that I carry around with me. I am not into the computer technology - you can say that quite safely. "

John Motson

Say

Technology

" 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. "

John Motson

Hate

Remember

" Not the first half you might have expected, even though the score might suggest that it was. "

" Its Arsenal 0 - Everton 1, and the longer it stays like that the more you've got to fancy Everton. "

John Motson

Got

You

" 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. "

" I've watched us go out on penalties so often. I really thought we'd make it at Euro '96, especially after Gazza's goal against Scotland. I still go to every England game as a spectator. "

John Motson

Game

Thought

" The whole London football scene is now financially more powerful and ambitious than ever before. That reflects the city's economic might and its multiculturalism. Now West Ham have a new , and Spurs and Chelsea will follow. And the London clubs have widened their areas of support. "

" I think this could be our best victory over Germany since the war. "

" Even now, I still get a bit apprehensive before a game because I am worried about whether I have done enough preparation or if something is going to catch me out. But the fear factor has gone - as it should have done by now, really, after nearly 50 years. "

" I'm not a celebrity whose face is recognised everywhere I go, like Gary Lineker, but my voice does make people sit up and pay attention from time to time. "

" It looks like things are changing in north London. Tottenham have gone down a road they've never been down before. They've kept their best players and pushed young English ones through. They've started to match Arsenal - who were light years ahead - by building a new stadium. "

" It looks like a one man show here, although there are two men involved. "

John Motson

Men

Man