On the BALL

As Match of the Day celebrates its 60th birthday, DES LYNAM looks back on his time hosting the show

- SEAN MARLAND

Des Lynam chuckles down the phone as he casts his mind back to the afternoon in 1988 when the head of BBC Sport called to ask if he’d like to host Match of the Day.

As an avid football fan who’d been working on Grandstand for many years, he was keen to take the job, but he was also reluctant to go behind the back of his good friend Jimmy Hill.

‘I was shocked because Jimmy had been hosting Match of the Day for years,’ Des tells TV Times in an exclusive interview. ‘But Jimmy was happy about it, because he thought he was better off being a pundit.’

Jimmy’s decision to step aside allowed Des to follow in the footsteps of legendary former presenters such as Kenneth Wolstenholme and David Coleman and host the show from 1988 to 1999, while his successor Gary Lineker will be leading the celebrations as Match of the Day marks its 60th birthday this weekend.

Here, Des, 81, shares his memories of presenting the world’s most- famous football show…

How excited were you to become Match of the Day host in 1988?

I was surprised to be asked to do it, because Jimmy Hill was the host and had been doing it for so long. I got a phone call asking if I wanted to stop doing Grandstand and take over on Match of the Day, and I said, ‘Does Jimmy know about this? He’s a friend of mine; I can’t suddenly take his job without mentioning it to him beforehand!’

Were you nervous before the first episode went to air?