Moore: 'A fantastic commentator'

Brian Moore: A distinguished career in radio and TV

Tributes have been paid to Brian Moore, the football broadcaster who died at the age of 69.

The retired commentator passed away at his home in Kent hours before England's 5-1 victory against Germany in Munich on Saturday.

Among those to pay their respects was former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson, who worked alongside Moore for several years until his retirement after the 1998 World Cup.

"We've had some great commentators in this game, but I think he was the daddy of them all," Atkinson told BBC Five Live.

"He was always a great Englishman; he loved English football, he was a fanatical English cricket fan and he was a genuinely great guy to work with.

He was a fantastic big-match commentator for ITV

John Motson

"'The irony of it all was that I was just watching (Michael) Owen being interviewed last night when all of a sudden I got a phone call to tell me what had happened."

Despite the jubilation of England's resounding victory in Munich, Atkinson said it was extremely sad Moore had not witnessed the match.

"He always said the best performance from England since they'd won the World Cup was the 4-1 win against Holland," he said.

"I would have thought he'd put last night as even better than that, and it's an even bigger tragedy that he couldn't see it."

Talisman

Atkinson's sentiments were echoed by BBC commentator John Motson, who had worked alongside Moore for many years.

"He was a fantastic big-match commentator for ITV," said Motson.

"I think everybody on both sides of the fence in broadcasting recognised Brian as the talisman of ITV Sport between the time he left BBC Radio in 1968 until he retired.

"I always remember the first time I did the FA Cup final in 1977 and going into the BBC commentary booth, very nervous.

Keegan and Moore: Double act

"And there was a note on my desk saying 'make sure you enjoy it', signed by Brian Moore - and he was doing it for the opposition."

Moore was noted throughout the profession as a man who set the highest standards.

But he was prone to the occasional mistake - such as when he told 13 million viewers Hamburg had won the European Cup in 1980 when in fact Nottingham Forest had won 1-0.

And he famously asked Kevin Keegan live on air if David Batty would score in the 1998 World Cup penalty shoot-out against Argentina - only for the Leeds midfielder to fire straight at the goalkeeper.

"Brian made very few mistakes," said fellow ITV commentator Martin Tyler.

"But those that he did he would have remembered right till the end because he would have hated doing it. His mistakes were few and far between, though.

"He was such a modest man and a private man and he loved retreating from the limelight to be with his family.

"But he had a steely determination that took him to the very top of his profession."