Nigel Johnson - the Potters legend you'd want to listen to
- Published
Nigel Johnson's last game is Saturday's home date with QPR
When Nigel Johnson first started commentating on Stoke City, there was a Labour government in power... Harold Wilson's Labour government.
It was late August 1970. The UK had not yet entered Europe. The Beatles were still together. Just. Stevie Wonder was number one in the charts with 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours', decimalisation was yet to occur and a pint of beer cost two shillings and 11 pence.
Nigel was a teacher and a keen cricketer who had first started with the still fairly newly-formed Radio Stoke in 1969, sending over local league cricket reports.
In those days Stoke City had a team forged around one of English football's all time greats, goalkeeper Gordon Banks.
Nigel's first game for Radio Stoke came at the start of the season after the 1970 Mexico World Cup. West Bromwich Albion v Stoke City - and it threw together two players who had been team-mates in a rather famous England game just two months before. England's 1-0 defeat by Brazil, featuring Banks's famous save from Pelé and Albion centre-forward Jeff Astle's infamous miss.
It was a different story that night at The Hawthorns. Albion won 5-2, Albion's 'king', centre forward Astle, scored twice and so did his old partner in crime Tony 'Bomber' Brown.
A stellar local radio career was born. Two, in fact, given that 'Bomber' is still going strong on BBC Radio WM.
Nigel remembers it well for one reason.
"I made notes, but I did not make them properly enough. I had a line in my head from an old Gilbert and Sullivan song, 'Take Heart, Fair Days Will Shine' (from The Pirates Of Penzance), that I thought might come in handy.
"But when I came to use it I couldn't remember it. It all went blank. I managed to get something out. But it was a real lesson to learn on my very first commentary. Always write things down properly."
It was a lesson learned well enough to earn another six decades of service, during which time he proved a reliable, but still forthright, authoritative voice and he never missed a kick-off, despite some very close shaves.
He inspired his eldest son Roger to join the profession, as a TV presenter with North West Tonight who has also made it as far as the red BBC Breakfast sofa.
And, having now turned 80, he has commentated on almost 2,500 Stoke matches - and a fair few Port Vale ones too, done at least double that number of post-match interviews and got to know 26 Potters managers.
One or two of them even became friends.
Nigel Johnson and friends, including former Stoke bosses Lou Macari and Tony Pulis, Stoke City legend Denis Smith, Port Vale and Stoke stalwart John Rudge and veteran chairman Peter Coates
Lou Macari
Stoke City manager Jun 1991-Oct 1993, Sept 1994-July 1997
"There's not many people in football you befriend for a number of years.
"And there's not many managers last long enough at any football club nowadays to have any friends.
"So it is a bit of an achievement for both Nigel to have some friends in football clubs and me to have a friend outside a football club.
"Over the years that Nigel travelled with us, the length and breadth of the country, I never had one problem with him.
"People know the voice straight away because it is not a critical voice. He has an opinion, as he has to have an opinion. But Nigel would never go overboard and single anyone out."
Tony Pulis
Stoke City manager Nov 2002-June 2005, June 2006-May 2013
"If you tuned into Radio Stoke on a Saturday afternoon, you'd want Nigel commentating - and you'd want to be listening to all he had to say.
"It was his honesty and his knowledge as much as anything else that made us friends.
"He tried to keep it as positive as he possibly could. If it was a negative, he was negative in respect of performance or what was going on. You always got a very level-headed reporter who had Stoke City written all over him but tried to be as balanced as possible.
"I was invited around his house and had food with him and his wife and obviously know Roger through the TV as well. I have tremendous respect for him and his family and the work he's done. He is properly a legend."
Fellow BBC Radio Stoke colleague Graham McGarry
"He'll be a hard act to follow," said another long-serving Radio Stoke colleague Graham McGarry, now in semi-retirement himself after stepping down as sports editor, but still proudly covering Crewe Alexandra for the station after 35 years' service.
"I've worked with him for over 30 years and I've a huge respect for the job he's done.
"He's a real wordsmith, with a beautiful turn of phrase. I love the way he used to describe the players in their red and white stockings."
Nigel in his own words
Nigel Johnson started off by covering cricket matches for Radio Stoke
How did you get started?
My first job was just after Radio Stoke got started in 1968 when I did a local league cricket report the following summer.
I played for Porthill Park and my father Leslie was secretary of the North Staffs & Cheshire League. They wanted an end of match summary - and I just carried on doing it, as well as covering Port Vale games.
They actually wanted me to do more, home and away. But my son Roger had just been born and I could not commit to that. So they had a rethink and I got my first chance of doing Stoke at the start of the 1970-71 season.
First game?
The Hawthorns. 26 August 1970. West Bromwich Albion 5-2 Stoke City. Gordon Banks, Jacko Marsh, Alan Bloor, Willie Stevenson (Denis Smith was injured), Mike Pejic, Mike Bernard, Terry Conroy, Jimmy Greenhoff, John Ritchie, Harry Burrows, George Eastham. Tony Waddington's team. The names trip off the tongue even now. Ritchie and Conroy scored, but Albion were a good side and played very well that night.
Most memorable game?
Tough choice. The FA Cup semi-final in 2011 when Stoke beat Bolton 5-0 would take some beating. But maybe the play-off semi final second leg at Cardiff in 2002. We'd lost the first leg at home and at 0-0 in the second leg we were going out. But James O'Connor equalised to take it to extra time and were five minutes from penalties when the ball ballooned in off Souleymane Oulares' backside. He never started a game for Stoke, only made two substitute appearances - but what a way to make a name for yourself.
Biggest Potters win?
That would have to be that amazing 6-1 win over Liverpool on the final day of the 2015 season. Steven Gerrard's last game - and you had to feel sorry for him. The rest of that Liverpool team were already on the beach. But when he scored in the second half, it brought the house down. He got a marvellous reception from the Stoke fans, The whole of the ground stood up and applauded him. Definitely a moment to feel proud.
Biggest Potters defeat?
Liverpool again, actually. That would have to be the 8-0 League Cup defeat in November 2000. Robbie Fowler was on fire that night. He got a hat-trick and there could have been more. He was unplayable.
Worst journey?
Myself and Peter Hewitt, from the Stoke Sentinel, were on our way to Wimbledon when the train suddenly stopped just outside Milton Keynes. We sat there watching the clock hands tick round for what seemed an interminable age until the train finally got started again.
We finally got into Euston at 1:45, for a 3 o'clock kick-off. And bear in mind I always needed to be at any ground two hours before the game. We went off outside the station looking for a taxi but there was nothing to be found, when suddenly this car pulled up. Unbelievably, it was a Stoke City fan. He drove us all the way and I was on air for five to three.
Best press box nosh?
Everywhere in the Premier League was good. You really couldn't fault it. Arsenal and Chelsea especially. Even when Arsenal were at Highbury, I remember at half time they used to do a lovely cone of fish and chips which I went down and fetched back for the others.
Favourite ground?
The Emirates. Built in a style reminiscent of Wembley. A superb view from the press box - and the hospitality is marvellous.
Least favourite ground?
Kenilworth Road, Luton - Terrible. If they get into the Premier League they will have to do an awful lot of work to bring it up to standard. It hasn't changed since I first went there in the 1970s.
Most memorable interview?
It had to be the day I was waiting to interview Tony Pulis after a game. There was just me, him and Pat Murphy. I was waiting for the link to come from the studio when, just as they came across to me, Tony reached out, took the list of questions I had in my hand and hid them behind his back.
I just about remember all the questions and just about got through the interview, at which point Tony grinned and handed me back the sheet of questions. Pat just stood there aghast. I don't think he could believe what he'd just just seen.
Worst interview?
Chris Kamara. He had a short, difficult time as manager early in 1998. And I know people might find this hard to believe, but he really lost his rag with me after one particularly bad defeat at Stockport. He'd only been in charge a few weeks, we were awful and we'd had one win in three months.
He said: "It's up to me to put right."
I said: "Chris, can I ask you the 64,000 dollar question? How, exactly?"
He walked off, interview over and shouted at me from halfway up the stairs "Don't ever ask me that question again".
The following game I saw him again, approached with trepidation and said: "Am I still persona non grata?"
"Only if you ask me the 64,000 dollar question again."
Favourite gaffer?
Waddo (Tony Waddington), TP (Tony Pulis) and Lou Macari were all good. The three best managers I worked with.
Least favourite gaffer to interview?
Joe Jordan. He could be the nicest bloke imaginable but stick a mic under his nose and his personality transformed. It would be like he was handling a live cobra.
Favourite other commentator?
Raymond Glendenning. He was the one I grew up listening to and watching. He could turn his hand to anything. Of the radio commentators who came later, Bryon Butler, Peter Jones and my personal favourite, Maurice Edelston, he really could paint such pictures.
Favourite pundit?
Mick Mills was great to work with and Denis Smith has always been very entertaining. And Terry Conroy is such a humorous person. Of the more recent ones, Ryan Shawcross and Clive Clarke.
Most bizarre away trip
I've travelled all over England with Stoke and parts of Europe too, both back in the early 70s and again when they made it back again under TP. But the most unforgettable moment had to be on the M40 once near Gaydon when I realised I badly needed to pull off as I needed the toilet.
There was a coach parked there and I didn't want to be rude and just go where I was stood. So I asked the coach driver if I could maybe borrow their toilet on the coach. At which point they recognised my Stoke [clothing] and said: "You do realise this is the Aston Villa reserve team coach? We're on our way to Brentford."
But they took pity on me, said I could go on on board and, as I was getting on, their manager said: "Just make sure it's only a pee though."
Longest traffic jam?
Ian Bayley from the Sentinel and me were going down to an away game at Bournemouth and there was a terrible hold-up on the A34 as we approached Abingdon Aerodrome. It turned out we'd driven right into the middle of the Battle Of Britain 75th anniversary celebrations.
Worst weather story?
Unquestionably an away trip to Rochdale which got called off four times because of rain. In the end, they had to switch the game to Stoke.
And finally... just many cold, wet Tuesday nights in Stoke were there?
I can't honestly say it rained every time, but every Tuesday night game at Stoke was a cold one, trust me. It really is the coldest ground in the country. The best advice I can give for whoever takes over from me is wrap up warm.