If the UK Government had set out to underline Gary Lineker’s comparison with Germany in the 1930s it could hardly have done so any better than by leaning on the BBC – albeit indirectly – to remove him (even if that is only temporary) from his position as host of Match of the Day.

It is one of the signatures of an authoritarian government that it tolerates no dissent, no criticism.

Linkeker is not a political journalist, does not appear on political programmes and is, moreover, not a direct employee of the BBC. He appears on other TV channels and his social media posts are quite obviously his own personal opinions and not to be taken as reflective of a BBC stance on anything. Other such BBC presenters have in the past been defended by the corporation on precisely those grounds.

The media frenzy that has been whipped up has been deliberately misconstrued to make it seem as if Lineker has said something objectionable. He has not.

It is a deflection of attention typical of right wing politicians to seize on something a critic has said as being unnaccceptable in order to move the focus of any debate away from the point at issue.

As a matter of fact Lineker did not compare the Government to Nazi Germany. He said the language the Government was employing was similar to that of Germany in the 1930s. And in that he is correct. The government has undoubtedly been using language which demonises people. We know where that leads. There are too many historical instances (not just those in 1930s Germany) of derogatory language acting as a precursor to something much worse.

And how can the BBC be considered impartial anyway when its chairman has donated money to the party in government, facilitated the provision of a loan to a former Conservative Prime Minister and only gained his position precisely because of those links?

It has in any case been obvious for a long while from its political coverage that the letters BBC in fact stand for Bending over Backwards to the Conservatives.

There has been a large outpouring of appreciation for former football commentator John Motson, who died last week.

Noted for his meticulous preparation, with a multitude of facts and statistics to hand, he was a mainstay of BBC TV’s Match of the Day for decades. His retirement was much regretted by viewers.

I remember reading about one player for a lower league team whose match Motson was covering relating his pre-match experience with the man. Motson had asked the team to line up for him and went along the line scrutinising each one. This particular player, it seemed, received a more intense scrutiny than the others. In the aftermath he said wonderingly to his teammates, “I’ve just been eyeballed by Motty!”

John Walker Motson: 10/7/1945 – 23/2/2023. So it goes.

The position in history of Betty Boothroyd, whose death was announced today, as first woman Speaker of the House of Commons, cannot be surpassed. Her career trajectory was unusual. There aren’t many former Tiller girls who became MPs, let alone Speaker. And unlike most politicians she presented a human face to the world.

Betty Boothroyd: 8/10/1929 – 26/2/2023. So it goes.

So now it’s Ian St John who has died.

Having made his name at Motherwell he became an integral part of the first great Liverpool team of my lifetime, the first Shankly-managed one, and also played what now seems a paltry 21 games for Scotland, scoring nine goals for the national side, including two in that great sliding-doors match, the play-off with Czechoslovakia for the right to go to the World Cup in Chile in 1962. Scotland were ahead with a few minutes to go but lost a goal before the final whistle then two more in extra-time. Czechoslovakia went on to reach the World Cup final. What if indeed.

St John’s great years as a player were a bit before my time but I do remember the possibly apocryphal story of a Church billboard in Liverpool asking, “What would you do if Jesus came to Liverpool?” to which some wag had added below, “Move St John to inside-left.”

After his retirement I remember a TV competition to find a new commentator for televised football matches in the run-up to the 1970 World Cup. The competitors were anonymous before the voting. However I knew I recognised one of the voices but couldn’t place it. Then came the reveal of the runner-up (who I now see but hadn’t remembered till looking it up actually tied with the winner) – Ian St John. The winner was a Welshman named Idwal Robling who apparently did go on to commentate on games for Match of the Day (never broadcast at the time in Scotland so I never heard any of them) and later mostly for Welsh games.

But it was as co-presenter of Saint and Greavsie, an ITV equivalent of the Football Focus of today but with a more light-hearted approach (and which was broadcast in Scotland) that St John was more familiar to my generation. The banter between St John and the other presenter Jimmy Greaves was always good-natured and entertaining.

John (Ian) St John: 7/6/1938 – 1/3/2021. So it goes.

“Match of the Day’s the only way to spend your Saturday.”

Not at the moment it isn’t.

A song from simpler times. “We paid four hundred thousand pounds for him. You realise that?” Nowadays that wouldn’t go near buying you a top player’s big toe.

Curiously this isn’t the only football reference in a Genesis song (‘a goal can find you a role on a muddy pitch in Newcastle, where it rains so much, you can’t wait for a touch of sun and sand,’ from Mad Man Moon on the Trick of the Tail album.)

Genesis: Match of the Day

Another decade ticked over and The Lightning Seeds got even better.

I remember this song as being the musical background to a montage of football clips on the BBC’s Saturday lunchtime Football Focus when it was a part of Grandstand (remember that?) but I may be confusing it with Bruce Hornby (and the Range)’s The Way It Is as Wiki has The Life of Riley as the theme set behind Match of the Day’s Goal of the Month.

Whatever, it’s another piece of joyful pop.

The Lightning Seeds: The Life of Riley

On Match of the Day a few weeks ago the commentator on Leicester City’s game mentioned that seven years ago Danny Drinkwater (I think) had been turning out for Leicester against Stockport County in the third tier and now he was at the top of the Premiership, remarking what a contrast that was.

I thought, wait a minute, it’s not just Leicester whose fortunes have changed.

In that season Leicester won League One and began the journey back to the big time whereas Stockport County ended it 18^th, partly due to a ten point deduction for going into administration.

The next season Stockport finished dead bottom and went down to League Two. (Norwich City won League One that season: yo-yoing up and down the divisions is second nature to some.) The season after that Stockport completed their descent through the Football League by also finishing bottom – of League Two – and so to relegation out of it.

Two more seasons and they even fell out of the Conference into the Conference North. This is the sixth tier of English football, a regionalised league, where they remain, 11^th as I write. (Despite this regionalisation in its lower reaches the Conference is now called the National League.)

Football can be a cruel sport.

Notwithstanding this tale of woe Stockport have what on the face of it seems an unlikely fame in China once even having a Chinese team named after them. As that article reminds us at one time Stockport County were the second biggest team in the Manchester area, lording it over Manchester City.

They still manage to attract crowds of over 3000 to their Edgeley Park Ground (image from the link above):-

While researching this post I came across this Football League Fourth Divison (as it then was) top four from season 1966-7:-

1. Stockport County P 46 W 26 D 12 L 8 F 69 A 42 GA 1.643 Pts 64
2. Southport P 46 W 23 D 13 L 10 F 69 A 42 GA 1.643 Pts 59
3. Barrow P 46 W 24 D 11 L 11 F 76 A 54 GA 1.407 Pts 59
4. Tranmere Rovers P 46 W 22 D 14 L 10 F 66 A 43 GA 1.535 Pts 58

(For my younger readers the GA statistic is for goal average, the precursor to goal difference for separating clubs equal on points – for which in those days there were only two for a win. It’s an interesting quirk that the top two here had identical goal scoring and conceding records but Stockport had won three more games.)

Admittedly it’s forty-nine years on but all four of these clubs are now plying their trade outside the Football League, albeit in Tranmere’s case only for this 2015-16 season. Barrow and Southport have in their time also fallen to the sixth tier – more than once – but have managed to climb back up to the fifth level again.

Maybe Stockport can do so too some time. Whether they can ever outdo Manchester City again is more doubtful.