Hi

LBC SPORTSWATCH - Football reporters (early years)

Hopefully you can help me with names of football reporters in respect of LBC's Sportswatch programme, in particular the early years, 1973 through to the mid 80's.

Dominic Allen (R.I.P) was the first host and although I recall Andrew Gidley and Steve Tongue I wonder if any other LBC listeners recall more names of reporters who covered London's football matches on a Saturday afternoon.

Thanks

Mark
mark.210@btinternet.com

Out of interest does anyone have the music to the programme.

Hey, thanks to The Difference, I have found this site.I'll add some old details regularly if you wish.

LBC Sportswatch - Saturday 13th March 1982
Hosts Dominic Allan and Dave Brenner
Liverpool v Tottenham (League Cup Final? at Wembley) Steve Tongue and Andrew Gidley
Arsenal v Ipswich Richard Coghill
West Ham v Notts County Jeff Clarke
Derby v Palace Gordon Wilson
Leicester v QPR Phil Wardman
Norwich v Watford Julian Smith
Brentford v Chesterfield Chris Martin
Fulham v Burnley Alan Ornstin
Wimbledon v Reading Geoffrey Gray-Forton
R/U: Harlequins v Coventry Mike Porter

Other names around England that weekend included:
Arsenal v Ipswich Peter Slater (Radio Orwell)
Norwich v Watford Mike Vince (Chiltern Radio)

LBC Sportswatch - Saturday 14 March 1987
Host Mike Porter with Alan Mullery and Frank McLintock
Scarborough v Enfield David Jeffers
Arsenal v Watford Andrew Gidley
Leicester v Charlton Iain Carter
Man City v Chelsea Colin Evans
QPR v Norwich Tim Knight
West Ham v Norwich Jeff Clarke
Crystal Palace v Birmingham Tom Price
Millwall v Oldham Philip Barker
York v Brentford Malcolm Huntington
Wrexham v Leyton Orient John Hall

Elsewhere Rob Nothman reported for BBC Radio Norwich on West Ham v Norwich, Jon Desborough (now with Sky News) reported for BBC Radio Bedfordshire on Luton v Manchester United and Clive Tyldesley reported for Radio City on Oxford v Liverpool.

This is great info - thanks. Be even better pls if anyone has Sportswatch football reporter info around ' 73 to about ' 81.
Mike Vince & Jeff Clarke were on LBC as football reporters back in the 70's , now I see their names listed. So yes, any info from the 70's would be a great help. Can I add that Peter Lorenzo MAY have been an LBC reporter at some stage..maybe someone can confirm.

The earliest I can go back is Saturday 30 August 1980
Arsenal v Tottenham Steve Tongue
Wolves v Palace David Potts
Cardiff v Orient Mike Miller
Chelsea v QPR Mike Porter
Watford v Bristol City Tom Price
West Ham v Notts County Chris Martin
Charlton v Burnley Peter Burrowes
Millwall v Chester Richard Coghill
Walsall v Brentford David Wyn-Yates
Scunthorpe v Wimbledon Jeff Clarke

Other reporters still around who were working that weekend included:
Stuart Hall (Liverpool v Norwich, BBC Radio Two)
Alan Parry and Bryon Butler (Manchester United v Sunderland, BBC Radio Two commentary)
Jimmy Armfield (Middlesboro v Man City, BBC Radio Two)
Pete Barraclough (Ipswich v Everton, Radio Orwell)

Mark Pougatch, Deano Standing (mIllwall), Tony Vincenzo (QPR)

The legend, that is, Jeff Stelling, presented a sports programme, on LBC, if I recall correctly.

Sportswatch theme here 33 minutes in: http://www.geofflumley.org.uk/lbc261/LBCin1978two.MP3

Thanks very much, Ian , and Artie.
The 1980 line up is closer to what I remember first listening to when I was around 10 years of age.
Although I can't be 100% the earlest set of football reporters from the mid 70's was likely (I think) : Andrew Gidley, Jeff Clarke, Jeff Stelling, Steve Tongue, Mike Porter, Peter Lorenzo, Peter Burrowes, Mike Vince and (one whose come to mind) Tony Lockwood. I expect some others too from the 1980 list.
I realise that as more ILR stns went on-air from '73 onwards that poss. Sportswatch hooked up with reporters from Radio City, Metro, Orwell etc because not all the London teams were at home in a part. week of course.
I do recall Colin Turner (horse racing) and Theo Foley doing match previews with Dominic Allen. I recall from his book (Only A Game) that Eammon Dunphy sometimes commented on games. So, the picture is a much more clearer one and has got me much further down the line with my research. Any more names/thoughts '73- '80 now, I think, will fill in any remaining gaps. Ian - pls can you email me (my address in my original post). Thanks again.

Dave Luddy was another 80s football commentator, but he got disillusioned by football & presented the weekday overnight phone-in before moving to his new love - tennis.

I think he still does tennis commentary, but works in France these days.

He is on talkSPORT is't he?

Some information I can help out with...


The last name should be Tony Incenzo. He's something of a QPR superfan, having attended every single one of their home games (and most of their away games) for the past 20 years or so. I don't know his dates on LBC but he went on to work as the QPR and non-league correspondent on Capital Gold Sportstime in the early 90s right the way through until its demise in 2004, with him going on to join talkSPORT as a London football correspondent in 2004/05 where he's been ever since.

Deano Standing is Millwall's press officer and has also been BBC London's reporter on the club's games for quite a while now.



He is with talkSPORT in a manner of speaking, in the sense that his tennis reports have been used with regularity on that station for the past 12 years or so.

But those reports are not unique to talkSPORT - his production company, Dave Luddy International, supply sports reports to over 400 other stations in the UK alone. They don't just carry updates from Dave and others on the four Grand Slams plus most other major tennis tournaments, but also on the biggest events in badminton, squash, golf, darts, snooker, a couple of the big horse racing meetings, the Boat Race plus Premier League and Carling Cup football (are they ultimately responsible for the IRN reports?). He's very much a major player in British sports radio these days.

In London, Peter Burrowes was a legend as the Charlton reporter.

Some good names here, did Peter Lorenzo go from BBC to LBC then?

Could be wrong, but I think Steve Rider was at LBC for a while & reported on England Internationals

Did this programme end when Capital Gold started?

Cheers to everyone that's responded.

I think Andrew Cheal may have been another one. Just remembered.

Feel free to email me with anything else (related) as/if this thread goes down the list on here as new posts are made.

Didnt Theo Foley do LBC in the 70's? Normally Highbury

LBC Sunday 22 March 1987
Tottenham v Liverpool Andrew Gidley

Otherwise, I wasn't able tohear the radio on the Saturday 25 and 30 years ago - possibly Easter thus up in Scotland.

LBC - Tuesday 24 March 1987
Host TimMarshall with Dominic Allen and Andrew Gidley)
Charlton v Oxford Peter Burrowes
Shrewsbury v Palace Kevin Howells
Boxing Mike Porter


LBC Saturday 7 March 1992
Host Derek Hobson
R/U: England v Wales Andrew Titheridge
Luton v Palace Paul Rowley
QPR v Man City Steve Lytton
Tottenham v Leeds Tony Lockwood and George Best (commentary)
Wimbledon v Notts County Mark Pougatch
Charlton v Millwall Peter Burrowes
Watford v Ipswich Mike Hooker
Fulham v Exeter Simon Cotter?
Leyton Orient v Reading Paul Ashton
Preston v Brntford Neil Davis
Burnley v Barnet Ron Kennedy
Portsmouth v Nottm Forest John Anderson
Southampton v Norwich Richard Green
I'm guessing the last two matches were in the FA Cup.


Capital Gold Sport Saturday 7 March 1992
Luton v Palace Ian Crocker
QPR v Man City Julian Walters and Terry Neill
Tottenham v Leeds Jonathan Pearce and Bobby Moore
Wimbledon v Notts County Mick Conway
Charlton v Millwall Deano Standing
Fulham v Exeter John Ayres
Leyton Orient v Reading Tom Skippings
Celtic v Morton Archie MacPherson (commentating for Radio Clyde in Glasgow)
Everton v Oldham Stewart Pyke (I suspect reporting for Piccadilly Sport in Manchester)
I suspect that Capital was switching the commentary game throughout the afternoon. Sadly, I have no further deatils for LBC and Capital Gold in London in March 1992 until Saturday 28 March which I shall post later.

I remember Peter Lorenzo with ITV in London in the early days. He was certainly with BBC Radio in 1980 but don't remember him at LBC. Was he the father of Matthew Lorenzo?

He was. A bit of information about a few of the names I recognise from your LBC reporters lists from the late 1980s and early 1990s: Kevin Howells is now a cricket correspondent for BBC national radio, perhaps most notably being Test Match Special's reserve commentator in the UK in case of a line going down during their coverage of England tours. Tony Lockwood is a veteran freelance football reporter, who went on to be Talk Radio's Football League commentator in the late 1990s and talkSPORT's first chief football correspondent. John Anderson's career has taken a similar path and he is currently that station's England football correspondent.

Andrew Titheridge co-founded Talking Rugby in 2004, an agency that supplies rugby union updates/audio to a wide selection of radio stations, websites and other broadcasters. Mark Pougatch is now one of the main presenters of 5 Live Sport and does some freelance TV sports presenting for ITV and Channel 5. Mike Hooker sometimes appears as a reporter on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday and I believe Paul Ashton is/was one of IRN's regular Premier League reporters. Andrew Cheal has been mentioned, he is also an IRN football regular as well as a sports correspondent for BFBS Radio.

I, too, was an avid listener of this programme when it began (in the mid-1970s?) and during the '80s. Some of the football reporters whom I remember (some of whom have already been mentioned by other posters) are: Steve Tongue; Andrew Gidley; Steve Rider (who occasionally presented the programme, I seem to recall); Brian Hamilton; Colin Mafham (who often covered the big games); Tom Price (who always seemed to be at Watford's home games - and when he wasn't, I think it was someone called Oliver Phillips who replaced him); Ken Goldman (who, I remember, covered Tottenham's famous 9-0 win against Bristol Rovers: don't ask me how I recall some of this stuff, because I don't know!); Matthew Lorenzo (when he reported on a game, it always seemed to be a West Ham one); Richard Coghill; Colin Mitchell; Geoffrey Gray-Forton; Dave Victor; Paul Vaughan (who seemed to cover Wimbledon's home games); Richard Keys; Tim Marshall (who, I think, is now a foreign affairs specialist on Sky News); Peter Burrowes (always Charlton Athletic games); Richard Rickson (Fulham games); Mike Porter (who sometimes presented the programme, and who often did rugby matches); Dave Brenner (who was the producer, and who also covered boxing, I seem to recall); David Luddy; Jeff Stelling; Mike Miller; Tim Knight; and David Jacobs (who, if memory serves me correctly, covered occasional Wimbledon games).

As far as away games for London teams were concerned, I can recall the following names: Tom Tyrrell (who was at Man Utd games, I think); Julian Smith (Norwich City games); Bill Brett (Everton and Liverpool games); Colin Evans (Man City); Brian Clarke (Man City); Ian McLaren (Ipswich); Phil Suarez (Cardiff City); Michael Ekberg (Grimsby Town); Charles Ekberg (Grimsby Town); Ron Kennedy (Blackburn Rovers and Burnley); and Tony Millard (Brighton).

I am not someone who has ever worked in the media - so I do not know why I have retained this information. Bizarre, isn't it? I used always to enjoy the programme though.

Tom Tyrrell was Piccadilly Sport and now works for Today FM. Colin Evans, I think, was Manchester Evening News, the late Julian Smith was Broadland radio (and also Radio Orwell) and the late Phil Suarez was red Dragon Radio. A lot of good names there.

Other names that have since sprung to mind (some of which, again, have already been mentioned by other posters) are: Mark Andrews, Geoff Clarke, Mike Vince (Watford and Luton matches) and Chris Martin. And for away games, I seem to recall that Bristol City and Bristol Rovers matches were often covered by Bruce Perry or Graham Russell. I recall a mild on-air spat (or misunderstanding, really) between Bruce Perry and Sportswatch presenter Dominic Allan during a handover by the latter. They seemed to be confused about whether the game in question was at Eastville (Rovers) or Ashton Gate (City).