"They're on their knees, they don't know what's hit them.. Manchester's hit 'em!" -Alan Green

[mcgillianaire]

I know I don't support Manchester United but it doesn't matter if you do. You can't help but feel sorry for Bayern Munich after watching this and cry tears of joy for the Red Devils. If the 2005 Final produced one of the greatest comebacks of all time, then this was something else. It is also possibly the greatest football compilation video I have ever seen online, and that's saying something.

Ever since I arrived here last June and started listening to BBC Radio 5's LIVE football commentary, Alan Green has officially become my favourite LIVE football commentator. And how lucky those 90,000 fans were to witness such an electrifying few moments that brought Europe back to England for the first time since Liverpool lifted Old Big Ears at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome in 1984. Jai Angrezi Football!

"Dan Croll - From Nowhere" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[atomic-joe2.livejournal.com]

Mega, there IS another genuine Alan Green fan out there!!

Forthright, scathing and occasionally poetic but always unmissable on Five Live. John Motson and him loathe each other with a vengeance, its the worst-kept secret at the BBC!

Get in!

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Only recently did I come across his reputation as a racist, sexist, [fill-in-as-necessary]-ist and bitter feud with Motson. I have to admit that until now I hadn't even thought of him as anything but an exciting and interesting radio commentator. Just goes to show how PC-anal this country has gone (and keeps getting)! It's astonishing how he's able to string together a series of often tongue-twisting sentences without losing his breath, momentum or mispronounce words. A true legend!

And welcome to my journal. Added you back... from the little I've gleaned from your posts, I am going to have much fun reading them in entirety!

Re: Get in!

[atomic-joe2.livejournal.com]

Can't say I've ever heard the lad express racist opinions.

Yeah, his insitence on calling the officials by the original terms like 'linesman' is quite cute. When the Scousers won (fluked!) the Champions League a coupla years back, he went so mental that the radio signal was lost for five minutes or so! Liverpool fan, our Alan and their harshest critic! Which is how it should be.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

According to his Wikipedia page:

"He is openly racist and, despite not being from England himself, reserves most criticism for foreigners in 'our' game."

"Green was censured by Ofcom in October 2004 after he made a racist comment (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3713420.stm) live on-air about Manchester United's Cameroonian midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba. He had previously referred to Manchester City's Chinese defender Sun Jihai as "Chicken Chow Mein" during a live radio broadcast."

And apparently the only team he supports is Linfield!

[atomic-joe2.livejournal.com]

Ah but Wikipedia also says that Sharon Stone was head of the Russian Secret Service. As far as I'm aware she wasn't!

[pappubahry.livejournal.com]

It doesn't sound like you're being overly serious with that comment, but I thought I'd make a little defence of Wikipedia. On controversial subjects, Wikipedia tends to have excellent references, because unsourced material gets flagged or deleted very quickly.

Referencing is one area where the English WP has improved a lot over the last few years. The French WP (the only other one I'm familiar with) lags behind a looong way. It's reasonable on big topics but is noticeably worse at even medium-importance articles.

[pappubahry.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, no-one's seen fit to delete "Mind control" from the "See also" list in the Democracy article. It's been sitting there for about six weeks.

[atomic-joe2.livejournal.com]

Interesting and valid points, my friend.

I suppose my point was that I'm not overly inclined to believe EVERYTHING I read on the net.

Sorry if I came on a bit twattish!

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Be that as it may, on a more serious note, his supposed racist tirades are documented elsewhere. If you value the word of the Beeb, then you needn't bother with the fact that I mentioned Wikipedia as my initial source.

[atomic-joe2.livejournal.com]

Surely if he'd been guilty of racism he'd have quite rightly been sacked immediately though? This is all new info to me, and I'm a little shocked and saddened because racism of ANY kind is so hideous and wrong. Its one of the things that really REALLY gets me mad.

"I have a dream that one day my brothers and sisters will be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character." - Martin Luther King.

And so say all of us!

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

That's what you'd think right? But somewhy the Beeb (his employer) decided to defend his actions and words. Go figure!

[atomic-joe2.livejournal.com]

Thats very odd y'know. Ron Atkinson was booted out of ITV for making racist comments so its not like its not happened before.

Perhaps the BBC didn't want any bad publicity or something. Even so its really quite disturbing.