FNH

Football Daily | Ian Wright’s last Match of the Day and his legacy as a pundit

20-May-2024 15:38:42 | The Guardian

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Match of the Day means different things to different people. For Ian Wright it means a little more than most. The former striker has previously spoken of his childhood and of how his stepdad was “a weed-smoking, gambling, coming-home-late, gambling-his-wages, womanising kind of guy. He was rough with my mum and rough with all of us kids. And I don’t know why, but he didn’t like me in particular. One of the few things my brother and I looked forward to in the house was Match of the Day, and my stepdad used to take that away from us — just because he could. Depending on what mood he was in, he’d come into the bedroom just before it started and he’d say: ‘Turn around to the wall.’ We had to face the wall the whole time Match of the Day was on. And the really cruel thing was that we could still hear everything. It was awful. Whenever I heard the theme music come on, I would feel that pain in my chest. The first time I went on the show as a presenter, Des Lynam walked up and said: ‘Ian Wright, welcome to Match of the Day.’ I nearly broke down crying.”

While it is inevitable that at the busy end of the season Football Daily will be preoccupied with the Premier League and Big Cups along with pre Euros knee-knacks, there are happenings elsewhere in the pyramid where crises for clubs can be existential. Since you reported on 23 February that Torquay United owner Clarke Osborne had pulled the plug and was going to put the club into administration (full email edition): on 13 March … TUFC were docked 10 points for an ‘administrative event’ and plunged into a National League South relegation battle; 23 March … Neil Warnock appears at the first of three home matches with fan Michael Westcott; 28 March … a Torquay United Supporters’ Trust (TUST) consortium (led by Westcott) reveal they are bidding to buy the club; 4 April … TUFC goes into administration; 9 April …. TUST/ Westcott consortium discover they are not the preferred bidder; 12 April … TUFC are docked another point for fielding an illegible player (at which point fans throw up their hands in despair); 15 April … TUFC avoid relegation to the Southern League Premier Division South with a win at Taunton in front of 800-plus travelling fans; 26 April … TUST/Westcott consortium discover the preferred bidder might no longer be preferred; 1 May … Westcott’s consortium (now called ‘Bryn’ after the police dog that bit Jim McNichol and saved Torquay from relegation at the end of 1986-87 become the preferred bidder; 10 May … announcement by club that the Bryn Consortium will be the new owners of TUFC; 11 May … Westcott confirms Neil Warnock is on the board as football advisor; 14 May … much circulated video appears with Warnock revealing that Paul Wotton is the new Torquay manager. And so the story goes on (with a Community Share Issue by TUST soon). Just saying” – Bob Cole.