FOR some, football on television will not be the same without him. After 31 years as ITV's senior commentator, Brian Moore has hung up his microphone.

Moore, who lives in Farnborough Park, made a decision to call it full-time a day after the World Cup final, but it's almost certain we will be hearing, and seeing, more of him in the near future.

He said: "Retirement has not really started yet. I began with a blank sheet of paper but it became so heavily-filled, I've got cracking on a book. It will be called 'The Final Score', and I hope it will be completed just after Christmas.

"I've also done some talks, and there is the possibility of a radio and television series in the pipeline.

"I want to do some full-length interviews. Throughout my career they only lasted a couple of minutes and it would be nice to do some half-hour chats, which is exactly what I and the radio people have in mind."

It seems impossible to believe that this was the voice who talked the nation through the excitement of the England versus Argentina World Cup match, exclusive to ITV and reportedly watched by 27million. Moore says he will always remember it for one of his all-time gaffs.

"As David Batty moved up to take the all-important penalty I asked my fellow commentator Kevin Keegan . . . . is he going to score or not? This was a huge error of judgment to put my right-hand man on the spot like that.

"What I actually wanted to say was . . . . you know this guy Kevin, now how's he going to cope with the situation? But David put the ball on the spot quicker than I'd anticipated and I only had time to say . . . is he going to score?

"All he could say was . . . 'Yes'. Two seconds later the world knew both he and Batty had got it wrong."

Having done National Service, Moore, born in Benenden in Kent, went to work for a monthly sports magazine where he met his wife Betty. She was the editor's secretary and was earning £7-a-week, a pound more than he was getting.

"She has never let me forget that," he said. "But we've been married for 43 years and have two sons, Chris, 39, and 36-year-old Simon, a TV producer who lives in Chislehurst."

After his spell at the magazine, Moore went to what he called a one-man-band sports agency. Later he worked for Exchange Telegraph and The Times, before moving to BBC Radio, staying for seven years.

The highlight of that stint was his commentary on England's triumph in the 1966 World Cup Final.

Moore, lured to television by Jimmy Hill, said: "It was a dream job. After all, they have sent me round the world a few times, I've seen all the best matches, and had the best seat in the house."

Moore says it was a fairly improbable dream, being a country boy from a humble background. He said: "I was so passionate about it. When I talk at schools these days I tell them, if you want a thing badly enough, you can make it happen."

Moore also particularly remembers commentating on the 1973 Cup Final when Sunderland pulled off one of the shock results of all-time, beating Leeds United 1-0.

Then there's his legendary ". . . it's up for grabs now," phrase when Michael Thomas scored the dramatic second goal to give Arsenal the title with virtually the last kick of the 1989 season against Liverpool.

Moore says he will miss the great rush of adrenaline he got at the end of a commentary when everything had gone right. "It's a feel-good factor that nothing in my life could ever match."

And he had one final thought for fellow commentators John Motson and Clive Tyldesley, saying: "I recently wrote to them and asked when they are in some far-flung outback of Eastern Europe this winter, to think of me putting another log on the fire and refilling my glass."

It certainly has been a very full life and, surely, there's Moore to come. Cheers Brian!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.