ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

'Goal at Goodison...'

If there's one thing that's going to get the hairs up on the back of my neck it's hearing the phrase 'goal at Goodison...'. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, or whether I'm listening to TV or radio commentary, it will immediately catch my ear.

A whole routine that I've built up over the last 25 years wil then suddenly kick in. There will be a couple of seconds of anticipation while I'm waiting for the match commentator to cut in and start speaking. During this couple of seconds I'll listen for what kind of noise the crowd is making. If it's a home game and radio commentary, a roaring crowd will tell me we've scored. A home game and a silence, I'll automatically mutter 'well shite'.

If it's an Everton goal, regardless of the venue, I'll still get that happy rush of endorphins and will be glued to the commentator's description of the build-up play and the goal itself. If we've gone ahead, there will suddenly be rough calculations of how many more we might score and what that does for the league table. If we've equalized, I'll still get that huge sense of relief I used to get as a kid. If we've gone behind, well, I get a sudden fit of sulking and petulance that may last for a good five to ten minutes and may even result in me changing channels.

I'm 35 so, while not ancient, I'm still old enough to have grown up in a time before Sky's wall-to-wall easy-to-access coverage. Match of the Day on a Saturday and Midweek Sports Special on ITV on a Wednesday were as much TV coverage as we got here in Ireland. (I think it was called Mid week Sports Special but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Anybody with a better memory please update me. I definitely remember watching the 4-4 cup game highlights on it and was Clive Tinsdale the presenter?)

As a result, the only live commentary I could get was through the radio. I could get BBC 5 Live perfectly but only on an old transistor radio belonging to my dad. I suppose having radio commentary alone as a teenager for live updates is where I got hooked to this particular phrase. I've even got two of these radios to my name today, one in my house and one in hers.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Dublin Posted 18/10/2009 at 08:05:11

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Steve Cavanagh
1 Posted 19/10/2009 at 08:30:49

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Nice little piece that, Kieran. Clive Tyldseley was the presenter of the midweek show on Granada.

Unfortunately, I am ’ancient’ and can remember his grumpy predecessor Gerald Sindstadt, who would always say "no autographs!" as he walked in from the Park End car park.

Iain McWilliam
2 Posted 19/10/2009 at 10:44:48

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Well, at least you didn't bump into him in the Gents ;o)

Steve Cavanagh
3 Posted 19/10/2009 at 12:19:16

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Oh shit! Did you have a bad experience then, Iain?!

Iain McWilliam
4 Posted 19/10/2009 at 13:43:28

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No, but if I remember correctly his career at the Beeb finished rather quickly after he was cautioned by the police for loitering in the gents somewhere.

Paul Williams
5 Posted 19/10/2009 at 13:55:08

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My particular favourite from that era was Elton, or — as my red mates used to call him — ’Everton’ Welsby.

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