After Extra Time and Penalties: Memories of a BBC Football Correspondent

After almost a quarter-century as the BBC’s Chief Football Correspondent, Mike Ingham MBE shares a candid, comprehensive and sometimes controversial account of how the world of broadcasting and football changed beyond recognition throughout his career. His broadcasting experiences saw him attend eight World Cups, commentate on twenty-eight F.A. Cup Finals, work with ten full-time England managers, introduce Sports Report, present his own music show on BBC Radio 1, and he even covered Princess Diana’s funeral. He has enjoyed working with a who’s who of personalities from the world of football and has tales to tell about all of them… This book is a timely reminder of England’s campaigns in tournaments over the last half-century with a detailed and eyewitness account of what the atmosphere was really like over the years behind the scenes in the England camp. Mike Ingham MBE was the BBC’s Chief Football Correspondent for almost a quarter of a century and only the third person to hold this post after Brian Moore and Bryon Butler. In a radio career of over forty years, Mike attended eight World Cups, commentated on twenty-eight F.A. Cup Finals and worked with ten full-time England managers. Starting out as a DJ in a nightclub, music and football have been his twin obsessions and often the two worlds have bounced into each other as many of his musical heroes have also been football fans. The start of his broadcasting career at BBC Radio Derby coincided with the glory years for Derby County with Brian Clough and Dave Mackay and his final commentary for the BBC was at the Maracanã Stadium‎ in Rio for the World Cup Final of 2014. Shortly after his retirement Mike became the first broadcaster to be given a Lifetime Achievement by the Sports Journalists Association. What made this even more special for him was to be presented with this honour by four of the men he respected most of all in the industry, Hugh McIlvanney, James Lawton, Jeff Powell and Patrick Collins.