As a kid growing up in the small village of Sutton Poyntz near Weymouth in Dorset, Ian Crocker stood on the terraces at Weymouth FC’s Recreation Ground with his transistor radio, pretending to be legendary commentator John Motson as he gave his match report describing the Terras’ most recent performance.
Little did he know, it was the beginning of a long road to achieving his dream - something he had been telling friends and family he wanted to pursue since he was eight years old.
For Crocker, the wheels were properly put in motion at the Boleyn Ground in the mid-1980s, where he was our tannoy announcer under John Lyall, having won a competition on Radio Essex. Indeed, it was that time in east London that helped propel him to the very top of football commentary.
It was a job that saw him snapped up by Capital Gold in London, working alongside Jonathan Pearce and Steve Wilson, and he then spent several years with BRMB in Birmingham, commentating on Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion when Ron Atkinson, Barry Fry and the late Graham Taylor were in their managerial eras.
Crocker, who worked an office job for the BBC before his broadcasting breakthrough, does often wonder how different life might have been had he not been pushed out the door to attend Sky Sports’ Premier League launch at Terry Venables’ club in west London in 1992.
It was there he met former Sky Sports managing director Vic Wakeling, who asked him to commentate on Sky Sports’ German Bundesliga coverage in 1992/93. The rest, as they say, is history.
His final, life-changing move took him north to Scotland with Sky Sports, where he recently celebrated 27 years as Sky Sports Scotland’s lead commentator. He is now widely known as the voice of Scottish football.
Ahead of his next commentary box appointment, Crocker took time out of his busy schedule to look back at his incredible career, as well as his support for his beloved Hammers…
Ian, where did it all begin for you as a football commentator, then?
“To be honest, I originally thought I wanted to be a newspaper journalist, but then when I went to watch my local team, Weymouth FC, I used to stand there with my transistor radio listening to all the scores and would pretend to give a full-time match report from the game. That’s when I thought this commentating stuff could be fun.
“I started working in hospital radio for Moorfields Eye Hospital in the City of London, and then won a competition on Essex Radio to become the tannoy announcer at West Ham. As a fan, I was literally living the dream doing that.
“Through doing that, I met Jonathan Pearce, who was at Capital Radio and was setting a different way of broadcasting football on the radio, so I ended up getting a job with Capital, and from there, started working my way up the country!”
And how did you get your big break?
“I couldn’t break into things on the broadcasting side of things at the BBC, where I was working in an office job, so my big break came when Sky were actually launching their Premier League coverage back in 1992.
“There was nobody else around, and it was in the diary that somebody needed to attend and get a few interviews with people.
“It was at Terry Venables’ club in west London, and it was there I ended up talking to Vic Wakeling, who was the director of Sky Sports.
“I hadn’t been commentating long by that point, but I said, ‘Vic, I’m going to be working for you one day when I get the hang of this commentating stuff’.
“A few months later one of his producers phoned, asking if I wanted to do the Bundesliga [commentary] for Sky. The rest, as they say, is history.”
So, what was it like to work for West Ham in the 1980s, when John Lyall was manager?
“It was fantastic for me, and I was only 21 years old!
“I couldn’t believe it. It was such a friendly Club. People had worked there for years, and some of them were still there when I went back 20 years later.
“John Lyall was a fabulous guy and made me feel at home because I was always a little bit nervous.
“I used to go and get the team sheet off him to read out before kick-off, and that’s when he’d invite me into his office. I’d often ask myself, ‘Is this for real?’. I just had the most fabulous time.
“When he left, I wrote to him just to say thanks for making me feel really welcome. I still have the letter he sent back in front of me in my office.
“He was an absolute legend who was taken from us far too early, sadly.”
And you’ve been Sky Sports Scotland’s lead commentator for the last 27 years, worked at the FIFA World Cup in the United States in 1994 and South Africa in 2010, and also at UEFA Champions League fixtures?
“It’s been a fantastic 27 years.
“I started working in the Scottish Premiership back in 1998, and have been doing it pretty much ever since.
“I’ve now moved to Scotland and live here on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond, which is a fabulous part of the world and full of passion.
“I bump into Frank McAvennie occasionally in our favourite Glasgow curry house, and I think I bore him with how we should have won the league back in 1985/86!
“I think I’ve done 90 Old Firm commentaries now and am hoping to get to a century. There’s nothing quite like it.
“I’m actually writing a book at the minute about great games I’ve covered in Scotland, including a 6-6 match between Motherwell and Hibernian, the like of which you’ll probably never see again, and one of the biggest games I did, when Hibernian won the 2016 Scottish Cup for the first time in 114 years. You can’t beat an injury-time winner for a commentator!
“I know Hibernian fans have got ringtones and tattoos of some of my commentary lines, which is all very humbling, and that’s one of many great days I’ve had over the years.
“People sometimes tell us commentators we don’t know how lucky we are, because we’re getting paid to watch football, but we do. It is a fantastic job.
“I also get games at Newcastle, which is a fantastic place to be, and then I get the north-west teams, including Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton.”
Have you worked many West Ham games, and what are your best memories of covering the Hammers?
“I did the First Division Play-Off final in 2004, when Crystal Palace beat us. I never really clocked until the end of the game that it was actually my team that had lost, because I was so wrapped up in trying to do a job and be professional.
“We went back the following year with Alan Pardew, when we won against Preston, and it was great to be at the Millennium Stadium, which I believe is one of the best football arenas I’ve ever worked in.”
Who have you managed to share a gantry with or commentate with?
“I managed to share a gantry with Motty (John Motson) and Barry Davies, and that was quite something because it was great to see those two at work. I only met Brian Moore once, and it was actually at that World Cup in 1994 in Boston, when he was working with Ron Atkinson.
“I worked with Bobby Moore at Capital Radio, and you’d never guess Bobby was a World Cup-winning captain because he was so humble. He’d always ask you about yourself rather than talk about himself.
“I was lucky enough to work with him and drive to a few games with him and Billy Bonds, who I would probably say was my all-time hero growing up.
“I got to work with him when I was doing the tannoy announcing, and he was in charge of the youth team.
“I think he kind of knew I was a big fan, but he’d have been too embarrassed if I’d shown it in any kind of way. They say never meet your heroes, but actually on this occasion it was brilliant.
“I later got to work with Alvin Martin and Tony Gale, who is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met in football and probably in life.”
Can you tell us about your love for the Irons?
“When I was nine years old in 1974, I thought I’d better support a proper club as opposed to a non-league side.
“Weymouth played in Claret and Blue around that time. I looked at West Ham’s results at the time, and I think they’d beaten Burnley and Leicester with big scores, so I picked West Ham, as they also wear Claret and Blue.
“And of course, they went on to win the FA Cup in 1975 and then won it again in 1980. We had to wait so long for another major trophy, but when it (UEFA Europa Conference League) came, it was another brilliant occasion. There are so many happy memories.”
