After Extra Time and Penalties

This was a pleasant surprise. An erudite and well written account of the life of one of the best of the BBC's recent football correspondents. 

As  a near contemporary of his, I really enjoyed his account of growing up in the 60s but what is far more memorable is his potted history of both the football and broadcasting scene over the past forty years.

He has opinions and is not shy of expressing them forcefully.

Some ears will be burning at the BBC and the FA but there are also sympathetic portraits of some of his colleagues such as Peter Jones and Bryon Butler who were inspirations to him.

Well worth a read.

If you said the name Mike Ingham to me, I would immediately know who you were talking about. If I heard his voice, again I would recognise who it belonged to. However, he could pass me in the street and I would not have a clue that it was him. Such is the fate of many a radio broadcaster. 

Mike Ingham was one of the best. In a career that included both commentating and sports reporting for the BBC, he witnessed the profound changes to both, football and his employer. 

In this fascinating autobiography, Mike narrates his early life watching football on the terraces of first Plymouth Argyle and then Derby County. 

This was a time, when one eagerly awaited the next issue of Charles Buchan's Football Monthly, or when at a game one would obtain the halftime scores of other matches by means of the alphabet system against the perimeter wall. 

Living in Derby it would be a natural progression to join BBC Radio Derby, where he would learn his trade. Later he would go to Broadcasting House and commence his national career. 

The book is resplendent with the great commentators of the past, many of whom he worked with. In terms of radio football commentators, at the apex would be the iconic paring of Peter Jones alongside Bryon Butler. 

There are so many football stories and anecdotes here that there is no room to list them here. Just as interesting is Mike's increased despair at the direction sport coverage is going at the BBC. 
A particular gripe is the now use of only one instead of two commentators at live football matches. 

For me this was not only a wonderful walk down memory lane, but a lucid examination of what the purpose of broadcasting should really be. 

A must read if you believe pictures are better on the radio.

I grew up listening to 5Live. Mike Ingham's was one of the voices of my childhood and young adulthood. I've loved reading this and getting to know the man behind the mic. A lovely work.