sport news Son of late, great James Alexander Gordon on BBC's bonkers call to ditch ... trends now
When Sportsmail revealed that the BBC brains trust had ditched the classified football results, many wondered what the late, great James Alexander Gordon would have made of it.
The Scot, whose famous inflections while reading the day’s scores became as much of a British institution as the iconic Sports Report theme tune that preceded them, died in 2014.
David Gordon, James’s son, is better placed than most to know what he would have thought of the BBC’s decision.
‘Gobsmacked,’ the 55-year-old tells Sportsmail. ‘He would have been very shocked, like we all are.
‘He wasn’t the sort who would have ranted and raved and he might not have said something publicly. He loved the BBC and they loved him — he would never have a bad word to say about them. But he would have had a word with whoever made this decision and said, “Look, off the record, you’re making a bit of a cock-up”.’
The feeling across the country following Saturday’s shock move, which came without prior warning and was only confirmed when this newspaper contacted the BBC for comment, was similar, although stronger words may have been used. And David, who works as a hospital porter in Southend after his own career in broadcast journalism, is no different. ‘Why try to fix something that’s not broken?’ he asks. ‘I really don’t understand.’
James Alexander Gordon was an icon of broadcasting for the millions that tuned in to Sports Report over the years
The BBC, who received around 250 complaints, said the results were available elsewhere and that the decision was made as Sports Report had to be condensed into a 30-minute slot before the 5.30pm kick-off, for which they now have commentary rights. ‘I get the whole technology argument,’ David says. ‘I check the scores on my phone. But when I want confirmation that my accumulator has come in not, I want it from the most trusted voice in the world, the BBC. I want confirmation via the classifieds and that’s been taken away.’
David, who was on the front line during the Covid crisis, is not convinced by the BBC’s reasoning and their reluctance to say who wielded the axe.
‘It’s a bizarre way of going about things,’ he says. ‘Who was responsible? Who made the call? Whoever made it should be made accountable and should put their view across.’
James Alexander Gordon's inflections when reading the results became a British institution
BBC bosses said the decision – made without any notice - had been made to save on time
On Thursday the Royal National Institute of Blind People criticised the move and questioned if the blind or partially
