Elton Welsby’s "Game for a Laugh": A Legendary Broadcaster’s Story
Welcome to another edition of Talking Sports Books with Tim Caple! This time, we’re diving into the world of football with the legendary Elton Welsby, as he unveils his brand-new autobiography, Game for a Laugh.
For over four decades, Elton has been at the forefront of football broadcasting—bringing the highs, the heartbreaks, and the behind-the-scenes drama to millions. From covering non-league matches to hosting ITV’s biggest football shows, he’s seen it all. He’s travelled the world, reported from three World Cups, and built lasting relationships with some of the sport’s greatest figures, including Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.
Now, in Game for a Laugh, Elton opens up like never before, sharing candid stories, unforgettable moments, and the humour that has defined his career. Whether you're a die-hard football fan or just love a great sports story, this is a book that will entertain.
Before we get into the conversation let's start with a clip and there is no better place to start than right at the very beginning day one of Elton's career in the media, so it was as they say "a quiet news day" so he decided the best thing to do was create a headline that didn't exist so emblazoned across the back of the paper was a story that Liverpool were interested in signing West Ham forward Clyde Best the response from Bill Shankly was swift.
Buy the book here . https://amzn.to/4iUIrgE
Tim Caple
The story begins as in so many cases, your dad taking you to the football on a Saturday afternoon. there was no glamour attached to this, there this was Macclesfield in the Cheshire League.
Elton WELSBY
The Moss Rose, yes, the Moss Rose, Mack. that's how my love of, I mean, watching football began. I mean, I still kicked the ball about before that, when we lived in Mels. We went from Mels to Macclesfield, but it was in Macclesfield where we started to go on a regular basis to watch Mack in the Cheshire league.
Their centre half, unbeknown to me at the time, who actually held hands with at one point, at one game, was Neil Franklin, who was notorious in England at that stage. Because when he played for Stoke, he'd gone to Bogota to play in Colombia. But money, obviously, you know. But that wasn't on in those days. This would be what we had just...
early to mid 50s, something like that. Anyway, it just wasn't on. And he didn't settle despite, you know, getting lots of dosh for it. He didn't settle and came back and he was basically banned from playing league football. He was certainly banned from England duty because he was regarded at the time as one of the finest defensive centre-halves England had ever had.
And so he was sent off the Mac. Yeah. I'll just say I walked out hand in hand with him one day. It was something to do with the community and kids getting involved at the Moss Rose, you know, and which kid walked out holding the hand of a Macclesfield player. Pretty commonplace now, but it wasn't in those days. And I happened to be with Neil Franklin, unbeknownst that I was with a giant in the game, you know, which he really was a tremendous player.
Tim Caple
You could have been a Liverpool fan, but you ended up being an Everton fan. Now, that afternoon your dad had taken you and you didn't get into the grand due to the fact that it was full up and tickets needed. Had you have got in that day, it's very possible, in fact, it's very likely that you would have been a Liverpool fan, not an Everton fan.
Elton WELSBY (02:54.73)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (03:00.636)
Yes, that's right.
Elton WELSBY (03:11.613)
I would have been. Had they, if I recall, they were playing Blackpool when we couldn't get in. Now I really genuinely cannot remember what the score was, or whether Liverpool won or lost. But had Liverpool won, I think you're dead right. I think I would certainly have become a Liverpool fan. Because I didn't have an allegiance either way. I mean, if anything, I was a Macclesfield Town supporter, you know?
Tim Caple (03:45.547)
Your first Everton game, this was another of the times, wasn't it? today its all about three at the back, four at the back, five at the back,then everybody used to play with five up front. Everton Cardiff, your first game, 11 goals in it.
Elton WELSBY (04:02.822)
Well, if ever a game was going to sway a kid to support a team, it was that, you know. Alex Young was the orchestrator. He was the guy who pulled all the strings for Everton. I think I remember he scored a couple of goals as well Everton beat Cardiff. And that was me. I was hooked. I was hooked on Everton. I was hooked on Alex Young.
I can't envisage now any of the goals, some goals from that era I can. One by Alex Young in 63, I can recall, I can see it in my mind's eye now. There was one by Fred Pickering when he made his Everton debut against Nottingham Forest, having signed quite recently from Blackburn Rovers.
I can see his hat-trick goal as if it were yesterday, but of the 8-3 game, cannot see any of the goals at all, although I lied. I lied to Billy Bingham and said I remember him scoring on my first ever visit to Gunnison Park. This was when Billy was manager of Northern Ireland in the 82 World Cup, you know he thought that was marvellous. He thought this was terrific. And you know, so I wouldn't say I got preferential treatment, but I was always treated very, very well by Billy, you know.
Tim Caple (05:37.579)
It wasn't easy for you, was it, get into those Everton games because you used to go to school on Saturday. Now, I remember this because I used to go to school on Saturday as well. It wasn't just you would go for a couple of hours. You were there the whole day. You'd have lessons in the morning and you would have sport again in the afternoon. Compulsory sport.
Elton WELSBY (05:48.39)
You were posh as well, eh?
Elton WELSBY (05:56.272)
yeah that's right compulsory compulsory sport yeah yeah
Tim Caple (06:06.155)
because you did get caught bunking off and you got the cane.
Elton WELSBY (06:12.038)
Yeah, the three sports that were compulsory, which you had to do on a Saturday afternoon during the football season months were rugby, hockey and cross country. So I worked it out with a mate of mine, Tony Wadsworth, that if we, you know, we go to Everton, now the hockey guys would think we were doing rugby. The rugby people would think we were doing hockey. The cross country,
Elton WELSBY (06:41.923)
We think we're doing one of the other two and we thought this would be a perfect ruse to, to go and watch everything, which we did on a few occasions. but on one occasion we, we, you're quite right. We, were caught out, a master saw us walking down, to, get the bus, at the top of Penny Lane. Penny, yes, the Penny Lane, the Penny Lane.
to go to watch Everton
Tim Caple (07:20.853)
How do you get away with, by the way, sticking the book in the back of your trousers the second time out? I mean, it's like Tom Brown's school days.
Elton WELSBY (07:26.164)
That was the second time we were caught. The first time was jolly painful. The headmaster gave us six of the best, each got six of the best. I thought it was a bit harsh, you know. I thought maybe three. We weren't committing a crime as such. Maybe a crime against the constitution of the school,
and we were just going to watch a football match. So I thought six was a bit hefty, but it was, it was jolly painful. So the second time, we, we, we put, wasn't the book, it was padding. The second time we did it, we put sort of padding down, down the back of our, you still felt it, you know, but, yeah, but it was nothing like it was the first time. The first time, but scars, six scars across, across my backside.
Tim Caple (08:42.079)
Your route into journalism, you were working as a porter. And then the Liverpool Weekly News caught your eye you just wrote a letter, Ron Carrington was the man in charge, and you said you wanted a career in journalism and five days later you've got an interview and you've got the job.
Elton WELSBY (08:53.538)
Yes, that's right, yes.
Elton WELSBY (09:04.01)
Well, I'd never heard of this newspaper. I just bought it to read in the Porter's room after I finished delivering a patient to wherever I was delivering the patient to. And as I couldn't believe those, that pull out, an eight page pull out of sport, a lot of the amateur results from the amateur leagues on Merseyside were in there. The Liverpool and District Sunday league incidentally,
was the largest league of any type anywhere in Europe at that time. And so you'd have all the Sunday league results in there. That would take virtually a page in itself. but there was the, you know, there were two pages out of the eight, which were, which were about Liverpool, Everton and South Liverpool of the, of the Northern premier league as it was then. so yeah, I thought, wow, this will do me. I wrote to Mr. Carrington
So it all happened from I would say let's say a space of 10 days from first reading the paper to actually starting as a cub reporter at the the Widness
branch of the Weekly News Group.
Tim Caple (10:31.243)
So why did you feel the need then to end up at this upmarket nightclub where you're meeting and greeting and you're talking to stars and you're mixing with Roy Orbison? And this one I had to read twice. So you actually asked Olivia Newton-John out for a date. Well, she probably didn't think it was a date. She'd just broken up with Bruce Welch. But you actually asked her out and you end up going out for dinner with Olivia Newton-John.
Elton WELSBY (10:39.891)
Wow.
Elton WELSBY (10:57.148)
we ended up going that we we ended up going out a few times and yes she he was she was booked to perform for a week her career i think was maybe six years before grease her career was exactly flying at the time and she had quite recently before that broken up from bruce welch of the shadows and and she she was literally
ironing her dress for the following night's first performance of the week. She was ironing her dress. the manager of the club had asked me to just go and check she was okay, which I did. And we just got chatting and I said, well, where are you staying? It turned out to be the Atlantic Tower Hotel in Liverpool. And I said, well, if you'd like, I'll take you for dinner tonight. She was on her own, no entourage or anything like that. And so
That's what happened. And we kind of hit it off.
Tim Caple (11:57.611)
But then you moved on and up as well. Ken Rogers had gone to the Echo. You're the sports editor. And I loved the story of you.
wanting to make an impression on day one and deciding that you just concoct a story about a potential transfer. So you stick it in. Clyde Best of West Ham is on his way to Liverpool.
Elton WELSBY (12:40.126)
Yep, and I can tell you the headline now. Liverpool to sign best of the Hammers.
I didn't realize at the time you couldn't just make these things up. I was very green. I wasn't experienced in the work at all. So I thought, he's doing well for West Ham. Liverpool might fancy him. I'll just put it in the paper that Liverpool is inside of him. No information, no tip-off or anything like that. Purely my imagination.
And it was a paper he came out on the Thursday. Because our routine, the staff of the weekly news at that time, you know, we come in and all the papers will be delivered, you know, so we want to see our work in print. And I just sat there reading the paper and a called Pat Gaskell, the phone rang, a girl called Pat Gaskell answered the phone and said, it's someone
calling himself Bill Shankly for you and I'm thinking, oh yeah sure. Yeah, every chance Bill reads our paper, you know, regional newspaper that sold very well in the south end of the city, but not so much elsewhere. So I sort of said, hello. Is that you? Oh, that's that story about Clyde Best, you know, and I'm going, it's him. It couldn't be anybody else, you know.
It's him. And he gave me down the banks. He really did, I'm glad it was on the phone and not face to face. was, it was frightening. He really did grill me. but his voiced lowered and they got slightly more deep. He told, he said to me along the lines of, you know, you know, you need to get it right, son ring me next time. You know, something like that.
So said, well, I'd love to come and see you and do a feature on you. And he said, that's fine. See you next Thursday. I went the following Thursday and spent an entire day with him.
Tim Caple (15:00.907)
That's incredible, isn't it? Because if that had happened today, the thing is you would never have been allowed back into the club for a year as punishment.
Elton WELSBY (15:13.188)
Crikey. Yeah, absolutely. But he was, don't forget, he was a complete one-off. You know, he was there's an old cliche on Merseyside when talking about Shankly and people say, well, they broke the mould. You've probably heard that expression. They undoubtedly did. He was unique. Bill was unique. But I got to know him, I got to know him really well.
Elton WELSBY (15:43.171)
goes without saying, we became friends.
Tim Caple (15:46.431)
Well, so you were four years there and then it was October 74, Radio City in Liverpool is launching and you're ready for a move and you fancy being part of it. You've done occasional work on BBC Radio, Merseyside. And it was one day, again, you have this habit of being in the right place at the right time, don't you, around this time, because it's you in the office at Merseyside.
Elton WELSBY (16:02.125)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (16:10.489)
It seems that way. Yeah.
Tim Caple (16:11.711)
Yeah, David Maker on the phone to Eddie Hemmings offering him a job and you're listening him behind to Eddie Hemmings saying, no I have changed my mind I'm sorry and you see that as an opportunity and you're on the phone within minutes.
Elton WELSBY (16:27.064)
It was Eddie had phoned David Maker. Eddie was all set to go and join Radio City within sort of 48 hours of this phone call. He was ringing David Maker to say he'd change his mind. And he wanted to stay with the BBC. and the length of the conversation led me to believe that David Maker wasn't too happy about this because he'd been dropped in the lurch really. And so what I did, having...
sort of put two and two together, went outside, found the nearest phone box, remember those things, phone boxes, and phoned David Maker and explained who I was and what I've been doing. And he virtually said, can you come and see me now? And I literally went from the the Radio Merseyside offices to Radio City on Stanley Street and had an interview with David Maker. And he said, when can you start?
Tim Caple (17:26.475)
And your sports editor was another legend of Merseyside, Wally Scott. A lot of people won't remember that maybe, you if you grew up listening to Radio City, you will know that. But a lot of people who knew him after he rose to this fame and fortune with Billy Butler and "Hold Your Plums" it was Billy and Wally.
Elton WELSBY (17:53.29)
very much so. I'd met Wally beforehand because Wally used to tour Merseyside for Mercury Press with the photographer called Barry Farrell. Wally and Barry, if there was ever something like a fire on Merseyside, a stabbing issue, there weren't too many of those in those days. But Wally would turn up with Barry Farrell to cover the story for Mercury Press, which was owned by Terry Smith, was also the MD of Radio City.
So he was obviously the one that said to Wally, like, I need someone to run the sports department, our new radio station, which is starting up. And Wally, you know, obviously agreed to do it, but it wasn't Wally, a sports editor who hired me as like the sports reporter. It was David Maker. So I was given to Wally here he is. You know, let's see, you know, how you two get on.
And luckily we got on famously. We really did get on.
Tim Caple (18:54.837)
They gave Bill Shankly a talk show what a coup this was, because obviously he's retired. Liverpool didn't want him hanging around. There was a bit of an issue there. And his first guest on his talk show is the prime minister, Harold Wilson.
Elton WELSBY (19:11.572)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (19:26.942)
it was Wally who booked Harold Wilson. Shanks was up for anything. He had a big ego Bill, you know. And when he was asked to do the chat show, the series, you know, he readily accepted because he was ostensibly out of work. But he didn't know who the guests were going to be on a week to week basis. He had no idea. Wally would do all that. And Wally had this great idea
to invite Harold Wilson of course is a local mp as well so well you know maybe the prime minister might might fancy this you know. The most famous man in the country talking to Harold Wilson the other way around. Anyway so Wilson did it came in here
I can't believe that someone like Terry Smith or anyone else at Radio City back in 1974 didn't realize that this was absolute gold. That this, this was a tape that would probably be played today, had it not been mislaid.
Tim Caple (21:13.853)
Bob Paisley, manager of the year, presented by Bill Shankly, hosted by you. And on stage, Shankly's famous quote, "You might be thinking I'm jealous doing this for Bob". What followed?
Elton WELSBY (21:37.716) So he said to the the the crowd there you know big posh hotel in London "you might be thinking that I'm jealous doing this for Bob you're fucking right "well there was like a stunned silence this was 1976
You know, people didn't swear in public on stage in those days. But after the stunned silence, everyone just roared laughing. The atmosphere in the room just changed, you know. It was fantastic.
Tim Caple (23:54.411)
Saturday afternoon, London Weekend Television, World of Sport. Dickie Davis it included famous ITV7 and Wrestling then they began to do the live phone reports and this was the a first, you were the first person on there and you had a potential giant killing in the offing because of Altrincham playing Everton back in 1975 and you're doing these phone reports.
Elton WELSBY (24:19.92)
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it was the first time it had ever been done. It's commonplace now. It was groundbreaking. I also think I was being used to something of a guinea pig because the local radio, they had to find a way of getting the local radio feed, a separate feed to the one that went to Radio City to go down to London Weekend Television where World of Sport was from. And it might sound simple.
nowadays, but back then, it's nice. It had never been done before. And it was really difficult to do apparently because technically I'm a buffoon. have no idea. And when they said, speak, I spoke, that was it I didn't have to do any of the technical stuff that was handled by other people but anyway, I have, did this three times I think or it was maybe four. I'm absolutely certain I've done it three times.
to try and get it right for World of Sport. And as it turned out, the first one went out live, no hitches at all. But the guy who was recording it down in London hadn't realised that himself And he'd wanted me to do it another couple of times. It was crazy. Still haven't got to the bottom of that.
Tim Caple (25:40.395)
You ended up going on Everton's preseason training camp. This is when Billy Bingham was in charge. Now it's again something that you you look at the way in which the game is structured today and these things simply wouldn't happen.
Elton WELSBY (25:49.07)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (25:59.66)
You see the occasional Sky reporter getting involved in some way, shape or form. As long as it's a tame club probably down the divisions, in the EFL as opposed to the Premier League. It certainly doesn't happen with the big boys now. But yeah, Billy was doing a pre-season. It will be the...
75, season, pre-season training on the Southport Sandhills. And I said to him, you know
can I join in, you know, with my tape recorder and do some interviews and just get the, you know, the feeling of the place and what you're doing, getting the players to peak fitness for the season. He said, that's fine.
So I'm running along, I'm running alongside Bob Latchford, running on the sand hills of Southport, which anyone who's run sand will know that is so tiring. It just pulls at your muscles in your legs. we're eventually like Latch and I just, we just collapsed. We were absolutely spent. Latch looked around and he said, we can't be doing that bad
Lions is behind us, meaning Mick Lions, Mr. Superfit was behind us. I said, Latch, he's fucking lapping us. Mick Lions, Mr. Everton, by the way. I think that the term legend is so overused in football. I always think, well, when I start naming legends, okay, what about, let's start with players who've won things, you know. Now, Mick Lions never ever won anything.
with Everton, he never picked up any silverware. But he was a legend, absolutely. He was the difference between staying in the old First Division in the late 70s to getting relegated. He was the difference.
Tim Caple (28:13.493)
Billy Bingham left, got Gordon Lee next who came in and raised the heckles of everybody. Gordon being asked at his first press conference who he'd like to sign, and he reels off the entire Liverpool team.
Elton WELSBY (28:17.074)
god.
Elton WELSBY (28:31.242)
Neil, Kennedy, he reeled off the Liverpool team of that era.
And all the journalists are sat there, we're sort of looking at each other uncomfortably, you know, and think, he can't be saying that so we all got together afterwards and I said, look, we can't use this. You know, it would just about kill him off in the eyes of Evertonians before he'd even started his career as Everton manager. So although he did say those things, the press corps, known as the Merseyside Mafia,
We all got together and protected him. Again, I don't think that would happen now.
Tim Caple (29:26.079)
The meltdown when his accumulator didn't come in at an after-match press conference.
Elton WELSBY (29:33.385)
It was one to one. I was interviewing for radio I interviewed him so often, we got on so well. It was like, it, wasn't an interview. It was like a conversation when we were together. So, uh, it had been a three-all draw, a good, terrific game of football.
He wasn't quite as enthused as everybody else, those who'll be watching match of the day tonight, what a terrific game of football, what's the matter with you? And he says, yes, yes, yes, yes, I'm down a bit, I'm down. Me accumulator let me down, one team on me accumulator let me down. Sten fucking house bastard Muir. What? We're live. !!
Tim Caple (30:27.093)
Did you get a call upstairs on Monday?
Elton WELSBY (30:27.4)
I I didn't know what to say. just kind of, mm, well yeah, we're moving on.
Tim Caple (30:35.541)
that when you got married in 76, who was your best man? A famous goalkeeper.
Elton WELSBY (30:39.11)
Ray Clemence
Tim Caple (30:44.031) Having press and the players that close together is something that's totally alien today and they've grown much further apart these days than they ever were.
Elton WELSBY (31:00.251)
Don't forget Tim, were no sort of mobile phones in those days. If I needed a line for Radio City, needed to back up something I've been told, I'd just ring the player at home. No problem.
Tim Caple (31:17.073)
You used to travel on the coach as well with the players.
Elton WELSBY (31:22.599)
I did and you know, there was a trust between Bob Paisley and myself and he'd know I'd overhear things so he'd also tell me things but he knew that I would keep them to myself which I did. I mean there was one occasion we were coming back from Middlesbrough it was the first game of the
77-78 season. Kenny Dalglish had just signed, made his debut at Middlesbrough and had scored as well. One-all it was. And I used to sit right at the front of the team coach on the way back. The players were all in the back. They'd have crate of beer, but that was their time, their space, even though, you know, I was pals with all of them. I thought, that's their time. So I sat at the front and eventually Bob having
talked to say Ronnie Moran, Joe Fagan, Roy Evans, Ruben Bennett possibly in those days. Eventually he'd come and sit next to me by which time he'd have his cardigan and his slippers on, you know, and he'd come and sit next to me. He always started to say, well, what do you think? And I always used to give him a cigar. It was my way of just saying, thank you for your hospitality. And so, you know, he'd puff away the cigar and he'd just say, well, what do you think?
I said, you know, Bob, great goal, Kenny scoring on his debut. That must be great for you. I said, but the guy really impressed me was, was Graham Souness, playing playing for Middlesbrough. And he said, yeah, well, I think we'll be signing him. wow. You know, said, can I use that? No. He said, said, he's not, he's not close just yet. And he wasn't because this was August.
Souness didn't sign until January. So, you know, there was obviously negotiations or whether Liverpool had even approached Middlesbrough at that point, I don't know. But he said it with an air of confidence, know, that Graham shortly would become a Liverpool player, which indeed he did. But I couldn't use that.
Tim Caple (33:41.033)
And there was a sense of humour as well around at the time, and that's very evident in the book you've done all the glamour games, but there's trips like the one to Slask in Poland, where you all ended up getting the worse for wear because it was so cold and you're drinking vodka and whiskey on the bus. then you having to do a live call into the radio station when Keegan walks by.
Elton WELSBY (33:54.021)
god, yeah.
Elton WELSBY (34:01.625)
It was to prevent hypothermia.
Yes. Oh, well, part of that, I'm in the lobby of the hotel I'm doing a live interview on Radio City and I actually said, I was that pissed. I actually said, I actually think we'll win both ties of this leg. And just before or just after that,
Keegan walks past and go, alright Elts, hey put that bird down.
Elton WELSBY (34:42.895)
Of course this was heard on Radio City and what was even worse was it was heard by my mother-in-law who was let's put it this way was a bit of a dragon and of course she's straight onto my missus !!
Tim Caple (35:00.491)
The tech issues that you have when you're in Trabzon, you think in your live the phone rings in the dugout Emlyn Hughes down on a touch line picking up the ball for a throw in, looks up and shouts out, Elton, there's a phone call for you.
Elton WELSBY (35:20.804)
That's right. The commentary position, which is at the front of the press box in Trabzon, was really so close to the pitch. was incredible. I'm doing commentary, or so I thought. all of sudden, wasn't aware the phone was ringing, but it obviously had, because Emlyn knew it he had come to take a throw in. He looked up at me and goes,
It's for you. I thought this is strange alongside me was John Keith, who was the Daily Express correspondent. So I sort of said to John, carry on. I've got to take a phone call down in the Trabzon bench. So I don't know what John said. So I went down and it was Paul Davis who later became
you know, ITN's top reporter and you know, he explained what had happened that no one had heard a word I've been saying and that I should carry on commentary probably quarter of an hour to the end of the match on the phone sat in the Turkish dugout. I mean, you couldn't make that up, could you?
Tim Caple (36:43.645)
You're off to Granada TV's Calling Paul Doherty has come in and you've got six months of hard graft. mean, it wasn't just walking in and you were, you know, the star of the place. Tony Wilson introducing you live. We've got a new reporter, ladies and gentlemen. We tried everybody else, but we couldn't get them. So here is Elton John.
Elton WELSBY (37:00.781)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (37:07.937)
Yeah, that's him. Yeah. Welsby. Yes. So I thought I didn't have any time to think of a response to what I did come back with was just an instinct. And I put my head like that on the desk and looked up. So my first words, first words live in a television studio were,
I'd like to report that Tony Wilson composed that gag at my expense during the two hours he spent in make-up preparing for the show. Bob Grieve, stalwart, great journalist and TV presenter, he just cracked up laughing. So did Wilson, so did the entire studio. And that was my introduction to live TV basically.
Tim Caple (39:43.667)
Relationships, again, we talked about them between clubs and media in your radio days and in the press when you moved to TV. Again, it's an incredible closeness at times. mean, remind me about the record signing and former England captain who dressed up to play Widow Twankie in the TV pantomime at Granada
Elton WELSBY (40:04.095)
Well, Paul Doherty, who was our executive producer, head of sport, had this idea at Christmas time that we get sort of top players to dress up in pantomime gear. Dennis Law actually introduced the segments of the program where we had the ugly sisters were Joe Corrigan and Seamus
better known as Jim McDonald or Jim McDonald better known as Seamus. He changed his name by deed poll when he was selected play for Ireland. We had Ian Rush as Dick Whittington and Brian Robson, who at the time was the most expensive player in English football history, as Widow Twankie. I mean, it wasn't half-hearted i had no idea
It was Jim McDonough and Joe Corrigan, the Ugly Sisters. The makeup was so thick and so authentic, but they generally looked like pantomime dames, you know? And as the same with Brian Robson. The players entered into the spirit of it. Absolutely top class they were. Top class.
Tim Caple (41:25.291)
Bill Shankly died very young, aged 68 in September 1981, was a very fit guy, the tribute show that you put together gives an indication of the esteem in which he was held by everybody in the football world. Denis Law was involved, Keegan was involved. Matt Busby was also.
Elton WELSBY (41:55.264)
Yeah. Tom Finney, Harry Catterick. We had a who's who of football greats in the green room, which who I interviewed just for soundbites to go into this half an hour tribute program to Bill. Fantastic turnout.
Tim Caple (42:17.099)
You get a call up to the World Cup 1982. So this is network television. So it's again, it's more promotion. The old London mafia there sends you out to deal with Northern Ireland. This is Billy Bingham, of course, somebody that you know well.Billy Bingham, lowest paid manager at the entire World Cup. What was it he did down in Brighton?
Elton WELSBY (42:23.225)
Yes.
Tim Caple (42:44.305)
selling players sunglasses out of a suitcase.
Elton WELSBY (42:45.902)
The weather in Brighton, where we went for about 10 days in the buildup to the World Cup in Spain, and the weather was, I mean, you couldn't script it, the weather was pretty much the same as it was going to be in Spain. It was really hot, 80-odd degrees. And Billy got a suitcase, I say it's a briefcase more like.
full of sunglasses and say well boys you know you're gonna need some sunglasses down here these are top of the range and you know I want you each to buy a pair of these I got them cheap so you can have them the same amount I paid for them that's all the players bought these sunglasses off Billy and we were going oh a few days later we went for a stroll in a shopping precinct in Brydon
and lo and behold, in one of the shops that we sort of came across, there were these sunglasses for sale, the same, identical as the ones that Billy had sold the players, and they were cheaper in the shop than what Billy had chargedthe players.Billy, he was the lowest paid manager in the World Cup you're quite right, he was. Probably the lowest paid manager in international football, to be truthful. So if there was a way of making a quick buck.
Billy would so we called him FIFA. FIFA this, FIFA that. Good job we didn't call him UEFA, wasn't it? dear.
Tim Caple (44:18.488)
The big question.
The big question of course in the sports media during the course of your World Cup campaign was did you actually try to chat up a woman in a ceramics factory in Valencia?
Elton WELSBY (44:37.891)
I didn't. Although it was thought I did, because I was referring to the bit of pottery, would you call it, that she was sculpting. And I said muy bonito, señorita, which roughly translated is, that's beautiful, very beautiful, something like that. I don't speak Spanish, but I learnt that bit because I thought it would add to the of the ambiance of the old occasion.
and when it went back to Madrid, got a very frosty phone call from someone there saying, you know, that it was bad news on camera to suggest this lady was very beautiful. You know, in a sort of overly friendly kind of way. I was talking to a figurine for crying out loud.
Tim Caple (46:27.817)
When Northern Ireland get knocked out, you then have to go to Madrid to team up with the rest of the ITV crew who clearly are just thinking, well, what can we do to get this bloke out the way ? You get given the instruction, right, just go out and interview somebody interesting. you came up with two legends. The first one, Roger Moore, who had
Such a great reply to your request for interview "So Roger, have you got time to talk" ? What did he say?
Elton WELSBY (47:00.518)
Well, sort of had, well, my dear chap, under normal circumstances, I would love to, but as you can see, I'm not alone here and this young lady is not my wife. This is at the Hilton Hotel in Rome.
Tim Caple (47:19.829)
So you don't get Roger Moore, but you do get Henry Kissinger.
Elton WELSBY (47:25.748)
That's right. Well, I had to go through the concierge and I said, well, you know, I just draw a blank with, with James Bond, basically. is there anyone else famous though, staying at the hotel that I could maybe interview? And so, well, there is, Henry Kissinger who is the secretary of state or had been the secretary of state, um, under Nixon, uh, in America. So I went to his secret service guy and it was all arranged.
the concierge, very helpful chap, arranged a room with two chairs, you know, sitting opposite each other so I could introduce, you know, Henry Kissinger. I said, I secret service, how do I say address him? And he said, well, it's Mr. Secretary. And I'm thinking to myself, well, he's not, he's not the secretary at the moment, he used to be. I think he was again, but...
In the States, there are two positions in government where you retain that title for life. In other words, if you've been a President of the United States at any time, you are always referred to officially as Mr. President or President, for example, President Clinton now or Bush. And the same goes for the Secretary of State. You're always, in Hillary Clinton's case, Madam Secretary.
So I was told to refer to, to talk to Henry Kissinger as Mr. Secretary, which I did. And he turned out to be fascinating. He was almost a student of the great Hungarian team at the early fifties, the magical Magyars. The team that, I think it was 53, wasn't it? That smashed England 6-3 at Wembley. No one could believe it. Well, Kissinger was a great fan of that team, and he talks so passionately about this, this team and yet Kissinger is German. And in fact, after, after this, I forgot what year it was, but he promised to go and watch his, his local team, local German team. If they ever got into the Bundesliga, he'd go and watch them. Yeah. there you go. I couldn't remember it. Yeah.
Tim Caple (49:44.755)
I remember, Greuther Furth
Elton WELSBY (49:50.895)
And he did. famously, there's a picture of Kissinger. Very old man by this time, but sat in the stand with his club scarf on. He really was a football man.
Tim Caple (50:04.223)
Brilliant.
Tim Caple (50:09.035)
You had this reputation, this growing reputation as being able to literally present anything. And there were all sorts of new sports coming in and people looking for new sports that were going to get audience First of all, there was bowls and then
croquet was the funny one because the general view was "This is Granada, who the fuck plays Croquet here"
Elton WELSBY (50:39.918)
That's pretty much it. They don't really play croquet in Manchester and Liverpool. But the boss was doing a favour for David Plowright, who ran Granada basically in those days, who was the brother of Joan Plowright, the wife of Sir Lawrence Olivier. So that's just to give you an idea of the hierarchy and the circles in which they moved.
Tim Caple (50:44.491)
But who did you get put with for the croquet, John Oakesy.
Elton WELSBY (51:09.55)
Plowright decided he wanted live croquet on Granada and he got it and we tried our level best to make croquet interesting. I think in that respect we probably failed, but we did actually get it on and represented the sport for what it was.
Tim Caple (51:29.887)
John Oakesy was also a racing legend liked a glass of wine
Elton WELSBY (51:34.84)
Absolute legend. Yeah. He had a couple of bottles of, we sat at trestle table in front of a marquee, all very, very posh you know, it was, it was as if we tried to make it look as if we were outside Downton Abbey, you know anyway,
Oakesy's next to me, but he's got two bottles of red wine underneath the table. And once we thrown to the live croquet, Oakesy had just, you know, had a glass of red, red wine. And he had this a few times. Now my boss was a, was an absolute stickler, you know.
protocol had to be absolutely spot on and he did not want his presenter, one of his presenters drinking. And he came down and he gave him down the banks, John Oakesy for drinking on the job. Yeah. And, I don't think Lord Oakesy, I don't think he'd ever, I don't think he'd ever been spoken to like that before
Tim Caple (53:04.989)
Another memorable moment in your career Everton in the Cup winners Cup final. Brian Moore and Cloughie are on the commentary and there are very strict rules about journalists and access. Everybody was limited to the number of people that could go and you call in a favour.
Elton WELSBY (53:16.607)
Yes.
Tim Caple (53:28.403)
And you end up being smuggled onto the Everton bench as part of the squad disguised as a substitute. And Howard Kendall agreed to all of this and you're miked up and they would come to you during the game and you'd chat to John Bailey people would think if you told that story now, you're making it up.
Elton WELSBY (53:49.598) I was sat next to Bales at the end of the bench. People say, I sat next to Howard I didn't. I was maybe six or seven down from Howard, but sat next to John Bailey I had to sit in the end because that's the microphone had been hidden.
Tim Caple (54:13.693)
Do you ever see TV pictures now and can you see you on the bench?
Elton WELSBY (54:19.454)
No, and I look, you can't, but it's pretty obvious I was there because as soon as the final whistle goes, I'm on the pitch interviewing. It's the only place I could have been to have got where I did within seconds of the final whistle. anyway, yeah, I'm Brian Moore would...
would throw down to me I couldn't hear him because I couldn't be wearing headphones the director he waved to me like, go, you know, and I said, well, John Bailey, things are going pretty well here. Nothing in depth. You know, it was just the fact that we were doing it. And Bales just respond by saying things are good because things were going really well for Everson throughout.
And so it was all very, very chummy.
Tim Caple (55:21.653)
Clearly ITV heads of sport love this and you can see somebody in ITV is going, right, we've got to get this guy because in September of 85, World of Sport comes to an end, it's the end of Dickie Davis, Saint and Greavsie continued, but they do the results service and you're down to London to present it every Saturday .
Elton WELSBY (55:31.952)
Yeah? Yeah.
The results there is absolutely no way you can do that by using Autocue Things were just changing all the time. It was quarter an hour of mayhem. So I think that probably got me the nod because they knew that I didn't use Autocue anyway. So it would just be a perfect vehicle for me, which it turned out to be.
and I thoroughly enjoyed it. was seat of your pants TV presentation, but great, great fun.
Tim Caple (56:20.459)
Mexico 86 another World Cup,
Tales of great ingenuity of the time. Now this award, if there was one, would have to go to the engineer who decided after you've got this great bit of film with Careca, nobody was expecting him to play a part, and then you've got this film you get an exclusive but there was a storm and it meant the links between the satellites were down and you couldn't use it.
So there you are driving up a hill in the Mexico City suburbs or somewhere around there where all the big grand houses are. You stop at a random house, knock on a door of a house that's got a satellite dish and actually link to Mexico City via some random person's satellite.
Elton WELSBY (59:51.669)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (01:00:11.231)
The engineering question worked for Yorkshire Television he'd worked with us in 82 in Spain, and Paul thought the world of this chap, and Jim Andrew. when the link went down between this little place that TV people gathered in Guadalajara, in between Guadalajara and Mexico City, Paul was absolutely livid that we got these exclusive pictures of Careca.
who was going to play the following day. No one knew, but we did. And we had exclusive training pictures of Careca given to us by a nice chap from TV Globo. Jim Andrews said, well, actually not all is lost. We played a charity football game a few days earlier in this very lavish, very posh district of Guadalajara and we noticed then,
all the houses, the mansions really, had had huge satellite dishes outside. So Jim Andrews said, can you get me to that posh area of Guadalahara again and maybe to one of those satellite dishes? So Doc said, yes, we've all got in the van. And we drove to, we drove up, as you say, up the hill
headed towards the sports complex where we played football a few days earlier and Jim just said, this one will do. It was totally random. And so Doc went, knocked on this guy's door, explained the situation we were in. Luckily the guy spoke some semblance of English. And Jim literally took a plate, unscrewed a plate of this satellite dish, pulled out wires, connected wires.
Listen, I'm a technophobe. I have no idea, but I was just looking in wonderment at what Jim was doing and blown me. And then he pressed the play button on the camera, which was hooked up via wires to this satellite dish. Did they aim it at Mexico? I have no idea.
Elton WELSBY (01:02:33.224)
but it went to ITV Mexico City.
Don't ask me how, but it did. And it was, we went to the bar in a massive hotel, Paul Doc was absolutely thrilled he thought this was above and beyond the call of duty we should all be congratulated for standing out in the pouring rain, kneeling down, getting absolutely soaked, getting this footage through to Mexico City. So we had to go change.
and we were back to this the hotel which was full of Brazilian supporters that most of them ladies by the way who look very very charming so we're ordering a drink at the bar and I'm just sort of taking in the sights I look over the dance floor and you know the guys it was Socrates and Junior
This was now the day of the game. It was past midnight. So this was the of the game. They were playing the same day. Anyway, the game that night, Socrates scored the winner. 1-0. Incredible.
Tim Caple (01:04:01.803)
Your big, big break though was ITV getting exclusive rights to all of the Top Flight games. The BBC only had the FA Cup and you got the job to as lead presenter ahead of a whole cast of people who wanted it as well. So you must have felt on top of the world.
Elton WELSBY (01:04:29.405)
I knew I was among the contenders, but I really didn't think that I would get it because ITV was very, very political back then. had London Weekend and Thames would gang up on, if you like, Grenada and Central Yorkshire. So you thought, you know,
A London presenter would probably get the gig. Ian St. John would have been a strong contender. Jim, Jim Rosenthal probably even more likely than anyone else. they were, got it. And I was told by John Bromley in his office and he called in Jeff Foulser who was going to be the executive producer.
Elton WELSBY (01:05:25.436)
And Jeff just looked at me said, well, I wanted Jim Rosenthal, but we better get on with it. We all thought, that's a pretty cheap shot, you know, not very nice. was so, I was euphoric, obviously. I was told what my salary would be, which was very, very nice. And then this guy goes and kicks me in the balls, you know, as it were.
Tim Caple (01:05:47.371)
Cloughie was a great guest and a pundit, obviously. You do a very good impression of him as well, don't you? He actually got you to do it once or twice.
Elton WELSBY (01:06:00.028)
can i tell tell the story because it contains the F-bomb. Right. Okay. Yeah.
Here is the video clip with Elton showing off his Cloughies skills and telling the story
Tim Caple (01:09:14.923)
One of the most dramatic nights of football ever was the title decider Liverpool against Arsenal on a Friday night live. You're there. You had a great interview with George Graham with him saying, yeah, we're underdogs, but if we score one, we will score two.
Elton WELSBY (01:09:26.151)
yeah, awesome. Yeah.
Elton WELSBY (01:09:37.707)
Yes.
Tim Caple (01:09:43.686)
but it was never aired before the game.
Elton WELSBY (01:09:46.478)
I was very disappointed. Could we do the usual menu to set up the game? This one was a little bit different because it was such a massive game. It had never happened before in English football history that the top two teams were meeting on the last day head-to-head for the championship, for the title. Never, ever happened before and has never happened since.
And I'd done this interview, was outside the Atlantic tower. Some of my best relationships have been in the Atlantic tower and George Graham , the liver bird was in the background. you can see the live bird behind him as I interviewed him. And the last, the last part of the interview was he said, I'll tell you what though. If we score one, we'll get two. I thought, wow, end of interview. That's pretty, that's brilliant.
Anyway, for whatever reason...
Whoever was editing the menu didn't use that clip because that would.
was, that was a bit of gold that was on the on the night to suit the occasion that was absolutely perfect to get the visiting manager saying that. But I it wasn't used, which I was very surprised about.
Tim Caple (01:11:19.787)
You're the main presenter again, another World Cup Italia 1990. But this time it was different, wasn't it? Because previously everything had been done in a studio, this time you would be live from a stadium. But talk back is difficult. Basically because it had never been done before and nobody realised when they were cueing you that there was a time delay on the satellite.
Elton WELSBY (01:11:48.6)
That's right. Well, when you cue into say a little bit of video tape, say, you know, Jim Rosenthal caught up with the England squad earlier. And so once I said earlier, then over popped the tape. Now that was cued. I had to give a cue word five seconds before that tape was to appear on the screen. So that the tape could roll, stabilize.
Sorry, 10 seconds. We did 10 seconds in Italy. 10 seconds. So I'd say something else scratch my nose and the PA would roll the tape. Then the tape would roll for 10 seconds. Then it was stabilized. And then I had to finish. I get a countdown 10 down to zero. And once the PA said zero, I had to shut up because that's when the tape would come in. I was.
missing the cues and you know that London were getting very irate about it because these tapes were rolled in London even though I was presenting in Italy and I was told that I kept crashing the tapes like when I hadn't finished my link the tape would just come in
PA Gene worked out that there was a time delay. So instead of one, after this, instead of one count, I two counts. I could hear the counts in London and Gene was doing the maths and working out what that meant. It would mean, you know, in Italy. So I was hearing two separate counts, but it worked.
You know, was all that mattered was that we identified the problem and solved it. That was all that mattered.
Tim Caple (01:13:51.263)
And the ITV truck getting hit by lightning and you all getting electric shock on air.
Elton WELSBY (01:13:56.691)
Yeah, yeah. Well, I was sat alongside Rodney Marsh and this electrical storm hit and at one point we built sort of went, you know, like that because even our ear pieces are plastic, there's obviously a little bit of metallic material somewhere up there. You know, we got a shock. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Caple (01:14:21.781)
Graham Taylor was part of the team you obviously knew he was the next England manager how did you get on with him
Elton WELSBY (01:14:28.779)
Oh, very well. Very, very well. He's a gentleman. No one, as long as you treated him with respect as the, you know, the England manager to be, you know, that was fine, but you treat everyone with respect, don't you? If they deserve it, which he certainly did. I mean, he'd done a wonderful job at Watford, Aston Villa, a thoroughly nice man.
Also, he kind of understood our side of the business because his dad was a journalist. So, yeah, that's right. so, know, Graham understood what it was like on the other side. As some managers say, on the dark side, you know, but he was great company. The only thing, the only thing was I knew he was going to be England manager.
And he knew he was going to be the next England manager. So I tried to get him to say it on air and he wouldn't. And no sooner we finished working and we said we'd go for a drink or a bite to eat or something. And he'd be saying, well, when I, when I inherit the job, when I get into the job, I'm going to do this, that and the other, you know, I'm thinking, why didn't you say that when we were on air? But that was just the way it was.
Tim Caple (01:15:52.171)
You described how great the day was when you found out that you had been hired as the main presenter. How did you feel then on the day when you got back? It was after the European Championships in 1992 when you found out that it was official, ITV had lost the rights, the Premier League was coming in and everything was going to Sky and Match of the Day.
Elton WELSBY (01:16:16.36)
Well, was very disappointing. I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But I had never left Granada, even when I went to do the results service in 1986 and then the match in 1988. I was still doing mid-week highlights for Granada.
for Granada, was still doing kick-off on a Friday night for Granada. I was doing more work for Granada than I was for the network. So when the news came that ITV had no longer the rights to First Division football, the only thing I missed out on was Sunday afternoons during the match.
Tim Caple (01:18:22.205)
So after the loss of the rights, you're still very busy with Granada. There's all sorts of projects that you're involved in. Talking Balls, It's Your Round, both of those are quite interesting concepts, especially It's Your Round.
Elton WELSBY (01:18:37.356)
Yes.
Elton WELSBY (01:18:45.227)
Yeah, were still doing the bowls as well. It was a very busy time at Granada and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We still did live games from the football league. To me, enjoy, like now you call it championship football, I enjoy that just as much as the Premier League. In fact, I'd say...
some of the championship games are far superior to the Premier League and you don't have that irritation of when a goal is scored you've got to wait eight minutes for VAR to decide whether it's good or not.
Tim Caple (01:19:28.821)
So there it is, your entire broadcasting career in 380 odd pages all summed up beautifully. 5 decades you survived. There aren't many that had 5 decades plus in broadcast media what was your most abiding memory of your time? When you look back, what's the thing that brings a smile to your face more than anything else?
Elton WELSBY (01:19:56.385)
Radio City from 1974 to 1978. was a wonderful time. None of us who went into the newsroom, the sports department, of which there only two of us, at that time had any experience of radio at all. We were learning on the job. We were brothers in arms.
pioneers of commercial radio in Liverpool and boy, we made mistakes. But we learned from them.
Tim Caple
your favourite pundit over those years. Last question then, who was it? Who did you enjoy working alongside the most? Jack Charlton and you had a great relationshi, you talked about Bill Shankly who you got to know very well indeed, turned into a very good friend of yours. So many people, who did you enjoy working with the most?
Elton WELSBY (01:21:56.638)
Jack, big Jack we virtually, well, we did, we lived together for three, three weeks or so in Sweden in 92 for the euros. we even insisted that we had adjoining rooms, know, we, we just clicked and I've worked, I worked with him many times after the euros, not on television, on stage.
golf clubs and things like that where we get booked together. know, I do my bit. Jack was always top of the bill because his after dinner routine, his speech, which lasted for, was absolutely hysterical. The best I've ever heard by an ex-footballer. Absolutely terrific. But we got on really, really well.
Elton Welsby in conversation with me for "Talking Sports Books" and if you want to listen to the show then here is a direct link https://www.talkingsportsbooks.com/podcast/episode/2d85e77f/game-for-a-laugh-with-elton-welsby
And you can get the book directly here https://amzn.to/4iDZzHo
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