50 years on: Welcome to Beatleville

Little did he, or anyone else, suspect Match of the Day was destined to become a Saturday night institution for generations of football fans.

Wolstenholme's first words to his new audience were: "Welcome to Match of the Day. This afternoon we are in Beatleville." And for the record Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-2, with Roger Hunt scoring the first ever goal to be shown on the programme.

Years later, LFCTV producer Mark Platt had the privilege of interviewing the most famous English football commentator of all time.

Today, a half-century on from the first MOTD, we are delighted to re-publish a few extracts from that interview...

How nervous were you before that first game between Liverpool and Arsenal?

I'd been doing commentaries for the BBC for a number of years before Match of the Day began in 1964, but it always makes you nervous starting a new programme. I was constantly wondering how well it would go and how successful it would be.

The funny thing about that first game was that there were more people at Anfield than actually watched the game on television. This was because at that time BBC2 could only be received in London. This probably pleased the two clubs and the Football League because they had worried about what effect Match of the Day would have on attendances, so that first game was really an experiment.

It was when Match of the Day switched to BBC1 that it really took off. Viewing figures increased and at one time we were pulling in 15 million viewers. The publicans apparently weren't too pleased with us because everyone went home early from the pub to watch Match of the Day!

How did the advent of colour television effect your commentaries?

The introduction of colour television made my job far better. I always say that we never had black and white television, we had grey and grey! If for example Liverpool in red shirts and white shorts were playing Everton in blue shirts and white shorts the two sides would look pretty much the same.

You have to be careful not to over-identify people and I shudder when I hear commentators say things such as 'it's Liverpool in red shirts attacking the goal to the right and Manchester City in blue shirts attacking the goal to the left', as the first statement makes the second unnecessary.

Which games are most memorable to you?

One of my most memorable matches is obviously the World Cup Final in 1966. That was a real carnival and to top it all England won. But the greatest game of football I have ever seen without any doubt is the 1960 European Cup Final in Glasgow between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Eintracht had scored six goals in both legs against Glasgow Rangers in the semi-final and at that time it was against the rule to score six against Rangers at Ibrox. They were a super side but Real Madrid at that time were just fantastic. Both teams were so committed to attacking football and after a terrific game Real ran out 3-1 winners.

Kenneth Wolstenholme - 1921 to 2002 - R.I.P