The grand old gentleman of guff, Lord rest him, Uncle Sir Bob, whether as manager or co-comm, rarely left you without a smile on your face.

“We put some good subs on to hang onto the fort.”

“Tottenham have impressed me – they haven’t thrown in the towel even though they’ve been under the gun.”

“We didn’t underestimate them. They were just a lot better than we thought.”

“I’m not going to look beyond the semi-final – but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.”

“They’ve probably played better than they’ve ever done for a few weeks.”

“When Gazza was dribbling, he used to go through a minefield with his arm, a bit like you go through a supermarket.”

“Maybe not goodbye, but farewell.”

“Home advantage gives you an advantage.”

“In a year’s time, he’s a year older.”

“Their football was exceptionally good – and they played some good football.”

“Everton will want to sedate Wayne Rooney and keep the boy calm, and that is the right thing to do.”

“If you count your chickens before they’ve hatched, they won’t lay an egg.”

“No team won anything without a dodgy keeper.”

“The first 90 minutes of a football match are the most important.”

“Well, we got nine and you can’t score more than that.”

“Anything from 1-0 to 2-0 would be a nice result.”

“He’s very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.”

“We are all in the same bucket.”

“We’ve dropped two points against Ipswich and I mean that sincerely.”

“Some of the goals were good, some of the goals were sceptical.”

“I’d say he’s the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence.”

“We’re flying on Concorde. That’ll shorten the distance. That’s self-explanatory.”