Alan Green (broadcaster)

Alan Green (born 25 June 1952 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) has been a BBC Radio sports commentator since 1981, mainly on football but also on golf, rowing and the Olympic Games.
Green is one of BBC Radio 5 Live's most senior football commentators and has been a winner of a Sony Radio Academy Award for Sports Broadcaster Of The Year. He is noted for his forthright style of football commentary and has been involved in several controversies and disputes with managers including Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce.

After gaining an honours degree in modern history from Queen's University Belfast, Green worked in local newspapers until he moved to the BBC in 1975 as a news trainee with the ambition of becoming a TV news producer. Green presented current affairs on both radio and television in Northern Ireland, before he moved to Manchester, joining BBC Radio's sport department.

Green's first World Cup as a BBC commentator was in 1982 and in 1986 Green made his debut as an FA Cup Final commentator for the corporation. In 1989, Green was present at the Hillsborough disaster as a commentator. In a 2009 radio programme marking the 20th anniversary of the disaster, Green spoke of his bitterness that justice had been denied for the 96 people who died at Hillsborough.

Green's forthright commentary style has often divided opinion among radio listeners. He has won the admiration of some listeners for his honest assessments of football games and for his uncompromising opinions, but he has also attracted some objections from others who believe he is harshly critical. In 2009, Fulham's head of communications Sarah Brooks protested that Green had been "insulting" towards Fulham after they lost 3-0 in the Premier League to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Green has disputed the notion that the English Premier League is the greatest in the world. In 2013, Green wrote an article in which he said: "The Premier League I see week in, week out, isn't remotely as good as it thinks it is." In the article for the Belfast Telegraph, Green criticised what he called "woeful defending", "selfish, oafish behaviour" and "the underwhelming, overpaid footballers that populate the Premier League."

In an interview with The Observer in 2009, Green said of his career as a sports commentator: "Apart from one time in 1984, I've never applied for a television job." Green said that he told a BSkyB executive, who had floated the idea of him moving from radio to the satellite channel, that he is too outspoken to work for Sky TV. The Sky executive implored Green to "always accentuate the positive". Green told him that his role as a commentator was "to tell the truth, not to act as a propagandist."

Green debuted as a commentator on BBC 1's Match of the Day on 13 September 2014, covering highlights of the Premier League game between West Brom and Everton. He later covered Steven Gerrard's last match for Liverpool at Anfield.

In July 2015, Green featured as the narrator on the Channel 4 programme Lookalikes.

Disputes with football managers

Green has had an ongoing feud for over 20 years with Alex Ferguson following an incident in which Green said on air that he was "learning not to believe the propaganda that comes out of the Manchester United manager's office". Green felt that he had been deliberately misled by Ferguson giving him inaccurate team news the day before a match. In 2009, Green said of Ferguson: "He either bullies or frightens. It's the way he exerts his control over the media. He would be a fantastic propaganda minister. He knows how to manipulate and some of my colleagues take it in."

In 2006, Green was banned from Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium after accusing manager Sam Allardyce of playing "ugly" football. Following Allardyce's departure to Newcastle United, the club invited Green back. In an article for The Belfast Telegraph in 2010, Green wrote: "Am I alone in thinking Sam Allardyce must be the most arrogant football manager that's ever lived?" In January 2013, Green criticised Allardyce's style of play at West Ham United, which he described as "hitting the ball long and high to a big man up front."

Other controversies

In 2004, Green was censured by Ofcom after he made a comment live on-air about Manchester United's Cameroonian midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba speaking pidgin English with the referee. Green said that Djemba-Djemba was saying "me no cheat" to the referee. A listener complained that it was inappropriate to suggest a black man was unable to speak grammatical English. Green had previously described Manchester City's Chinese defender Sun Jihai as wearing shirt "Number 17 – that'll be the Chicken Chow Mein, then" during a live radio broadcast.

In 2005, Green had a dispute with Everton fans after he wrote an article in which he suggested that manager David Moyes, "instead of raising expectations after Everton's fourth-place finish the previous season, should suppress them." Green's article led to him receiving some death threats.

In 2007, Green commentated on a match between Everton and Reading at Goodison Park. Film star Sylvester Stallone was paraded on the pitch and Green joked about whether Stallone's limousine would still have wheels when he returned to it. This prompted an official complaint to the BBC by Liverpool City Council, upset at his stereotypical views about car crime in the city.

Green is reported to have fallen out with a number of his broadcasting colleagues over the years. In 2009, Green was reported to have had a rift with former fellow BBC broadcaster Mark Saggers, that surfaced in on-air exchanges. Saggers left the BBC to join rival Talksport at the end of the 2008–09 English football season.

In June 2016, Green stated that he would boycott the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia due to the "horrendous atmosphere" he had experienced on previous trips to Russia.

Green married his wife Brenda on 29 March 1980.