"WHERE WAS THE JCB?" DEMAND REAL

Great performance by Liverpool tonight, and I wonder if ITV commentator Clive Tyldesley recalled the last time he commentated on Liverpool playing Real Madrid. It was Paris in the spring, 1981, and Clive was there for the Merseyside commercial radio station Radio City. He arrived at the Parc des Princes to find that a JCB working outside the stadium had inadvertently dug up the broadcasting cables, delivering a fatal blow to City's coverage. Clive ended up sitting on the press box steps delivering live commentary via a print reporter's telephone.
Also affected was BBC Radio Merseyside presenter, the late Bob Azurdia. Bob was due to broadcast his afternoon show live from the stadium, but hurriedly re-routed to the BBC's Paris studio where a startled BBC reporter helped him fire up the studio and get on air. That reporter was John Sergeant, later to find wider fame as the least nimble competitor on Strictly Come Dancing.
Happily there were no JCBs at Anfield tonight. Only a steamroller.