Last updated 11:42, Wednesday, 25 June 2008

THE sheepskin coat and the microphone aren’t quite ready to be hung up.

Football commentator John Motson models his new coat, a hi-tech 'dreamcoat' worth more than £3,000. Created as a replacement for his trademark sheepskin coat, it is fitted with four cutting edge mobile phones.The coat's wearer can send emails and texts, make calls, surf the internet, use SatNav and listen to music on an MP3 player. The 'Technical Dreamcoat' was created by mobile phone store The Link. See PA STORY CONSUMER Motson. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Parsons/PA

But, after 29 years and nearly 2,000 football matches, including six World Cup finals and 29 FA Cup finals, Sunday’s European Championships final will be John Motson’s last as the BBC’s lead football commentator.

He’ll still be on Match of the Day but he will never again commentate at major football championships.

Losing this national treasure is a sad day for football fans. No other commentator has been able to generate the same level of affection or emotion from us.

His attention to detail, his meticulous preparation and obsession for stats and facts – if a player owned a pet dog called Rover he’d be able to tell us – made him a complete one-off.

It’s hardly surprising that the BBC now beats ITV’s big-match commentaries hands-down.

An audience of 13.9 million watched the 2006 World Cup final on the BBC, with Mottym, left, behind the mic, compared to only 2.9 million on ITV.

It is a sad irony that while football has grown greedier and grubbier, Motty has still managed to retain an air of innocence, a sense of perspective and never allowed himself to become affected by his status.

It’s almost as if he feels he’s the luckiest man in the world to be able to commentate on football and would willingly pay the BBC for the privilege.

He’s earned his place as the greatest-ever football commentator. Watching major televised matches won’t be half as much fun.