Football (Matches Mentioned)


 * Peel was fond of offering his view on (mainly) his team's performances, either post-match or sometimes during his shows.


 * 04 October 1977: Arsenal vs Liverpool, Highbury. 0-0 draw. “Sounds like a boring game at Highbury. Useful point, though.”
 * 28 December 1977: Chelsea vs Liverpool, Stamford Bridge, FA Cup third round. Peel begs for tickets for the upcoming match. Liverpool lost 4-2.
 * 22 August 1978: Manchester City vs Liverpool, Maine Road. Before playing Devo's 'Social Fools', which begins with a count of '1, 2, 1, 2', Peel says, "What sort of score are you boys looking for when Liverpool visit Maine Road on Saturday?" Liverpool won 4-1.
 * 03 April 1979: Liverpool vs Manchester United, Goodison Park, FA Cup semi-final replay. Peel claims he swore at an early age never to go to Everton's ground and therefore he didn't try to get a ticket for the big match there the following evening. Liverpool lost 1-0.
 * 30 April 1979: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Nottingham Forest. Peel opens the show by thanking Wolves "for their good work tonight" in helping Liverpool toward what would be their 11th league title. They had beaten Nottingham Forest 1-0; Liverpool went on to win the league with an 8 point lead over Forest.
 * 10 September 1979: Liverpool vs Coventry, Anfield. The 4-0 home win the previous Saturday (8 September) is mentioned in passing on the show. "I'm beginning, I think, to be not so concerned about that poor start I must confess", comments Peel. Prior to this game, the fourth of the season, Liverpool had won one, drawn one and lost one.
 * 19 November 1979: Liverpool vs Tottenham, Anfield. Liverpool back on top of the First Division following a 2-1 win on Saturday (Nov. 17), so Peel starts Monday’s show in a good mood.
 * 07 April 1980: Manchester United vs Liverpool, Old Trafford. Complains about pretend Man U fans coming out of the woodwork after the weekend result, although for genuine supporters, “a 2-1 home win against the greatest team the world has ever seen is certainly something to be very, very proud of.” Peel is now on the hunt for a ticket for the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in Sheffield the next weekend.
 * 08 April 1980: Liverpool vs Derby County. Show introduction: "Liverpool 3 Derby County nil, that's what you really want to know; Irwin, Johnson and an own goal. And it seems appropriate because Dalglish played a blinder according to our sports desk, that two of the bands featured tonight are from Scotland and the other one comes from Liverpool."
 * 10 April 1980: Liverpool vs. Arsenal, FA Cup semi-final, Hillsborough. Show intro: "Just two days to go to the showdown in Sheffield and I still don't have a ticket. Oh well, courage, fatty, courage, there's a show to be done." The result was a 0-0 draw and Liverpool were eventually knocked out after three replays.
 * 02 September 1980: Liverpool vs Bradford Ciy, Anfield, League Cup, 2nd round, 2nd leg. LFC won 4-0 over lower league opposition. Perhaps not as eye-catching as Watford 7 Southampton 1 the same night.
 * 08 April 1981: Liverpool vs Bayern Munich, Anfield, European Cup (semi-final, 1st leg). A 0-0 draw, displeasing John considerably.
 * 09 April 1981: After playing ‘Eve of Destruction’, Peel comments: 'As long as it doesn't come before the second leg in Germany, I don't really mind to be honest.’ (See above date. Liverpool went through to the European Cup final on the away goals rule after a 1-1 draw in Munich on April 22.)
 * 03 May 1982: Spurs vs Liverpool, White Hart Lane. 2-2 draw. Peel happy enough with the result: “Spurs were leading 2-0 at one stage. Himself [Kenny Dalglish] scored a couple of goals so at least we get one point out of that."
 * 10 July 1982: Liverpool vs Tottenham, Anfield. 3-1 home win. JP looks forward to new football season with radio commentary extracts of LFC clinching the Championship at the end of the previous season (1982-05-15).
 * 23 September 1982: Liverpool vs Southampton, Anfield. After Peel’s departure from the Late Late Breakfast Show, he looks forward to his first match of the season. It was a 5-0 home win.
 * 30 May 1984: Liverpool vs Roma, Rome, European Cup final. Liverpool win the European Cup on penalties after drawing 1-1 against Roma, minutes before the show started. Peel is incoherent with joy and David Jensen has to keep things moving until our host can recover his composure a bit.
 * 04 December 1984: Liverpool vs Coventry, Anfield. "Evening again, fun seekers. Tonight's big match, the score was Liverpool 3 Coventry 1 all four goals scored by Liverpool - Wark two and Rush for Liverpool and Hansen own goal for Coventry."
 * 03 June 1985: JP's first show since the events at Heysel the previous week starts on somber note.
 * 17 March 1986: Watford vs Liverpool, FA Cup (6th round replay). Liverpool won 2-1 after extra time, with Peel following the commentary during his show: "Sorry Elton and the rest of you. This is a bit more like it, isn't it, really, frankly. Let's face facts."
 * 29 December 1986: Liverpool vs Manchester United, Anfield. Norman Whiteside scored the only goal to defeat the home team, prompting John to grumble, "Affectionate greetings to everyone except Norman Whiteside, again."
 * 19 March 1990: Manchester United vs. Liverpool, Old Trafford. JP: "Tonight's programme is dedicated to Ronnie Whelan, scorer of the best own goal I've ever seen." The Liverpool midfield player had scored at the wrong end in a 2-1 away win for Liverpool the previous afternoon.
 * 21 March 1990: Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool, Division One. A League match that was shown live on ITV that Wednesday evening, allowing Peel to watch from the studio and comment on the action. Spurs won 1-0.
 * 11 April 1992: Liverpool vs. Portsmouth, FA Cup semi-final, Highbury. Liverpool had grabbed a late equalizer to draw 1-1 against the Second Division side the previous weekend: "Better not mention Portsmouth at the moment, I think." LFC would eventually win through to the final after a penalty shootout in the replay on April 13.
 * 19 December 1992: Liverpool vs Coventry City, a 5-1 defeat. "I mean, I know man was born to suffer, but there's got to be a limit."
 * 16 May 2001: Liverpool vs Alaves. UEFA Cup Final, which Liverpool won 5-4 in extra time while Peel was on air. An emotional Peel can barely speak afterwards: "Liverpool have won... I can't speak."
 * 20 September 2001: Ipswich vs Torpedo Moscow, a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the UEFA Cup, round 1. The Pig was in attendance. "Ipswich extremely unlucky not to win."
 * 09 October 2001: Liverpool vs Grimsby, a 2-1 defeat in the League Cup. "The most embarrassing result I can remember since Worcester City beat Liverpool sometime probably in the Fifties... just unbelievable."
 * 23 October 2001: Leicester v Liverpool, a 4-1 away win in the Premier League the previous Saturday, in which Robbie Fowler had scored a hat-trick. Peel says that he spent much of the weekend celebrating it. "That third goal... my god!"
 * 04 December 2002: While Sheila and Alexandra were at Anfield watching Liverpool vs Ipswich compete for a quarter-final place in the Worthington Cup, JP was following the game whilst on air. His team's poor performance drew despairing criticism, i.e. "Do you know what I'd do? I'd say, you've got to earn the right to wear those red shirts, and until you do, then you can play in grey, or some other colour." Liverpool eventually won 5-4 on penalties.

European Championship

 * 24 June 2004: Portugal vs England. England crash out of the European Championship on penalties following a 2-2 draw with Portugal. Peel gave The Fall's 'Kicker Conspiracy' back to back plays in the hope that it would lead to another England goal. "This has been a painful night. I really thought that we had a chance of winning it."

World Cup

 * 05 September 2001: England vs Albania (World Cup qualifier). Peel makes several references to England's 2-0 victory at St James' Park. Goals from Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. "I'm 62 years old. Why do I cry when Robbie scores? Madness."

Guest Reviewers

 * From October 1993 onwards, the Peel show occupied a slot from 4:30 - 7 pm on Saturday afternoons on Radio One, trimmed by 30 minutes a year later so it started at 5 pm. This allowed Peel to read out and comment on the afternoon's football results as they came in. During 1994 at least, guest reviewers were invited to phone in their own match reports of games they had just witnessed. These included:


 * 11 December 1993: Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen gives a match report on Liverpool v Swindon.
 * 12 February 1994: Craig Scanlon, then guitarist of The Fall, gives his review of Manchester City v West Ham.
 * 03 September 1994: Jon Beast gives his review of Worksop Town v Fleetwood Town.
 * 10 September 1994: Eddie Lundon of China Crisis reviews Liverpool v West Ham.