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Football fans will still hear his voice on Match of the Day, but for the millions of Britons who assemble in armchairs only when the fate of nations is at stake, it will be farewell.

The Euro 2008 final tomorrow will be their last evening in the company of John Motson, the BBC commentator who has been their guide at international tournaments since 1974.

Yesterday he broke off from his studies of Spain’s first-half scoring record and the past achievements of referee Roberto Rosetti to speak to The Times from Vienna.

“It will be the end of my international career,” he said. This called for some statistics. “Eighteen major championships, nine World Cups, nine Europeans, the final itself in six World Cups and nine Europeans if I’m still standing on Sunday,” he said.

“My first European championship was in 1976 in Belgrade when there was only four teams in the finals. I saw the only time Germany lost a penalty shoot-out in that final.” In those days, an unassuming football commentator in a sheepskin coat could walk straight into a team’s hotel and chat with the players. “The game wasn’t so corporate then,” he said. “It was a more innocent age in lots of ways. Red and yellow cards had just been brought in but there were no names on shirts. The subs rule was different – you were only allowed two weren’t you?” He could go on.

His career as a commentator had begun four years earlier when he was sent to Hereford to cover a third-round replay between the home team and Newcastle United. Minutes from defeat, Hereford United staged an astonishing comeback and turned what had been a “sweeping-up job” into the main event on Match of the Day that evening.

“Those goals by Ronnie Radford and Ricky George changed my life,” he said. “I was only on a year’s probation. I could have been sent back to my old job.” So began a career dedicated to articulating astonishment at a moment’s notice and enlightening a nation with the most unlikely details.

He was a man who could tell you the number of left-handed linesman in the league. He knew that Steve Thompson, of Cardiff City, had “injured himself falling off a banana boat”. He could relate that “Trevor Brooking had his own eggs and bacon before setting off”.

His more successful expressions became part of football folklore. “How fitting that a man named Buchan should climb the 39 steps,” he said, as the captain of Manchester United went to collect the FA Cup in 1977. His one regret is that “I haven’t managed to deliver better words. You would like to come out with pearls of wisdom but more often than not you don’t have time.”

He is looking forward to writing his autobiography in which will be “at least one hundred thousand words”. How does this compare to his usual word count over 90 minutes?

“I wish I could answer that,” he says, sounding genuinely disappointed in himself. “I have never counted.”

Mouth of the goal

“That tackle was so hard, it hurt his whole family.”

“For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the all-yellow strip.”

“The World Cup is a truly international event”.

“And what a time to score! Twenty-two minutes gone.”

“I think this could be our best victory over Germany since the war.”

“And Seaman, just like a falling oak, manages to change direction.”

“The goals made such a difference to the way this game went.”

“It looks like a one-man show here, although there are two men involved.”

“It’s Arsenal 0, Everton 1, and the longer it stays like that the more you’ve got to fancy Everton.”

“It’s a football stadium in the truest sense of the word.”

“This is the biggest thing that’s happened in Athens since Homer put down his pen.”