From Stoke to the Arctic Circle - 30 years of BBC's Murray behind mic

Wednesday's trip to Azerbaijan was the latest in a list of unusual destinations for John Murray to commentate from. He has seen it all during three decades behind the microphone for the BBC - from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, to the Arctic Circle and numerous World Cups.

The Radio 5 Live commentator, 59, has attended more than 200 stadiums while narrating some of the biggest football matches across the globe since joining the organisation in 1994.

Before Newcastle's Champions League match against Qarabag on Wednesday, the Northumberland native sat against the picturesque backdrop of the Azersun Arena in Baku - more than 2,500 miles away from home - to reflect on a career that has taken him to five continents.

"When I was growing up, listening to the radio and watching television, it was really commentary to matches in far flung places that captured my imagination," explains Murray.

"I always remember those European matches because in those days - we're talking 1970s, early 1980s - it was quite a rarity that those matches would be shown live on television.

"Access to those matches on the radio - and international matches as well - were a big part of what really fired my imagination."

Before he joined the BBC, Murray's first taste of life in the gantry came on a "raucous" night at Stoke City's Victoria Ground when he was "thrust" on air while working for local Teesside station TFM Radio.

He later travelled to Pisa to cover Middlesbrough's Anglo-Italian Cup match against the Serie B side as he continued to hone his craft as a budding broadcaster.

"It must have been my first game abroad and the stadium there was right next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa," he recalls.

"That was a fantastic way to start - you can't get any better than your first [European] commentary next to a World Heritage site.

"There were only a couple of hundred people at the ground, but right outside is the Leaning Tower of Pisa."

Even after covering matches across Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe, each season still manages to spring something new on Murray.

In January, he found himself surrounded by "snow-capped mountains" on a historic night inside the Arctic Circle as Norwegian minnows Bodo/Glimt stunned Manchester City in the Champions League.

Murray regards it as one of the most surreal nights of his career, likening the landscape to the 1983 Bill Forsyth film Local Hero, which was set in Scotland.

"I could see rooftops with snow on them from just outside the ground. It was such an unusual place," he says.

"As I said at the time on the radio, it just had the feel of the film 'Local Hero'. I was thinking, how are we here for a Champions League match?

"And not only that, but it helps when you get a match that is a real event. For them to beat Manchester City, Champions League winners only a few years ago, in the way that they did, that is part of package.

"When you get the match, as well as the setting, to describe as well. There weren't many better examples than that."

But it was much closer to home that Murray encountered what he described as the most "challenging" 90 minutes of his broadcasting career.

In January 2021, eighth-tier Marine hosted Tottenham in the FA Cup third round.

Ongoing Covid-19 restrictions meant matches were played behind closed doors, with broadcasters, journalists and a small number of other media personnel spread around the ground to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

For the first time, Murray was forced to commentate from behind the goal rather than his usual position along the touchline.

"I was really uncomfortable about that because it just didn't feel right," he admits.

"Normally I'm side on, the teams are playing left to right, right to left. There I was commentating with one team coming at you and the other team going away from you.

"It's not an experience I'd particularity want to repeat again."

It was only a few weeks ago that Murray was prompted to reflect on his remarkable career when a colleague asked how many stadiums he had visited.

After revisiting the question during this interview, the self-proclaimed "stadium geek" settled on an answer of "more than 200".

"I don't know how I'd work out how many it is. During the course of that, I've probably seen a little bit of everything," he says.

During that time, Murray has commentated on World Cups in South Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Qatar. Yet it is the FA Cup he holds in the highest regard.

Murray made his FA Cup final commentary debut in 2010 when Premier League champions Chelsea beat Portsmouth at Wembley Stadium to secure a first domestic Double.

But it is the competition's early rounds that continue to rouse him - most recently when he covered non-league Macclesfield's upset of holders Crystal Palace.

"It was a match that had so many of the ingredients that you would want for a cup upset," he adds. "There is nothing like that.

"For all the World Cup finals, internationals and Champions League finals, there is still nothing like being there and experiencing an FA Cup upset like that. That was one of the biggest."

So after thousands of matches in hundreds of different stadiums across the world, which game ranks as Murray's favourite?

"Easy question," he says with a smile. "It was always a difficult question until the 2022 World Cup final - that was an amazing match to be at.

"But because it was the World Cup final and Lionel Messi was involved, Kylian Mbappe was involved, the to and fro of the game, the drama and excitement.

"That is the one I'd pick out, which is a really boring, easy answer. Yes it was a World Cup final, but it was the best spectacle."