His career in journalism began with the '' Evening News '' in 1950 . In 1955 he switched to the '' News Chronicle '' , where he stayed until the paper folded in 1960 . He began reporting football matches for '' The Observer '' in 1958 . He also wrote occasional articles for '' The Times '' . Arlott joined '' The Guardian '' in 1968 as chief cricket correspondent , where he would stay until 1980 . He was also asked to comment on football matches . He was assigned at his own request to cover the Manchester United v Red Star Belgrade European Cup match in Yugoslavia . At the last minute their chief soccer correspondent Donny Davies pulled rank and decided to go instead . The aircraft bringing back the team , officials and press crashed in what became known as the Munich air disaster and Davies was one of the fatalities . Arlott stopped covering soccer in 1977 after some violent post match incidents with hooligan fans
Munich air disaster
Munich air disaster
John Arlott