ALL that was missing from Paula Radcliffe's glorious triumph at Consett on Saturday was the voice of David Coleman saying: "It's Radcliffe first, the rest nowhere."

The Great North Cross Country should have brought down the curtain on Coleman's 46 years of commentary for the BBC, but in the acrimony surrounding his departure he opted out and was allowed to fade away in utterly pathetic fashion.

So while the year ended with honours for Jeremy Beadle, Jim Davidson (Lord, help us) and world darts champion Phil Taylor, there was no mention of Coleman.

When some bigwig at the Beeb really ought to have been pressing his claims for a knighthood, Coleman appears to have been treated instead like something which ought to crawl back under its stone.

He has a reputation as a man of enormously high professional standards who doesn't suffer fools gladly, so we must assume he lost his temper with what he perceived to be the buffoons in high office.

It seems incredible that the BBC have afforded much more air time to the retirement - still almost a year away - of ITV's Murray Walker, who owes the bulk of his reputation to the over-excitement he generates when commentating on the drudgery of motor racing.

Coleman was far more of an all-rounder and much less prone to gaffes, denying most of those which appeared in Private Eye's Colemanballs column.

The one which probably haunted him most was when David Hemery won the 400 metres hurdles gold at the 1968 Olympics.

Coleman got so carried away with Hemery's triumph that he just managed to blurt out the name of the silver medallist before saying: "Who cares who's third?"

Third just happened to be John Sherwood, of Leeds, running the race of his life.

Still, you could never imagine Coleman saying, as Walker once did: "Unless I'm very much mistaken, yes I am very much mistaken."

Coleman left nothing to chance. His research ensured that during his 20 years at the helm of Grandstand he could read East Fife's result off the teleprinter and announce instantly that their first draw for 12 away matches had taken them above Brechin City on goal difference.

Hopefully, once the dust has settled, those at the BBC will find it within themselves to pay a proper tribute to a man who survived for an incredible 46 years at the very top of his profession.

TROUBLE is rarely far from the surface at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, but Martyn Moxon's decision to leave for Durham came as a complete surprise.

From a Durham point of view, my only reservation is that Moxon appears to have run away at the first sign of trouble instead of fighting his corner.

If Durham are to get back on the course mapped out by David Boon they need a strong figurehead on the playing side, so let's hope there's a steely side to Moxon's character.

If Yorkshire are tightening the purse strings to pay for the redevelopment of Headingley, they might reflect that they would rather lose their coach to Durham than their Test ground status.

THERE were rumours last week of a knighthood for Ian Botham, which would have seemed highly unlikely back in 1992, when some people questioned his right to the OBE. When that award leaked out a day ahead of schedule, Durham laughably organised a police escort off the field at Hartlepool to protect Beefy from the Press. Those who did get close enough were given short shrift.

Botham's days of conflict are long gone, however. He is now seen as a respectable citizen who has used his fame to raise £5m for leukaemia research and it would be no great surprise if he did eventually sit alongside his pal Viv Richards as a cricketing knight.

ANY award for Botham would, in my view, make more sense than the MBE handed a year ago to the appalling Ian Wright.

I shall make it one of my New Year's resolutions to leave the room as quickly as possible whenever he appears on the TV, and to break my personal best of 0.01 seconds for switching channels when David Mellor's voice comes on the radio.

Continuing in negative mode, my hopes for 2001 include someone other than Pete Sampras winning Wimbledon and someone other than Michael Schumacher winning the world motor racing championship.

Becoming slightly more positive, if Lennox Lewis does fight Mike Tyson may he batter the beast into submission then retire gracefully, repeating his famous words: "I'm the undisputed champion. There's no disputing that."

And becoming positively upbeat, may boxer Paul Ingle make a complete recovery, may Lee Westwood or Colin Montgomerie (unlikely) win the Open at Royal Lytham, may England regain the Ashes, and may Paula Radcliffe win the World Cross Country Championship so convincingly that it's possible to imagine David Coleman saying: "Who cares who's second?