-
Martin Tyler has voiced our football for nearly fifty years
-
The legend behind the mic led a broadcasting revolution
-
His love of Woking FC has taken him to the dug-out
Martin Tyler was born in Chester, England on September 14th, 1945.
A keen sportsman, he captained Surrey schools under 18s at cricket and played football to a non-league level before attending the University of East Anglia in the 1960s, where he gained a degree in social studies.
His entry into journalism came from ghostwriting a column in the News of the World for the legendary Jimmy Hill and it was Hill who advised he accept a job offer working behind the scenes at London Weekend Television, the network that made The Big Match.
There Tyler learned the ropes, sending his bosses home-made commentaries in the hope of one day securing his dream role behind the microphone. Eventually they ceded.
On December 28th 1974, with Southern Television’s regular commentator unwell, Tyler was drafted in, making an impressive – if somewhat squeaky-voiced – debut.
Soon after, he received a congratulatory telegram from John Motson that included some priceless counsel: Talk little but say a lot.
Tyler went on to cover games across the regions, broadcasting for Yorkshire, then Granada, before becoming a familiar voice in the nation’s living rooms when he commentated on the 1982 World Cup.
His star was soaring but by the end of that decade he had grown frustrated at being considered ITV’s number two commentator to the great Brian Moore. A new challenge was needed.
Sky Sports
In 1990 BSB, a fledgling satellite television enterprise, needed a respected presence to voice their footballing coverage and Tyler was the obvious choice.
A year on, with viewing figures low, the company merged with Sky, and in doing so the Sky Sports channel was founded with Tyler retained as their lead commentator.
Twelve months later came a pivotal moment in the then 46-year-old’s life, and indeed a momentous turning point for English football when the Premier League was formed.
With Sky in possession of exclusive broadcasting rights to live games they broke new ground with their in-depth coverage and it could be argued that Tyler was the voice of a broadcasting revolution.
As their advertising campaign had it at the time: this was a whole new ball game.
A popular double-act with former player Andy Gray was forged, with Tyler describing the action and Gray providing invaluable tactical insight and this same successful chemistry is in evidence today with Gary Neville adding on-pitch expertise to Tyler’s prose.
It is prose that has been honed over many years with a thirtieth anniversary at Sky alone celebrated in 2021 and his ability to heighten the drama of a football match, then narrate that drama has made Tyler a household name.
Some Premier League predictions envision a close title race in 2021/22 between Manchester City and Liverpool. It’s closing stages just wouldn’t be the same without Martin Tyler putting words to the action.
Famous Martin Tyler Lines
Every well-known commentator is ultimately defined by those unforgettable moments that sport very occasionally throws up.
The most famous instance of course is Kenneth Wolstenholme noticing out loud that fans were encroaching onto the Wembley turf in 1966, believing the World Cup final was all over.
Thankfully, for Tyler’s big moment he rose to the occasion, as befitting a broadcasting legend, when in 2012 Manchester City were in desperate need of a third goal against QPR to secure their first league title for several generations.
With the final whistle imminent Sergio Aguero struck, in doing so rocking the watching world on its axis, and Tyler’s accompanying words have gone down in footballing folklore.
"I swear you'll never see anything like this ever again,” he intoned, his voice breaking in disbelief. “So watch it, drink it in.”
His natural response to a supernatural season’s finale has become much cherished by supporters of every club bar one.
Elsewhere, a far more elementary ‘Oh yes’ captured the zeitgeist of Anthony Martial scoring a debut goal for Manchester United while Tyler pre-empts each game these days by uttering what has become a catchphrase – And it’s live.
Premier League odds have Manchester City firm favourites to lift another league crown. Surely it won’t go to the wire again, will it?
FIFA Games
When the FIFA video game franchise began in 2005 it was a no-brainer for EA Sports to approach one of the best football commentators around to voice all of the simulated action, pre-recording thousands of lines in serious, sometimes excitable tones to accompany the action.
With ex-Arsenal striker Alan Smith on co-comms it gave gamers an infinitely more authentic experience and from a 16-year association Tyler became synonymous with what has become a genuine marketing phenomenon, thus giving the veteran broadcaster a new and younger appreciation society.
Sadly, the pair were not asked to commentate on the 2021 version of the best-selling series, leading to outrage among the gaming community.
Martin Tyler Woking
If the most high-profile commentators are celebrated for their famous lines they are regrettably denigrated for supposed bias against certain clubs with fans under the firm belief they support a main rival.
It says much about Tyler’s impartiality across the decades that Manchester United fans suspect he favours Liverpool while Liverpool supporters staunchly insist his heart resides at Old Trafford.
In fact, having first fallen in love with the game at Kingfield Road in the early Fifties it is Woking FC he supports, passionately so, and in 2018, aged 72, Tyler’s career took an unexpected left-turn when he took up an assistant coaching position, a role he balances with his Sky duties.
Plaudits
In 2003, Tyler was voted the FA Premier League Commentator of the Decade, a well-deserved honour for a widely venerated broadcaster whose body of work spans nearly half a century.
In that time football has changed immeasurably, with matches televised as events featuring multi-millionaires, and video games celebrating the sport becoming immensely popular along with football betting online heightening our weekend’s enjoyment.
The timeless Tyler has embraced it all, never allowing himself to become associated with the past.
Yet for all his outstanding achievements what he’s most proud of is missing only one game throughout his career, even soldering on with food poisoning that rendered him speechless for the last 15 minutes of an Everton game.
Thankfully, as he later regaled, nothing happened of note.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 23rd March 2022
