The voice of the Premier League: After 25 years behind the mic, Martin Tyler's love for football remains fierce as ever

Premier League at 25: In an exclusive interview with The Independent, the 71-year-old talks memorable moments, his unwavering love for football and his hopes for the future

Martin Tyler has been the voice of the Premier League for the last 25 years (Getty)

Sky Sports’ chief football commentator, Martin Tyler, rarely has time to reminisce while commentating on the dizzying world of the Premier League.

But as England’s top tier celebrates its 25th anniversary, Tyler is impelled to delve into his extensive memory bank before another pulsating season begins on Friday.

He has described every seminal moment in the league’s quarter of a century, from the opening game in 1992 to Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp, title-winning goal 20 years later.

“It’s been a terrific honour to be part of the last 25 years,” he tells The Independent in an exclusive interview before he commentates on Friday’s opening game between Arsenal and Leicester City.

Exhilaration propels Tyler’s words – just as it has his myriad goal commentaries, the most legendary of which was his delirious shriek after Aguero’s iconic strike in 2012

This reflects his undying, all-consuming zeal for football, which he conveys thus: “If I wasn’t there [commentating], I’d be there standing behind the goal or sitting behind the goal. And I coach and am still involved in football on a day-to-day basis in the [National League] South, which is quite a good level as it’s the fifth tier of English football. My team, Hammond & Richmond Borough, nearly got into the Conference last season when we lost in the semi-final to Ebbsfleet United.

“I was in the dugout on Tuesday, I’ll be at Arsenal on Friday, in the dugout on Saturday and I’ll be at Old Trafford on Sunday [for Manchester United v West Ham].

“That tells you how much I love [football].”

Tyler has been a part of the Premier League landscape from the day it started (Getty)

Goals have fascinated Tyler since he was “a small child” in Surrey, when he delighted in kicking the ball into the net repeatedly before the local West Byfleet team warmed up.

“I thought it was wonderful,” says Tyler, who supports Woking Town and was a striker for the non-league outfit Corinthian Casuals before beginning his illustrious broadcasting career at ITV in 1974. “A goal was always special.”

The most special goal Tyler has commentated on was unquestionably the one that clinched Manchester City’s maiden Premier League title success on May 13, 2012 - recently named The Independent’s most significant moment in Premier League history.

“Aguerooo!” he screamed as the little Argentine sealed City’s 3-2 win over QPR with virtually the last kick of the game. “I swear, you’ll never see anything like this ever again!”


 'Agueroooo!' One of the most defining moments in Premier League history 
 (Getty)

Does he still think he will never see the like of arguably the Premier League’s most dramatic moment?

“I’m sure I won’t. It was like an out-of-body experience. I’ve heard it lots of times and it would be wrong of me to say I don’t enjoy hearing it.”

Tyler’s main satisfaction lies in the fact that “I don’t think I messed it up”.

“Most commentators will tell you that their biggest fear is messing up as we are judged on our accuracy,” explains Tyler, who reveals he is happy with only “two or three” commentaries a season given his ceaseless quest for perfection.

Tyler receives the award for Premiership Commentator of the Decade from Richard Scudamore in the early 2000s (Getty)

“I’m pleased that something like that happened on my watch. There are many wonderful broadcasters who may not have had the luck of being there as Brian Moore was in 1989 [when Michael Thomas struck a last-minute goal for Arsenal at Anfield to pip Liverpool to the title] and Kenneth Wolstenholme was [at the World Cup final] in 1966, if I dare put myself, with all modesty, on a parallel with those particular moments. That’s for other people to judge.

“If that [commentary] is being played when I am long gone from this job and long gone from this planet, I’ll have left something behind.”

Otherwise, Tyler finds it “hard to reflect” on his considerable highlights reel, as “perspective is difficult to come by in my job as you’re always looking at what’s coming up”.

Nottingham Forest versus Liverpool on August 15, 1992, understandably remains highly memorable, however.

'A whole new ball game' - The Premier League was launched in 1992 to much hype (Getty)

Tyler had joined Sky, or BSkyB as it was then known, when it launched in 1990 and this was the satellite channel’s first live match of what it billed ‘a whole new ball game’.

“What are my abiding memories? Probably Richard Keys’s jacket,” he laughs, referring to the former Sky Sports football anchor’s gaudy attire. “Plus the fact that we were on air two hours before kick-off, which is a long time to build up, longer than the match itself. There was excitement and also the feeling that – and I don’t think I’m post-judging this – that we were pioneers, not for the league as they were pioneering it on the pitch in their own way, but what was called satellite television in those days and for the kind of sports channels that hadn’t really existed beforehand.

“We all wanted to absolutely make it work.”

Teddy Sheringham cemented his place in the history books by scoring the game’s only goal for Forest and their first of the Premier League era, an effort Tyler hailed as “a peach”.

“It’s a word that I can’t say that I’ve used very much since that goal,” he says. “But it was the word that came out at the time. One of the things that commentators always want to ensure that is understood when we get asked about our job is that we don’t write the lines that we say about goals.

Teddy Sheringham during his Nottingham Forrest days in the 91/92 season (Getty)

“It would be an infinite puzzle to try and come up with the scenarios. You can prepare as much as you like in other ways, but nobody that I know writes down: ‘I’m going to say this when so and so scores’. You don’t know how it’s going to happen, what time of the game it’s going to happen, what the relevance of the goal will be.”

“Football has certainly changed [since 1992],” he muses, with heavy understatement.

He says the “globalisation” of the league is its biggest transformation, with only 13 foreign players appearing on the opening weekend 25 years ago.

Tyler prefers not to predict how 2017/18 will unfold in terms of the title race and other sub-plots, given that “I’m a describer of the action and not a pundit”.

However, what he forecasts with utter certainty and cannot wait for is the Premier League’s unrivalled “capacity to surprise” and its breathless “pace”.

Leeds United and Manchester United go head to head in the opening season of the Premier League (Getty)

“It’s been good to justify the faith shown in me by Sky Sports and to hopefully get the balance right, so that I am there when the viewers need me and not too much of an irritant when they don’t,” he adds.

But how long will he go on embellishing our viewing of the beautiful game?

Tyler will be 72 next month, which is astonishing to learn given that his voice sounds as zestful as ever, but he has no plans to hang up his microphone.

“I played football in Hong Kong in July in the humidity and the heat,” he points out. “I’ve not had the most distinguished playing career, but I’ve gone from 17 to 71, so it’s one of the longer ones, and I think that tells you that I’m not the sort of person that wants to give up easily.

Tyler has been the voice of Sky Sport for the past 25 years (Getty)

“I love playing football still. I’m pretty decrepit to be doing it, but I still have a go. As long as I can do it, commentate that is, I’ll do it. You can’t beat time. As long as people want me to do it and I’m capable of doing it, I have no plans to retire.

“I know the birth date the same as you do. But look, there are some very distinguished broadcasters, much greater than me, still working, such as [golf’s] Peter Allis [who is 86]. Vin Scully in America retired last year and he was 88.

“Listen, you’re in the hands of your own health. I work hard, I go to the gym, I do my best and age brings some restrictions but it brings other experience. I don’t take anything for granted, but I am in bonus time and loving every minute. Every game is special because I’m still doing it, but I hope I can keep going.”

Football fans everywhere will fervently share Tyler’s desire because, I swear, you’ll never see anyone like him again.