Voices of Sport: Martin Tyler - The Sky commentator at the very centre of the Premier League years

In our weekly series, Yahoo Sport’s Nick Metcalfe features a famous voice of sport. As the new Premier League season kicks off this weekend, the Sky commentator Martin Tyler goes under the spotlight.

Football began before 1992 of course. And so did Martin Tyler.

However, after many decades as one of the best known football commentators in Britain, it’s his long spell with Sky that Tyler will most be remembered for.

Tyler was involved in journalism from a very young age. He reported on matches for The Times in his early 20s, and was also a ghostwriter on Jimmy Hill’s column for the same newspaper.

But it was working in broadcasting that Tyler most coveted. He took a job behind the scenes on LWT’s football highlights programme The Big Match, which was established in 1968, with ITV keen to establish a rival to the BBC’s popular Match of the Day.

At one stage he handed an example of his commentary work on a tape recorder to bosses, but initially received no reply. However, Gerry Williams was unavailable one day (you may well remember Williams for his tennis work - him and Des Lynam did a particularly fine turn at Wimbledon in the 1980s) and Tyler was given his commentary debut on December 28 1974, a Division Two clash between Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday.

Six weeks later he was asked back to become a regular. In 1976, Tyler moved to Yorkshire Television and by the time of the 1978 World Cup he had already become very much established, and was included in the ITV team for the tournament in Argentina.

Four years later, at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Tyler commentated on all England’s games, including that opening win over France that featured a goal from Bryan Robson after just 27 seconds.

Viewers in the north west that watched football in the 1980s will almost certainly remember Tyler, as he moved to the Granada region in 1981 and regularly commentated on matches involving the big clubs in that region. He was also seen as ITV’s No.2 behind the great Brian Moore, who I featured in my first article in this series back in May.

The first time I really remember Tyler was on a memorable night in Europe for Manchester United in 1984. Ron Atkinson’s team were 2-0 down to Barcelona after the first leg of a European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final, and were given little hope at Old Trafford against an illustrious team that included Argentine superstar Diego Maradona.

But the Catalan giants were put to the sword on a famous night, with the atmosphere still described by some observers as the best ever at Old Trafford. Tyler was in his element, the excitement of the night reflected brilliantly by his high-octane commentary.

“Robson, who suddenly finds himself on a European hat-trick. And Albiston is onside. Whiteside… Stapleton. Two goals in two minutes. It’s a glorious night for Manchester United. And Barcelona stand and look in stunned amazement.”

In 1983 ITV started showing live league football. Tyler often broadcasted to a nationwide audience, and was a regular on our screens throughout the decade.

He was the main ITV commentator for the 1984 European Championship and also described all the big matches before the final at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Viewers had a choice for the titanic quarter-final clash between Argentina and England, with Barry Davies commentating on the match for the BBC and Tyler for ITV.

But it was still Moore that tended to be given the biggest occasions. He flew out especially to commentate on the World Cup final in 1986 and was also the man behind the microphone for FA Cup finals, when ITV jointly covered the match with the BBC.

The below picture shows Tyler interviewing Mark Hughes at Wembley, with then England manager Bobby Robson looking on, before the 1985 FA Cup final between Everton and Manchester United.

Tyler decided to leave ITV in 1990, when he joined British Satellite Broadcasting’s sports channel. At first he covered FA Cup ties, England games and Scottish football. A BSB merger with Sky in 1991 saw the sports channel renamed Sky Sports. It was the start of a new era, and when the Premier League began in 1992 it felt more like a TV revolution.

You may remember those early days of the Premier League. It really did feel so new. Monday Night Football. Cheerleaders before the game. Heavens, we even had the score and a clock permanently on screen. And Tyler was the main man for Sky, working on Sunday games during the 1992/93 season while the experienced Ian Darke was the commentator for Monday matches.

The landscape of the game was changing and Tyler was at the centre of it. With his great knowledge of the game, natural grasp of its history and fine sense of occasion, he was the ideal foil for football’s unfolding soap operas. When the big Premier League moments happened, you expected Tyler to be there.

Manchester United’s first league title since 1967. Blackburn winning the league on the final day. The memorable title race between Newcastle and Manchester United in 1996, which included a certain night at Anfield that Sky have showed us at least a million times since. You know the score. Stan Collymore scoring right at the end. Kevin Keegan’s despairing reaction. Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3.

“Collymore closing in… Liverpool lead in stoppage time. Kevin Keegan hangs his head. He’s devastated.”

The Premier League was growing every year. Big money deals, foreign stars, packed stadiums. In time it was claiming to have overtaken Serie A and La Liga as the biggest league in the world.

And Sky was the undoubted home for live televised football in Britain. It wasn’t just Sunday and Monday football. There was midweek football. And Soccer Saturday of course. Basically, we’re talking wall-to-wall football here. The days of decaying stadiums and hooliganism of the 1970s and 80s seemed a world away. The game had found a new level of popularity.

Sky didn’t just show the Premier League. At one time, they pretty much had the lot. FA Cup and League Cup. England matches. Even the Champions League was captured in 2004.

And despite other big commentators coming and going, Tyler has still been the main voice. The true mainstay. The commentator most associated with the explosion of interest in English football.

The big characters and stories kept coming. Sir Alex Ferguson and his thirst to stay at the top of the game with Manchester United. Terrific Arsenal teams under Arsene Wenger. Chelsea’s new money and Jose Mourinho. Football was entrancing us all, and Tyler was so often our guide.

Perhaps his most memorable moment of all came in the spring of 2012. It wasn’t supposed to be that dramatic an afternoon, with Manchester City only needing to beat struggling QPR at home to claim their first league title since 1968. But it turned out to be a day of classic sporting theatre.

QPR had come from 1-0 down to lead 2-1, while at the same time City’s main challengers Manchester United were heading to victory at Sunderland. But a goal in stoppage time from Edin Dzeko gave City hope, and then just as the final whistle blew at Sunderland Roberto Mancini’s men poured forward again. Cue Tyler.

“It’s finished at Sunderland, Manchester United have done all they can. That Rooney goal was enough for the three points. Manchester City are still alive here. Balotelli. AguerooOOO. I swear you’ll never see anything like this again. So watch it, drink it in. They’ve just heard the news at the Stadium of Light. Two goals in added time for Manchester City to snatch the title away from Manchester United. Stupendous.”

City fans lapped up those words, in the same way United supporters had once done with “Can they score, they always score?” and the like from Clive Tyldesley at the Nou Camp. One fan had the Tyler words tattooed on his arm.

Some years later, when asked about that moment, Tyler came up with a response that I think reflects very accurately the way a commentator’s mind works. “I think the nicest memory for me is that I didn’t mess it up,” he said.

Even to this present day, Tyler is at the top of his game and still rises to those dramatic moments. When Manchester United’s new big-money signing Anthony Martial scored a superb solo goal on his debut against Liverpool last season, Tyler produced another one of his trademark shouts of delight.

The seasons come and go, as do the memorable moments, but Tyler has become one of football’s great constants. The Premier League, and Sky’s intrinsic link to it, will be 25 years old in 2017.

Tyler is 70 now, but there’s no reason to think we won’t have quite a few seasons more of him in the commentary box. Let the show go on.