Martin Tyler's Letter From The Gantry No 34

Written on New Year's Eve 2024 celebrating his 50th anniversary, just past, of his first television commentary

Martin Tyler’s 50th anniversary commentary, nearest date, Wolves v Man Utd

Please forgive any self-indulgence here – but I have been coming to terms with how the last 50 years have flown by from December 28^th 1974 to December 28^th 2024 – both dates fell on a Saturday. On the former my first television football commentary and, oddly, on the latter no football at all in the upper echelons of the English game.

For the record I found a match to watch – Raynes Park Vale against Hanworth Villa in the South Central Section of the Isthmian League – Vale run by the Gallagher family of whom Atletico Madrid’s Conor is the most renowned member. Also In attendance, an England player from the best part of 30 years ago, John Scales, who played in the Premier League for Wimbledon, Liverpool Spurs and Ipswich, and prior to that was a member of the Dons squad which went all the way in the FA Cup in 1988.

Our football pyramid is still a powerful attraction.

As for commentating, I guess my Boxing Day broadcast for Premier League productions of Wolves’ 2-0 win over Manchester United represents the anniversary, as the final game of my 50th year in the job.

It was a tough one too. Present was the commentators’ greatest enemy. Fog! The gantry at Molineux is on the high side so Dave Edwards, the former Wolves and Wales midfield player, and myself were above much of the mist and trying to peer through it.

Only once in my half century behind the microphone has a broadcast involving me been abandoned while the match was going on. It was in my least favourite ground, Munich’s Olympic Stadium, now happily the former home of Bayern. With the running track, the near touchline always seemed as far away as the far touchline in most other venues – and that was when the skies were clear.

This was November 1982, Bayern versus Tottenham in the old European Cup Winners’ Cup. Once our coverage had been stood down I ended up going to the edge of the pitch just to check out what was happening. Bayern won 4-1 and there is some very blurry footage online to prove it.

On Boxing Day Dave and I were not quite so discomforted, and we both spotted that Matheus Cunha scored directly from a corner and that in the eighth minute of added time. Hwang hee chan with Cunha’s considerable help wrapped it up for Wolves.

My next game came on December 29^th, so in the pedantic manner of all commentators it was technically the first match of my 51^st year, though the fact five and zero were on the scoreline seemed appropriate. But again, pedantically, it was actually 0-5 as Liverpool rounded off their 2024 in fine style at West Ham. No fog and no obscuring the enduring extraordinary talents of Mo Salah and the calm hand on the tiller of Arne Slot.

To go back to my beginning it was Southampton versus Sheffield Wednesday in the old Second Division, the Championship now. And the preparations of the commentators I was trying to join, John Motson and Barry Davies for the BBC, Brian Moore, Hugh Johns, Gerald Sinstadt and Gerry Harrison on ITV, seem very straightforward now.

Just one named substitute – and little secrecy about the line-ups. Usually you had to prepare the details on a total of just 24 players. For Wolves alone on Boxing Day I had 30 players on my prep sheet. For United 32 - including Marcus Rashford, just in case.

The only foreigners for Southampton in 1974 were three Scots, Jim Steele, Hugh Fisher and Gerry O’Brien. Sheffield Wednesday started with 10 Englishmen plus a Welsh right back Peter Rodrigues – who within 18 months would be holding up the FA Cup at Wembley as captain – of Southampton!!!

Both managers, Lawrie McMenemy and Steve Burtenshaw, were homegrown.

Wolves’ starting eleven on Boxing Day had seven players for whom Portuguese is their first language, one Spanish speaking Uruguayan, one French now an Algerian international Rayan Aït-Nouri, the Norwegian Jorgen Strand Larsen – and the cert for the post-match interview Matt Doherty – a rich Irish brogue to his native tongue.

United had the only two English starters, Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo. The two head coaches Vitor Pereira and Ruben Amorim, both recently arrived from Portugal, had seven previous Premier League games between them.

So in my 50 years the game has gone from local to global. In players, coaches and now owners/investors. I am very proud that the game I have loved for over 70 years and followed professionally for 50 serves as a binding language in a very divided world. Football is not perfect – we all know that – but mostly it is a considerable force for good. It provides rich entertainment almost every day of the year. It is a constant topic for conversation. At its best it showcases the values of team work, effort, and determination. In my years it has overcome the traumas of stadium tragedy, the real threat of hooliganism and the major problem of a pandemic. Indeed it provided comfort in those isolating times.

Just a final word of caution. Top football never stops needing nurturing and nourishing. The search for riches should never be at the expense of open competition. A sense of entitlement is an enemy. And the quest for financial gain should never be at the expense of a club’s core support. Exploiting that loyalty would be a fatal error.

Finally a wide ranging thank you to the thousands of people who have helped me along the way. In football. In television. In life.

These past 50 years have undoubtedly been a team effort!! And I like to think I am not done yet.

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