Clive Tyldesley
Encyclopedia
Clive Tyldesley is an English sports commentator, who since 1998 has been the main football commentator for ITV
. He has commentated on eleven Champions League
finals, five FA Cup
Finals and numerous World Cup
and European Championship
matches.
, initially without a tongue and with only one ear- later rectified with extensive surgery and was educated at Kirkham Grammar School
. He began his career in local radio in Nottingham
before joining Liverpool
's Radio City
in 1977. After succeeding Elton Welsby
as sports editor, he began commentating during a highly successful era for his favourite team, Liverpool F.C.
, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He also covered Everton F.C.
's rise to prominence in the mid-1980s. Tyldesley was on-air at the scene of the Heysel disaster during the 1985 European Cup Final.
He also broadcast during the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster
, which saw 96 Liverpool fans die,although he was not present on the day. Throughout his time he also commentated on other events such as Rugby League
, the Grand National
and even the Pope John Paul II
's visit to Liverpool.
Between 1988 and 1992, ITV held exclusive rights to the Football League. They would show one match live on Sunday afternoons, and no weekly highlights programme. However, they would show all the goals from Division One during the half time interval of their live match, and Tyldesley would usually provide the voiceover.
as they obtained highlights rights for the new Premier League in 1992. For four years he worked as a commentator on Match of the Day
and Sportsnight
. Despite proving himself as an accomplished performer, he was unable to dislodge John Motson
and Barry Davies
and only covered four live matches in his entire time there. These were two matches at the 1994 World Cup
, one at Euro 96 and an FA Cup
tie between Sheffield United
and Aston Villa
. After being consigned to basketball
at the 1996 Olympics, he left the BBC.
was beginning to scale down his commitments. Over the next two years, Tyldesley was frequently heard commentating on live matches for the ITV network, as well as making occasional regional appearances on Granada, where he started his TV career. However, Moore was still used for most major finals.
Moore retired after the 1998 World Cup, and Tyldesley was soon made the network's leading football commentator, despite attempts to poach John Motson from the BBC.
Tyldesley has commentated on 3 World Cup finals for ITV (2002, 2006 and 2010), 2 European Championship finals (2000 and 2004) and 5 FA Cup
Finals (1999,2000, 2001, 2009 and 2010), as well as successes for Manchester United and Liverpool in the Champions League.
He provided commentary for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final
.
' football games: FIFA 06
, FIFA 07
, FIFA 08
, FIFA 09
(PC, Nintendo DS
, Wii
, PlayStation 2
and PSP
FIFA 12
consoles TBA only; he's replaced by Martin Tyler
for other consoles and PC in FIFA 10
and FIFA 11
). Tyldesley is also heard in another of EA's football games, 2006 FIFA World Cup
. He is also present in Euro 2008
and UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 along with Andy Townsend
. He and Townsend are the Commentators for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (video game)
. He also provided commentary for Championship Manager 2
, the last in the franchise to feature verbal analysis. He also provided commentary for the PlayStation 1 video game This is Football
.
and in 2010 he hosted a husting between the leadership contenders. He often commentates Champions League matches which are broadcast on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. He has commentated on eleven Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
finals, five FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
Finals and numerous World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
and European Championship
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
matches.
Career
Tyldesley was born in Radcliffe, BuryBury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
, initially without a tongue and with only one ear- later rectified with extensive surgery and was educated at Kirkham Grammar School
Kirkham Grammar School
Kirkham Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in Kirkham, Lancashire, England . It was founded in 1549. Its roots can be traced back to the chantry school attached to St Michael's Church in the 13th century. The school remained in the church grounds until it moved to occupy...
. He began his career in local radio in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
before joining Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
's Radio City
Radio City
Radio City can refer to several things:* Radio City , 1974 album by Big Star* Radio City * Radio City 96.7, an independent radio station in Liverpool** Radio City Tower, a radio and observation tower in Liverpool...
in 1977. After succeeding Elton Welsby
Elton Welsby
Roger Elton Welsby is an English television sports presenter.-Education:Welsby was educated at the independent school Liverpool College in the city of Liverpool in Merseyside....
as sports editor, he began commentating during a highly successful era for his favourite team, Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He also covered Everton F.C.
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
's rise to prominence in the mid-1980s. Tyldesley was on-air at the scene of the Heysel disaster during the 1985 European Cup Final.
He also broadcast during the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
, which saw 96 Liverpool fans die,although he was not present on the day. Throughout his time he also commentated on other events such as Rugby League
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, the Grand National
Grand National
The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...
and even the Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
's visit to Liverpool.
Early ITV career
Tyldesley joined Granada Television in the late 1980s as a commentator on their Kick Off and Granada Soccer Night programmes. He also anchored Granada's coverage of Lancashire cricket until the sport was dropped by the channel in the early 90s, and also covered rugby league for the region.Between 1988 and 1992, ITV held exclusive rights to the Football League. They would show one match live on Sunday afternoons, and no weekly highlights programme. However, they would show all the goals from Division One during the half time interval of their live match, and Tyldesley would usually provide the voiceover.
BBC (1992-1996)
Tyldesley joined the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as they obtained highlights rights for the new Premier League in 1992. For four years he worked as a commentator on Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
and Sportsnight
Sportsnight
Sportsnight was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997.-Sportsview:Sportsnight was a successor to Sportsview which started on 8 April 1954. Sportsview was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller of BBC1 and Peter Dimmock was the original host for a decade...
. Despite proving himself as an accomplished performer, he was unable to dislodge John Motson
John Motson
John Walker Motson OBE ,AKA Motty, is an English football commentator on both television and radio as well a well known moter. He made his name as 'Moty' after he moted out the entire Huddersfield huddersfield cheerleaders team. writer.-Biography:The son of a Methodist minister, Motson was educated...
and Barry Davies
Barry Davies
Barry George Davies MBE is a British sports commentator. He has covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC.-Broadcasting career:...
and only covered four live matches in his entire time there. These were two matches at the 1994 World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...
, one at Euro 96 and an FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
tie between Sheffield United
Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...
and Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
. After being consigned to basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
at the 1996 Olympics, he left the BBC.
Return to ITV (1996-present)
Tyldesley returned to ITV at a time when veteran football commentator Brian MooreBrian Moore (commentator)
Brian Moore was a British sports commentator.-Early life:Moore was born in Gillingham, Kent and educated at the Cranbrook School, Kent, which was also the school of fellow commentators Peter West and Barry Davies....
was beginning to scale down his commitments. Over the next two years, Tyldesley was frequently heard commentating on live matches for the ITV network, as well as making occasional regional appearances on Granada, where he started his TV career. However, Moore was still used for most major finals.
Moore retired after the 1998 World Cup, and Tyldesley was soon made the network's leading football commentator, despite attempts to poach John Motson from the BBC.
Tyldesley has commentated on 3 World Cup finals for ITV (2002, 2006 and 2010), 2 European Championship finals (2000 and 2004) and 5 FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
Finals (1999,2000, 2001, 2009 and 2010), as well as successes for Manchester United and Liverpool in the Champions League.
He provided commentary for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final
2010 FIFA World Cup Final
The 2010 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 11 July 2010 at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, to determine the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Spain defeated the Netherlands 1–0 with a goal from Andrés Iniesta four minutes from the end of extra time...
.
Computer games
Tyldesley and Andy Gray provide commentary in the seven most recent versions of EA SportsEA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
' football games: FIFA 06
FIFA 06
FIFA 06, also known as FIFA Soccer 06, is a video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts based around the game of football. It was released in the United States on 4 October 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance, and...
, FIFA 07
FIFA 07
FIFA 07 is the 2007 edition of EA Sports' series of football simulator video games. Developed by EA Canada, it is published by Electronic Arts....
, FIFA 08
FIFA 08
FIFA 08 is the 2008 installment of EA Sports' series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it is published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on all popular gaming formats in September 2007 in Europe, Australia, and Asia, and in October 2007 in North...
, FIFA 09
FIFA 09
FIFA 09 is the 2008 installment of Electronic Arts' FIFA series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it is published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in October 2008 for Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii,...
(PC, Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and PSP
PSP
PSP most commonly refers to the PlayStation Portable, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment.PSP may also refer to:-Computing and programming:*Corel Paint Shop Pro, a graphics editor...
FIFA 12
FIFA 12
FIFA 12 is the nineteenth game in Electronic Arts' FIFA series of association football video games. It was developed by EA Canada, and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. David Rutter, the line producer for FIFA 12, promised "a revolutionary year for FIFA .....
consoles TBA only; he's replaced by Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler is an English football commentator who was voted as the FA Premier League Commentator of The Decade...
for other consoles and PC in FIFA 10
FIFA 10
carlos leivaFIFA 10 is the 17th title in Electronic Arts' FIFA series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it was published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 2 October 2009 in Europe, 30 September in Australia and 20 October 2009 in North America...
and FIFA 11
FIFA 11
FIFA 11 is the 18th title in Electronic Arts' FIFA series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it was published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label...
). Tyldesley is also heard in another of EA's football games, 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup (video game)
2006 FIFA World Cup is the official video game for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, published by EA Sports. 2006 FIFA World Cup was released simultaneously on the GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 on April 24, 2006. In Europe it was simultaneously released on April 28, 2006...
. He is also present in Euro 2008
UEFA Euro 2008 (video game)
UEFA Euro 2008 is the official video game of the Euro 2008 football tournament, published by EA Sports. It was developed collaboratively by EA Canada and HB Studios and was released in Europe and North America on April 18, 2008 and May 19, 2008 respectively...
and UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 along with Andy Townsend
Andy Townsend
Andrew "Andy" David Townsend is a former professional footballer, who played in two World Cups for the Republic of Ireland and is now a television and radio pundit....
. He and Townsend are the Commentators for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (video game)
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (video game)
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is the official video game for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, published by EA Sports.The game was announced on 26 January 2010 during a GameSpot interview with Simon Humber, one of the producers of the game, and released April 27, 2010 in North America...
. He also provided commentary for Championship Manager 2
Championship Manager 2
Championship Manager 2 is a football management computer game in the Sports Interactive's Championship Manager series. It was released in September 1995 for PC - it was originally due to be released much earlier but the release date slipped several times as the developers refused to ship the game...
, the last in the franchise to feature verbal analysis. He also provided commentary for the PlayStation 1 video game This is Football
This Is Football
This Is Football is a football video game series of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe by London Studio. It first appeared on the PlayStation in 1999. Subsequent installments have appeared for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, the most recent being This Is Football 2005...
.
Personal life
Tyldesley is a lapsed Manchester United fan. Speaking to the BlueMoon Podcast, he explained that he had been brought up following the club, but his enthusiasm had "diluted" while he worked at Nottingham Forest. He is also a supporter of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and in 2010 he hosted a husting between the leadership contenders. He often commentates Champions League matches which are broadcast on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.