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Undr The Cosh

Martin Tyler | Clough's Shoe Cleaners

13 Apr 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What insights does Martin Tyler share about his football commentary career?

0.031 - 1.913 Martin Tyler

Mr. Martin Tyler this week.

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3.995 - 6.799 Unknown

Sky Sports legend? Football legend?

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6.919 - 15.368 Martin Tyler

Yeah. 1974, I'm going to say he made his Coventry debut. That's Coventry, not Coventry.

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16.77 - 31.227 Unknown

Do you think, I actually kicked myself, I forgot to ask him. Do you think he would have given up his... Media career for a average League One 15-year career?

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33.25 - 34.091 Martin Tyler

I can't answer that question.

34.111 - 51.012 Unknown

I know, yeah. I should have asked him. I know I should have, and I'm still upset I'm kicking myself. But it would have been a good question. Really good. Probably one of the best questions I've ever asked. Yeah. Do you think he would have done? I think he possibly would have done, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because he was... So into playing, weren't he?

51.032 - 56.206 Martin Tyler

Yeah. He was continuing to play, weren't he? Even when he could. We'll get into that.

56.226 - 57.139 Unknown

Corchin.

57.693 - 72.486 Martin Tyler

Still coaching now? Mm-hmm. The Aguero moment, it's just, it's stamped in history. And I tell you what, we've got to give him some huge kudos for because we weren't even going down to Surrey to record with Martin, were we?

Chapter 2: How did Brian Clough influence Martin Tyler's experiences in football?

72.506 - 79.993 Martin Tyler

Somebody, we won't name names, couldn't turn up, even though we'd already got down there. Martin, out of nowhere, one phone call, straight down.

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80.574 - 82.255 Jon (Host)

I think it's a sign of the man, isn't it?

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82.275 - 91.425 Unknown

This is from us to you, Martin. You was not a sub. Thank you, Martin. We would have got you on eventually.

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91.445 - 99.896 Martin Tyler

Well, before we get Martin in, should we just mention the Patreon? If you're not a Patreon, we've not talked about it for a while. No. Two extra episodes a month.

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101.077 - 101.778 Unknown

Little bits and bobs.

101.798 - 113.113 Jon (Host)

Price of a pint. Although the last one wasn't my favourite because it was Alan Kerbishley who was manager when Charlton beat Sunderland in the playoff final. So if you're a Sunderland fan...

114.292 - 141.885 Unknown

skip that there's loads of other good Sunderland ones on there isn't there isn't he he's a nice fella isn't he yeah I know he's alright Alan yeah but for I don't know three and a half quid four quid something like that price of more coffee yeah depending on where you are decent and you can get all the backlog so hundreds hundreds there's 200 in there I reckon 250 200 if we go 250 it sounds better 250

141.865 - 145.329 Unknown

There's 4,000 backlog on there. It's unbelievable.

145.709 - 150.154 Jon (Host)

Search bar. Type in whatever you want. Type in a name. Poster with all the episodes on.

Chapter 3: What memorable moments does Martin Tyler recount from his commentary?

166.333 - 195.632 Martin Tyler

Come on, Jermaine. Come and be the manager of walking. 22 years have you been searching for that goal martin rocks up within 30 seconds i've got it your premier league goal unbelievable that you started it out was that it even happened i didn't think no evidence so for 20 how many years you've been looking for your premier league goal it'll be 23 years ago

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196.186 - 217.627 Unknown

He said to Martin, Martin, any chance you can find it? He went, I watched it yesterday. Well, it's yesterday to tell everybody that I got the call. So as a non-league player, I was subbed quite a lot. I'm quite used to being a sub here. And what I did for my prep, as a commentator would do, is have a look around to see what I could see. But I knew you scored one Premier League goal.

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And so I thought, well, it must be there somewhere. And it was. And it was very much a striker's goal, wouldn't you say? Yeah. It's not quite as far out as what he told me.

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227.138 - 230.283 Jon (Host)

I'm hoping it gets taken back down. It only got uploaded a month ago.

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230.764 - 235.171 Martin Tyler

I'll tell you who else wants it taken down as well. Mark Crossley.

235.191 - 246.348 Unknown

Yeah, he was the Fulham goalkeeper. He didn't distinguish himself. But you followed up and you get five or ten of those a season, usually, don't you, if you play? Usually, Martin, but that was the only one.

246.368 - 254.622 Jon (Host)

That was the only one. So, yeah, I want to start with a thank you for that because I was... going straight on my Instagram.

254.642 - 259.869 Unknown

It'll go downhill from here, Chris, but it's nice of you to say that.

259.889 - 272.686 Martin Tyler

Talking of preparation, is that something, how much preparation would you put in before every game? Are you looking at, but especially goal scorers, what they've scored in the last coming weeks?

Chapter 4: How does Martin Tyler adapt to the evolving language of football?

275.249 - 299.543 Unknown

Yeah. In World Cups and in Qatar, you know, it's almost a game every day. And so you... I can't really carry information three games ahead. So basically I'd do the game and as soon as the final whistle was over and I'd said the final score, as it was easy in Qatar to scurry back to the hotel because all the grounds were so close to each other and start on the next one and keep going.

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299.583 - 321.486 Unknown

But now, now I'm not doing so much. I take a little bit more leisurely, but I love doing it. I mean, the prep is, we do get given a lot of things, you know, stat packs, they call them. But I like to, because when I started, there were no stat packs. There was a lot of things that there are now that weren't there then.

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321.803 - 344.964 Unknown

And so I did my own research and some of it would be very hard to find out, say birthdays of players, for example, they were kept quite secret, particularly by the players who got to 30 and beyond. And the old shoot magazine, I think it will match weekly when magazines would have a feature only on one player a week, but it would have his date of birth.

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344.984 - 363.191 Unknown

So as soon as I saw that, I put it in a book. So I've got a book somewhere at home where I've kept all my stuff. which says that so-and-so was turning 30 and then was I brave enough to tell the audience that was true and have to confront the player afterwards. But it is fun because what you're trying to reach is the smell of the fixture.

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What does it matter actually when the ball's on the centre spot or the teams have come out? And the latest game I did was Tottenham against Forest. And obviously a lot of things about the smell of that fixture, some of it misleading because Spurs looked as though they'd had a very good week. But actually it seemed to be a false dawn the way the game panned out. But you have to be aware of that.

384.617 - 407.975 Unknown

So sometimes the best things you get, this is a story I have told before, but I think you'll appreciate it. Talking to the players in the tunnel, a really, really important thing to do. and Robbie Savage, Blackburn versus Man United. It was an evening game. And I was in the tunnel, just hanging about really.

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It's a bit difficult for me because I'm six foot three and you can't really look inconspicuous. Anyway, Robbie came up and I said, hi Robbie, good luck tonight. And he went, oh, what a day I've had.

Chapter 5: What is Martin Tyler's perspective on the current state of football?

421.476 - 442.594 Unknown

I said, what's the problem? He said, I've been moving house. And I went, oh, and he said, I didn't prompt him on this. He said, yeah, I've moved next door to Alec Ferguson. who was the manager that released him at Manchester United and, of course, the manager he's playing against. I said, Robbie, that is an amazing story. Can I use it in the commentary? And he went, of course.

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443.515 - 466.409 Unknown

So I got up to the gantry and I said, we're scrapping the opening. The first two shots I want Robbie Savage and Alec Ferguson to tell the story. And that's not something you get from a stat pack, is it? It's something that you get from... And I love talking to footballers. It's great to come and talk to you guys. We're all addicts, aren't we? Really, of the game, of the great game.

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466.57 - 475.482 Unknown

See, if I'm the Blackburn Rovers manager and my central midfielder's moving house the day of a game away at Old Trafford, I'm furious. Absolutely raging.

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475.642 - 478.866 Martin Tyler

I don't reckon he's moving cabinets and stuff like that.

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478.886 - 499.026 Unknown

It's still a stressful time, isn't it? You can, oh, well, we'll do it the day after. Yeah. Still not great preparation for a... Maybe it's hard to put removal fans in Wilmslow or wherever it was. It was somewhere around there anyway. Can you remember if Robbie Savage was shy at that game or did he play well? Robbie was Robbie and he's still Robbie.

499.227 - 514.746 Unknown

One of the last Premier League games I did was Fulham against West Ham and he was on duty for TNT. I was chattering away about things like this and He's still got incredible energy to be doing his punditry and be manager of Forest Green as well.

Chapter 6: How does Martin Tyler prepare for live commentary?

514.766 - 528.171 Unknown

I'm a Woking fan. They're in the same league. And they just signed a player from Woking actually like a week before I saw Robbie. So he was telling me, oh, the negotiations with your club and this, that and the other. It's good football chat, isn't it, really?

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528.657 - 556.369 Jon (Host)

thing is any anybody under the age of 30 won't appreciate you know with the internet anything's accessible now obviously and it'll help your job but how was it before the internet doing finding out all these stats and what did you have to do keep records which i still do out of habit really obviously i wouldn't need to do i just copy and paste but i'm of the generation where

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556.788 - 581.636 Unknown

If you didn't write it down, you didn't remember it. It's like school prep, really. And so I like doing that and I've always done it. And what was the problem was the foreign teams because there were no videos. You could go to games, but then you'd have to have an employer pay you. But I remember before the 78 World Cup, there were four commentators for ITV I was working with.

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581.756 - 608.243 Unknown

Then we were all given 500 pounds to go and watch teams around Europe. to do our prep because there were no videos. These games weren't televised. Whereas now, I mean, you could watch a live game pretty much 24-7 every day of the year. And so that helps a lot, but it's still going to the game is still the best way of doing it. That's why the data stuff is important.

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608.783 - 630.206 Unknown

It gives you some semblance of a player's profile, but if you don't watch him play... I think some of the smart managers, well, you tell me the ones you really want and I'll go and watch them. So they filter it out. Whereas the old school managers were out every night of the week watching players. The guys you played for, I'm sure they were doing it without the data. So that's moved on.

630.667 - 647.983 Unknown

It does, you know, I can... I've done recently sporting at Lisbon, Sporting Club Portugal, they're officially called. And so I did it all watching games. All their Champions League games, they did very well. They finished seventh in the league table. So they didn't play in the playoff round.

Chapter 7: What challenges does Martin Tyler face as a commentator?

647.963 - 673.205 Unknown

And so I had them in a round of 16 and both games. So I did all that. And I've got a mate in Portugal who fed me the sort of lines that Robbie Savage might have fed me about. The coach has got a lucky watch. You know, they really bought Jess who's taken over from Amarim a while back. He's got this cheap watch. He says 20 euros. I think mine costs about 18 euros.

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675.19 - 682.208 Unknown

But most footballers and football people have very smart watches. I'm just having a look to see what you... No, no, my watch might have a different watch.

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0

683.84 - 694.139 Unknown

She's got it on her wrist. I was looking for a... But those sort of little things. And it's fun. And it's part, you know, you get to the smell of the fixture.

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694.319 - 694.479 Jon (Host)

Yeah.

694.84 - 698.467 Unknown

When he's looking at his watch in the game, you've got something to say, haven't you, really?

698.988 - 704.157 Jon (Host)

There's a lot of lads when you're young and you tell us you were a good target man back in the day.

705.159 - 706.962 Unknown

I didn't tell you I was a good target man.

707.633 - 709.977 Jon (Host)

I'm sure he said he wore on the bench quite a bit.

Chapter 8: What advice does Martin Tyler offer to aspiring commentators?

744.286 - 767.188 Unknown

And that was the way sort of Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips, the Becker-Sundon analogy. But I work with Niall a lot. And... He was so much better than I was. Probably better than me as a commentator as well. Wonderful gift of the gab from the Irish, you know, fantastic. We did the Aguero game together, actually, back in the day.

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I actually worked with Paddy Kenny on Friday night, during afternoon, and he was speaking about the Aguero game. Was that the most memorable you've ever...

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I think everybody tells me it should be um it's the judgment on your work is from other people you know I don't think it's right to go around thinking oh I nailed that I've never been that kind of person really I always look forward to the next game and the next game after Aguero was Chelsea and Bayern Munich in the Champions League final six days later and obviously the

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I got associated with what happened the previous Sunday and then I think well here we go again and this is live on either BBC or ITV at the same time and it's another

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812.782 - 842.636 Unknown

stand up to be county commentary really and I really should have retired after that game because that was the best week in terms of storylines and just little things that you say that most times can just disappear into the ether but that actually were relevant on that particular those games more than more most times. Did you also listen back? No no I check it but No, what's done is done.

842.696 - 866.042 Unknown

And it's the next game that matters. I've always been like that. And I just think I have a process where, say you're driving to the game, you drive home and you think of all the things you wish you had said and all the things you wish you hadn't said, and then you've got to get rid of it. And the only way I find effectively to do that is to concentrate totally on what's coming up, you know?

866.022 - 887.676 Unknown

When football was recorded highlights, you could maybe do a little dub after the game and change it a little bit if you made a really bad error. And those who do recorded highlights now can still do that. But when you're live, it's live and it's gone. And live is special. That's why I used to say, and it's live, you know. I still say it actually, but it's not heard in this country.

888.637 - 906.518 Unknown

And for me, it's very special to be live. It's that special. When the ball's on the center spot and you've done your prep on team A and you've done your prep on team B and maybe you're one of the few people in the know about both camps, what's going to happen? Who's going to do this? How are they going to do it? Is it going to change?

907.24 - 914.895 Unknown

It's just a fabulous privilege to be put in that position and I hope to do it for a bit longer, yeah.

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