Martin Tyler is a household name for his Premier League commentary, but has never been able to shake accusations of bias toward Manchester United over Liverpool
Over 33 years as a commentator for Sky Sports, Martin Tyler has been the voice of some of the Premier League’s legendary moments. But it is across this period he has not been able to shake a bad reputation among Liverpool supporters.
More often than not he would be accused of lacking enthusiasm when anyone in Liverpool red scored any kind of goal. A great example late in his time at Sky was when Diogo Jota sank Tottenham Hotspur in the 2022/23 season match that ended 4-3 at Anfield, when he was slammed by some Reds fans.
But perhaps what he was most criticised for was the apparent opposite reaction of joy when the Reds’ bitter rivals Manchester United did anything – it didn’t even have to be extraordinary. This resulted in accusations he actually supported the Old Trafford team as a recurring theme was spotted over the years.
However, making an appearance AwayDays‘ shirt shopping series, the man himself has sought to put the rumours to bed.
“I can’t wear any shirts from [English] clubs because I’ll be accused of being biased – that’s my shirt there, Woking,” he announced, pointing to the National League side’s 1996/97 home shirt in his other hand.
“That’s my club and people don’t believe it! Oh, you must have a Premier League club’. Why? It’s been a great advantage me not to have one because – I could out them – all commentators that you have heard of all have Premier League clubs and they have to deal with the issues that come with commentating on a team that you do care about.”
Tyler has previously worked as a coach at Woking, who he says are his only team and have been since childhood – not Man United. One of the most famous instances that fans would use to argue otherwise was from 2015, when Anthony Martial scored on his Man United debut against Liverpool and from the 79-year-old received a raucous: “OH YES. WELCOME TO MANCHESTER UNITED, ANTHONY MARTIAL.”
That strike had taken the game beyond the visitors, who minutes prior had halved the deficit via an overhead kick from Christian Benteke. In response to that thunderous goal in front of the travellings fans he uttered: “What a wonderful goal by Christian Benteke, that is extraordinary.”
Setting the record straight, he now explains: “It was a story for me because I’d commentated on him before he came to Man United, playing for Monaco in a Champions League play-off round in August, July maybe even so I had a bit of insight into what he was like.
“I can understand why people would think that [I support Man United] but did people think I support Man City when [Sergio] Aguero scored [against QPR in 2012]?
“Also, I have to say in defence of that, they away team score and it is always harder to generate passion. You’re not fighting against the crowd noise. I think that’s a fair point to be honest.”
He firmly denied the allegations for a final time: “There is no conscious bias [towards Man United].”
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