<p>Clive Tyldesley, a veteran broadcaster who Americans can hear on CBS’ Champions League coverage, says modern-day commentators are working too many games. The congested fixture of games plays no helping hand to those broadcasters. Yet, Tyldesley says these talents do not have ample time to prepare for the games they do. Nor do the commentators provide the grandeur that they could if they had just one game to do each week.</p>



<p>Speaking with <em><a href="https://www.football365.com/news/clive-tyldesley-bemoans-parroting-same-old-cliches-schedule-hinders-commentators" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Football365</a></em>, Tyldesley said a listener or viewer cannot fully enjoy the broadcaster because they hear their voice so regularly. Some commentators will work multiple games in the Premier League while also calling games in the UEFA Champions League. Unsurprisingly, broadcasters put their best and most popular voices on the biggest games. With so many tuning into these contests, the commentators no longer become special.</p>



<p>“I don’t think it can be special enough for that viewer or listener for whom this is the most important game of the month if you’ve done commentaries the three previous nights,” Tyldesley said. I don’t think it can be special enough for that viewer or listener for whom this is the most important game of the month if you’ve done commentaries the three previous nights.”</p>



<p>The idea of improvement is crucial, according to Tyldesley. Not only could working so many games as a commentator sap the splendor of a commentator’s appearance for a game. Working games night after night does not allow these voices to hear and see what their colleagues are doing. There is only so much time in the day to prepare for and call a game where they can also learn from other commentators.</p>



<h2>Clive Tyldesley identifies issues with commentators</h2>



<p>“You’re not being the person you need to be for the consumer and in any industry. If you’re making liquorice sticks, from time to time you need to go and taste your rivals’ liquorice sticks so you can appreciate what they’re doing and what you’re not doing. And I just don’t think there’s now time for that.”</p>



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<p>Tyldesley mentions that commentary and its practice with soccer have not overly changed during his time. Competitions, teams, players and channels differ, but the actual practice of calling a game is, more or less, the same. However, modern commentators have lost the ability to take time to think. Rather than using a period of silence in a game to come up with future phrases, commentators use it as rest. That is a crucial time that is just as much work as speaking.</p>



<p>The Englishman alluded to Reg Gutteridge, the late commentator who served as a mentor to Tyldesley at the beginning of his career. Gutteridge taught Tyldesley the importance of using periods of silence to think. Most commentators now, according to Tyldesley are not thinking on their feet before speaking. Instead, he called it a ‘stream of consciousness.’</p>



<h2>Where commentators can improve</h2>



<p>In addition to thinking quickly, Tyldesley said cliches and mimicking commentators of years prior are not the best ways to practice commentary. </p>



<p>“It’s really depressing to hear a 30-year-old commentator talk about ‘turning on a sixpence’,” Tyldesley said. “They went out of circulation in 1971! You’re just regurgitating the same cliches that we were warned against a hundred years ago. You’re using the same style, same phrases that were ridiculed in Private Eye 40 years ago.”</p>



<p>Tyldesley is still active, but not at the frequency that he criticizes. For Americans, the most common way to hear the broadcaster is on CBS and <a href="https://paramountplus.qflm.net/c/330866/1007330/3065" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">Paramount+</a> as he calls some of the biggest UEFA Champions League.</p>



<p><em>PHOTOS: IMAGO</em>.</p>



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Clive Tyldesley: Commentators are working too many games

Clive Tyldesley says modern-day commentators are working too many games, and that has an effect on their quality of calls.

<div id="attachment_707" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div><p id="caption-attachment-707" class="wp-caption-text">A game i&apos;m sure did nothing good for my health</p></div>
<p>I was looking around a few sites, particularly reading all the articles on <a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com">epltalk.com</a> that have recently been posted and they have been looking back over what has been an amazing decade for football. You can go to any sports related website and you will have an abundance of critics and experts telling you what their favourite moment of the past ten years was. And what is so great about reading them is that everyone has a different opinion as different moments in football can mean different things to people. It could be easy of me to make a countdown of what I think are the X greatest Y’s of the decade but no one can ever agree on different things. And that is why instead I decided I’d just write about what for me was my favourite moment of the decade as I realised everyone has their own say. I know this is a Championship related website and I try to filter through news and opinion related to the league but here at Championship talk we value any sort of opinion and any article people want to write. And if everyone else can do it then so can I!</p>
<p><strong>November 13th 2002 – Champions League Group Stage One – Feyenoord 2-3 Newcastle United:</strong></p>
<p>This was one of those games that can only back up any claim that football is the most exciting sport in the world. Sir Bobby Robson helped Newcastle climb back to the top of the table and make it into the Champions league once again, but unlike our woeful efforts in Europe under Keegan, this time we were up to the challenge. When having a bit of a search to see if I could bring back even more memories of the match, I found <a href="http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk/football/2002/nov/13/minutebyminute.sport">the Guardian’s minute by minute updates </a>of the match and just reading through that gives me goose bumps.</p>
<p>This was such in important game in a very open group between Juventus, Dynamo Kiev, Feyenoord and Newcastle. Juventus looked comfortable at the top but the other three teams most certainly had something to play for and they were ready to give it their all. It was a packed house on a cold night in Holland and Newcastle were hoping to become the first team in history to qualify for the next stage after losing their first three group games and it wasn’t easy considering that we were relying on a Juventus win against Kiev in Ukraine as well as winning our own game. Even more hairs were standing on the back of my neck as the players walked out to a cauldron of flares, streamers, flags and an electric continental atmosphere.</p>
<p>The first half had a few chances and most of them were Newcastle. We were dominating the game and the pace of our team seemed to be catching Feyenoord out every time. But I watched on, as our 2-0 lead all of a sudden became 2-2. In the middle of Newcastle and Feyenoord goals, it was all kicking off at Kiev as Dynamo had went 1-0 up only to be pegged back to 2-1. The game in Rotterdam had turned and Newcastle were starting to get over run by a heart-pounding atmosphere and the new found Feyenoord confidence. If things stayed the way they were in Kiev, the winner would be through to the second group phase.</p>
<p>Clive Tyldesley was commentating on the match and I remember him saying something along the lines of ‘a goal here is so important for either of these teams, especially when you consider it could be worth £10 million pounds’. That was what was at stake here, but more importantly for me it was for the chance to play in the next round, stay in the greatest competition in club football and meet more of Europe’s elite.</p>
<p>Feyenoord were pressing and it just seemed like it wasn’t going to be Newcastle’s night. We were 2-0 up and in control and had thrown it all away. But in the 92nd minute we thumped the ball forward where Shearer managed to head the ball to Dyer who shot was saved. Craig Bellamy latched onto the ball and could of held it up, but instead shot from a difficult angle and the keeper could do nothing about it. It was absolutely amazing and what football was all about. A pure battle which had a blockbuster ending and I think it was a couple of days before I stopped bouncing off the walls in my house after that one. One of my favourite games ever.</p>
<p>I had someone ask me a few months ago, obviously not trying to be offensive, why do Newcastle fans chant Sir Bobby Robson’s name all the time and why was there such a monument for a manager that didn’t win anything for Newcastle. Well apart from being from the local area, it is moments like this that we love Bobby for. He brought excitement to the team and moments like what I’ve mentioned above. He made us into a side that did amazing things and we had some great games with him at the helm. Sacking Bobby was a terrible mistake, but the fans will always love him and its games like our 3-2 victory against Feyenoord that we will remember him best for.</p>
<p>So there you have it! That was my personal favourite moment of the decade. And here at Championship Talk we would love to hear your opinion on what was your favourite moment. And also as a new year (and decade) looms, we are looking for new writers to help add their opinion on all matters Championship and Football League! If you are interested in writing for the site and would love to have your say, please send an e-mail to:</p>
<p>thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com</p>
<p>We hope to hear from you!</p>


ALL POSTS TAGGED "Clive Tyldesley"

CBS Sports

Clive Tyldesley: Commentators are working too many games

Leagues: Championship

My Favourite Football Moment Of The Decade