ITV has relegated Clive Tyldesley after 22 years as the main commentator for football.
Tyldesley’s warm, exciting voice has taken audiences through many Champions League nights, world championships, European championships, friendly games in England and FA trophies.
The 65-year-old spoke to the largest British audience of all time about a single game when the three lions lost to Croatia in front of 24.3 million viewers in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals.
Tyldesley commented on 17 Champions League finals, including dramatic wins for Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United, when he shouted: “Solskjaer won it”.
He was expected to lead the ITV team for the postponed EM 2020 finals this summer, and he will continue to return to the comment box in a supporting role next season.
Tyldesley’s successor is Sam Matterface, who is Talksports most important football commentator and will combine the TV and radio roles from the beginning of the new campaign.
Matterface, who was a familiar voice in ITV’s Europa League coverage, is expected to make his debut in the flagship of an English friendly game in Wembley this fall.
ITV Sport director Niall Sloane said: “On behalf of ITV Sport, I would like to thank Clive for the excellent work that has guided our commentary on some of the greatest events in world football during his outstanding career with us.
“We are very happy that he will continue with us and look forward to working with him many more times in the future.”
Tyldesley amused football fans on social media at the height of the coronavirus block by commenting on his wife’s kitchen.
He has also started selling authentically framed copies of his commentary from his commentary games, such as England’s 5-1 win over Germany in 2001 and Manchester City’s title win at home against Queen’s Park Rangers.
He described the notes and said, “This is what my safety net looks like when I step on the high wire of live commentaries on millions of viewers. That was the beginning of one of the trips of your life from my point of view. “
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