Few people in football have witnessed more games than comment legend Clive Tyldesley. The broadcasting stubborn thinks he’s far behind the tally of fellow commentator Martin Tyler, but in 2024 he reached a personal milestone in the 30 Champions League final. Throughout his career, Tildesley was given the privilege of observing some of Glove’s finest talents in action in European elite club tournaments. His resume contains many unforgettable finals, but the encounter that remains the most vivid is his stunning battle with Barcelona’s Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.
PSG secured a 4-0 victory in the opening leg of Parc des Princes, but Barca claimed a 6-1 victory at Camp Nou, insisting that Barca orchestrated an extraordinary turnaround. Tildesley returns to Catalonia after a clash in the latest Champions League installments this week, reflecting that incredible encounter. “I was there that night, and like early research, I was looking back at the highlight tape, reminding me of the outrageous decisions Barcelona had made that night,” Tildesley told the mirror.
“One of them was given to Markinhos, perhaps the fifth goal, and the penalty was not a penalty, perhaps the worst decision. Var probably sent him to the screen today.”
He is grateful for the opportunity to cover the best covers of the world over such a long period.
Tyldesley is currently engaged in a completely different layer of football and is working with the Football Association to strengthen the grassroots game.
He spent time with former England striker Darren Bent during the campaign.
Barcelona, Spain – March 8: Illustration of the final score after the UEFA Champions Lead Grounds in a 16-second leg match between FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain at Camp Nou held in Barcelona, Spain on March 8, 2017. (Photo: Xavier Laine/Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)
“Being at the venue on a bright Sunday morning with hundreds of kids playing football and enjoying football was a very nostalgic journey for me.
“I spent the happiest time in my parenting at Touchline. Our youngest is now 30, so I don’t go to see it that often, but the engagement and involvement you have as a parent outside the touchline or netball court is different from the relationship you support with the team you support, as you tend to be with your daughter.”
Tildesley talks about the “parental” connections given by grassroots football, acknowledging that the level of football is always in the wider health of the game.
“I get asked who you support, rather just dab, I often say, because I supported an amateur team of reading that supported me with more heart and soul than I supported my boyhood club,” he said.
“Darren Bento… was there, like Lionel Messi was there and Cristiano Ronaldo was there once (playing at the grassroots level), and all great footballers come from that source.
“We talk about grassroots rather bland things, and that’s exactly what it is, especially in youth football. And, as gardeners know, I’m certainly not a gardener. The roots are everything for crop health.”
Throughout his career, Tildesley has commented on equipment from around the world at both the club and international level, each bringing its own challenges.
He refers to his own leader, the late Leg Gutterridge, when explaining how he continues to work with commentary and how anxiety about making errors can increase focus. “The World Cup semi-finals, which I was fortunate to be able to summon 30 million people in Moscow, is a completely different project than if you were playing a conference league match at TNT between two mainland European clubs,” he explained.
Clive Tyldesley 2025 (Image: FA/FA via Alex Broadway-Getty Images)
“Reg would argue that if the audience is over 20 million people, there’s a debate to explain offside laws at some stage just because they’ve only seen a few games in a season.
“So, as the game gets bigger, editorially, I started to see it from the perspective of your aunt Edna and uncle Joe.
He takes the “larger game, the wider canvas” approach, adding:
“In fact, as a communicator, I ask myself whether it is appropriate, if it is the right way to express a particular view or explain a particular situation, if it is appropriate.
TV commentators Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend working for ITV from the UK – England in Euro 2012 (Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images) (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
“Some of the players started being racially abused and when the game actually stopped, they commented on Bulgaria’s English international international.
“But in terms of responding to challenging situations, as the game stopped, a huge close-up of Raheem’s Sterling suddenly came up on screen. “What do he have to think about? I’ll never know.”
“The problem didn’t solved, but in reality, as a middle-aged white white individual, you never know what Raheem Sterling is going through now.
Sofia, Bulgaria – October 14: Harry Kane Grandtain speaks to referee Ivan Baekkuk in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying between Bulgaria and the UK in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 14, 2019, watching England’s Raheem Sterling. (Photo: Katherine Evil/Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)
After hundreds, if not thousands, of equipment, what is ahead for Tildesley? Simply put, he is grateful to continue pursuing the profession he worships at age 71, but there is little for a week without the equipment he longs to cover from the ground.
“I’m a lucky boy and…I have no basis to complain about any aspect of my career,” he says.
“But I’m sitting in front of the TV every Sunday afternoon or every Tuesday night and not working on the Premier League, League Cup or FA Cup, that’s not my choice.
“I say that we’re all about opinions, so it’s a certain degree of humility. Obviously, among most commissioners in the channel that have the rights, they have better commentators than me.
Clive Tyldesley is raising awareness of the Football Association’s silent support weekend. For more information, please visit https://www.englandfootball.com/particate/behaviour/silent-support.
