Before we rejoice at the popular anointment of a new king, a word or two must go to the departing monarch.
Across five decades at the mic, Martin Tyler became a doyen of broadcasting, his voice synonymous with some of the finest moments witnessed on English football pitches and elsewhere.
Accomplished and authoritative, he was the guvnor and following his decision to leave Sky this summer, he will be missed.
Yet, as highly respected as he was, the great man also had flaws, namely a penchant for creating narratives pre-match and sounding thoroughly peeved off when those narratives didn’t come to pass.
In his later years, as age inevitably weakened the tonsils, his commentaries began to sound somewhat jaded.
Lastly, rightly, or very probably wrongly, he was a man suspected of bias. Liverpool fans believed he hated on their club. Manchester City fans thought likewise. Indeed, every fan-base insisted there was an overt agenda against their club which only goes to disprove the theory.
His successor in the Sky commentary box, Peter Drury, doesn’t create narratives but rather he responds to them as they naturally occur.
If an underdog therefore upsets the football betting and over-achieves, he is excitable and endearingly so, as if the thought of them getting off the mark had never occurred to him.
“Goal for Bofana Bofana,” he roared, clearly delighted, in 2010 when the tournament hosts South Africa made a mockery of the live betting and scored in a World Cup finals. “Goal for South Africa. A goal for all of Africa.”
That line is so quintessentially Drury. It is succinct but heightened. Poetic and perfect. It encapsulates and informs in just a few short words.
Yet should the favourites score, he is equally as enthused, never resorting to simply speaking out the goal-scorer’s name in a muted tone as Tyler was guilty of doing in his latter years.
The scorer was a ‘gladiator’, a ‘genius’. The goal was ‘sumptuous’, ‘spectacular’.
Throughout his long and successful career to this point Drury has never lost a deep admiration for brilliant teams being brilliant, world-class players being world class. And that marvelling at the marvellous is infectious.
BREAKING: Experienced commentator Peter Drury will officially join Sky Sports to cover Premier League football from the 2023/24 season! 🚨🎙️ pic.twitter.com/ABFr59sBol
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) June 18, 2023
As for holding any bias against certain clubs, we only need acknowledge the universal approval that greeted this recent transfer to Sky.
It was an approval partly based on fans knowing their team will no longer be subjected to a snidey remark or three, such slights sadly becoming more commonplace in commentaries these days.
The only time Drury will mention a player’s transfer fee will be in celebration of his merits. Look how much he cost. That’s how good he is.
And then there’s the dramatic comebacks, those unforgettable moments that call for unforgettable prose, and it is here where Drury really comes into his own.
Many of us will fondly recall his summation of Roma’s remarkable fightback against Barcelona in a Champions League quarter final in 2018 but on revisiting the clip ahead of this article it’s his introduction to proceedings that jolt.
This is what we have to look forward to this season and beyond as Arsenal travel to Old Trafford and Chelsea go to Anfield, games that are storied and enthral us even ahead of kick-off.
“There is an atmosphere here that will seduce you into believing. In a city on a site not short of ancient myth and legend, Roma emerge daring to consider a modern epic. On their side they need every Roman deity, from Jupiter down.”
We are lucky to have him while for Sky it’s the signing of the summer.
