Legendary commentator Clive Tyldesley ‘is set to step down from talkSPORT role next season due to personal beliefs on promoting gambling partnerships’
- The veteran broadcaster has stressed he has the utmost respect for employer
- Tyldesley has worked regularly for talkSPORT since the start of 2019-20 season
- 58-year-old has led commentary at four World Cups during his storied career
Legendary commentator Clive Tyldesley is set to step down from his role at talkSPORT next season due to his personal discomfort at promoting gambling companies, according to reports.
Tyldesley has been working regularly for the broadcaster since the start of the 2019-20 season, in addition to his other roles commentating for CBS, ITV, and Amazon Prime’s Premier League coverage.
The 68-year-old will be on duty for the American broadcaster in Istanbul on Saturday, as the lead commentator for CBS’ Champions League coverage.
As per the Mirror, Tyldesley’s decision is based solely on his personal beliefs, and the veteran commentator is keen to stress that he does not wish to preach to others, nor suggest he has anything but the utmost respect for his employer.
However, expectations from the broadcaster to promote their affiliations with bookmakers and matchday odds during live commentary have sparked his decision to move on from the organisation.
Clive Tyldesley is set to step down from commentary duties at talkSPORT ahead of next season
Tyldesley is believed to be taking on work with the Big Step, a non-profit campaign that aims to end gambling partnerships within football.
The initiative is part of Gambling with Lives, a community that aims to support families that have been bereaved by gambling-related suicide.
The commentator’s decision to take a step back comes just weeks after the FA published its written reasoning for handing an eighth-month ban from football to Brentford striker Ivan Toney.
The England international was found to have committed 232 breaches of the governing body’s betting rules, and had his suspension – which was set to stand at a whopping 15 months – reduced after he was diagnosed as a gambling addict.
But evidence of the blurred lines within the sport and regarding the messaging around gambling will be on show when Toney returns to club action in January 2024 and pulls on a Brentford shirt emblazoned with the team’s main sponsor Hollywoodbets.
Toney received backing from his England manager Gareth Southgate as well as Thomas Frank at Brentford after he received his suspension, with Southgate stating that he would be in contention for selection for the Three Lions after the conclusion of his ban next year.
In April, the Premier League became the league in England to ban gambling sponsors on the front of matchday shirts.
The ban will come into effect in 2026, but clubs will still be able to add their partnerships with bookmakers to their kits on shirtsleeves.
During the 2022-23 campaign, eight of the 20 clubs in competition had gambling sponsors as their main kit sponsors.
Tyldesley’s voice has been an iconic soundtrack to a number of a historic sporting moments during his five-decade career.
A number of Premier League clubs have gambling companies as their main shirt sponsor
In 2002, the commentator announced the arrival of an exciting new talent on the occasion of his first Premier League goal, saying: ‘Remember the name, Wayne Rooney!’
He also heralded the advent of Manchester United’s historic treble during his commentry on their 1999 Champions League final against Barcelona, saying that the club had put their ‘name on the trophy’ with Teddy Sheringham’s equaliser.
‘And Solskjaer has won it. Manchester United have reached the Promised Land!’ Tyldesley crowed when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wrote himself into the history books by scoring at the last.
Tyldesley has led commentary teams at four World Cups and four European Championships, and was voted Sports Commentator of the Year by the Royal Television Society in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2005.
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