Sky’s Martin Tyler: I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again, so watch it, drink it in .... AGUEROOOOOOO!
YEAR 20: 2011-2012 MIRROR SPORT ON 25 INCREDIBLE YEARS OF THE PREM
ORGASMIC in its delivery, it was only one surname – but it elevated Martin Tyler into the pantheon of classic sporting commentary soundbites.
Kenneth Wolstenholme gave us “They think it’s all over – it is now”, and Richie Benaud launched the search party for Ian Botham clubbing Terry Alderman into the stands at Headingley with “No need to go looking for that, never mind chasing it... it’s gone straight into the confectionery stall and out again.”
But as Manchester City snatched the 2011-12 Premier League title from neighbours United with glasses drained to the final drop in the last chance saloon, Tyler struck gold as Sergio Aguero’s 94thminute winner against Queens Park Rangers sent a Blue Moon soaring over the Etihad.
And the veteran Sky Sports commentator will always be grateful to Aguero that his exhaustive homework on the names of City’s WAGs and children in the subsequent title celebrations did not go to waste.
Clubhouse leaders Manchester United had ground out a 1-0 win at Sunderland and, with stoppage time approaching, City – needing to match their arch-rivals’ result – were inexplicably trailing 2-1 at home to relegation-threatened QPR.
But amid scenes of sheer bedlam, Edin Dzeko equalised in the second minute of added time – and then came Tyler’s moment for the archives: “City are still alive here... Balotelli... AGUEROOOOO...!! I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again, so watch it, drink it in.”
As Tyler’s vocal cords explored decibels other goals couldn’t reach, the Argentine waved his shirt windmill-style above his head and Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, the Italian sultan of cool, melted into giddy euphoria.
“I’m a very untidy person by nature but very tidy, a real stickler, when it comes to ‘prep’ for live commentary,” said Tyler. “I had done my research on all the City players’ families and their children’s names for the lap of honour, to make sure I could do justice to the human side of a sporting triumph, and it looked as if it had all been futile.”
For Tyler, it seems inconceivable that he will ever top Aguero’s goal (celebrated, below, by Joe Hart) for pure, unfettered drama.
He said: “I’ve been lucky enough to be commentating on the Premier League since our first live game and it was the most gripping climax to a season since Blackburn in 1995.
Tyler still gets asked to recycle his ‘Aguerooo’ moment. It is, of course, impossible to recreate hysteria to order.
“I’ve always joked I should have retired after that,” admitted Tyler. “It’s not going to get any more dramatic than a 94thminute winner on the last day of the Premier League’s 20th season, is it?
“As a commentator, there’s a level of excitement you only reach when exceptional moments come along, but as a sense of occasion that goal is in a class of its own.
“Even now, I get asked to repeat ‘Aguerooo!’ on a weekly basis, but it’s not the kind of soundbite you can procure on repeat prescription.
“The trigger for that level of excitement in a commentator’s voice is rooted in a passion for football and love of the moment.
“I’ve never even spoken to Sergio himself about it – I haven’t been avoiding him, but the opportunity has simply never presented itself. “It was his moment, and the glory will always belong to him, but I would like to catch up with him one day and just thank him for one of the greatest moments of my working life.”