Some Golden Soft Sombrero Moments with Martin Tyler Tyler on the 'Viduka Four'… Diegos: "Aussies are still raving about Mark Viduka's four-goal haul against the mighty Liverpool a few weeks ago. The performance was made all the more sweeter because you, the great Martin Tyler, called it. You've called some of the great moments in world footy in the last 20 years. How does 'Dukes' effort compare?" Tyler: "Way up there with the very best. He is the first player in the premiership to ever score four goals out of four in a game. Others have scored four and others have scored five but that's not been the sum total of their team's efforts. To get those four and to turn a game around as he did and to say 'hello mum' at the end of it into our cameras because it was his birthday was all amazing." Soft Sombrero Moment December 2000
Diegos: "In the world of English footy, the 'Danny Tiatto V David Beckham' match ups are more and more being liken to the great 'Holyfield versus Tyson', 'Ali versus Fraser', 'Bush versus Gore' bouts. There doesn't seem to be any love lost between Danny and the boys at Manchester United. As the wise man of English Football, have you got any advice for our Danny?" Tyler: "I think he should just stick at it. He is doing very well. Everywhere I look there's an Australian playing in the premiership. I've known how much the world's greatest game has struggled to really take off in Australia but now of course it's going so well. Australia is producing players not only for England but also all over Europe. Given the Australian success in sport generally, I think you guys are going to dominate the world. You've already beaten Scotland in football and that's one step towards it." Soft Sombrero Moment December 2000
Diegos: "The Diegos would imagine that 'predictability' would be the thorn in the side of any football commentator. Manchester United are as predictable as ever, well on the way to another English Championship. Can anyone catch them and how do you approach a Manchester United game that you're going to call, when there's a big chance that they are going to win again?" Tyler: "It's far too early in the season to say that they are definitely going to run away with the title. A lot of things can happen in the EPL over a short time so in that respect there's still plenty to play for. What they seem to have at the moment is the psychological edge over the opposition. The next best teams can't quite churn out the results like Manchester United. They are a fantastic side make no mistake. It is a little difficult to call a game involving the Red Devils because you do feel at the times especially when you go to Old Trafford that there is an air of inevitability of a United win. We are talking about high-level sport and top-level professionals trying to stop them though so anything can happen. I went through 20 years of Liverpool domination and that eventually ended and it's a certainty that Manchester United will get caught and overtaken one day. That might not be one day soon though." Diegos: "What about the 'sandwich and prawn' brigade at Old Trafford as Roy Keane describes it? Don't tell the Diegos that the atmosphere at English football is waning?" Tyler: "I think at Manchester United have a problem because of the expectation that they will steamroll all opposition. They get a lot of supporters; Roy Keane calls them the 'day trippers', who only turn up once or twice a season. They don't really live and breath the culture like the local fans do. So there's probably less atmosphere at Old Trafford despite the ground now having the capacity of 67,000. Elsewhere though there is still the traditional English excitement. Chelsea is a ground that has improved enormously over the years. You Diegos are probably to young to remember what it was like with the shed end and the greyhound track around it. I always felt that if they got that right that they would be a force to be reckoned with. It's funny that they have got the ground right now but the team is going ordinarily. But I guess that's sport." Soft Sombrero Moment December 2000
Diegos: "On the English Coaching Honour Roll at Bishem Abby, along with the names Sir Walter, Sir Alf, Bobby, Glenn, Terry and Graham will be the unlikely name Sven. Yes the great Sven Goran Eriksson is the new coach of England and predictably the English tabloids have gone mad. It's seems to be a courageous and controversial choice but he has got his work cut out for him on and off the pitch, don't you think?" Tyler: "Well it's certainly a courageous decision because most national teams do like to have a member of that nationality running the team. The players are basically motivated to play for England so you would expect an Englishman to be able to do the job. I don't really subscribe to the view that England have had an ordinary time as an international team. I've been at all the major tournaments and they've come close in a number of World cups. The semi final in 1990 that I covered for SBS is one case for example. I choked when those penalties were missed in Turin. I also think with Euro 96 we came close too.
Sven is a very nice man. I've known him for about 20 years and I do think he has the personality to deal with this difficulty, which really means that he comes in at a disadvantage. If he can get the thing organised and we can qualify for the World Cup I think he'll turn a lot of people's opinions around." Soft Sombrero Moment December 2000
Diegos: "A lot of young Aussies are over in English chasing a football dream but mum's back here in Australia are worried. West Ham's Paulo Di Canio says he likes to 'make love at Upton Park' Aston Villa manager, John Gregory says that referees should have 'electrodes attached to their genitals and zapped' when they make a mistake and Sir Alex Ferguson just can't stop spitting. Can you give that?" Tyler: "Well I've got a better idea. I think all the Aussie mums should come over here and I will personally look after them. I'll make sure that they are happy in this country while they make sure their sons are happy and earning lots of our money playing our game. If we can strike that as a deal I'll be at Heathrow Airport; just send them all over.'" Soft Sombrero Moment December 2000
Diegos: " Fanatical supporters of soccer often use almost biblical connotations when referring to the game - 'that keeper's a saint', 'if we pray hard the Mexican Madonna will help us win the league' and 'that Martin Tyler he does for soccer commentating what the Dalai Lama does for spiritual enlightenment'. After calling so many games over your career do you feel more enlightened about the game now compared to when you first started?" Tyler: "I guess that common sense would say that but I guess you learn something new every game that you call. It would be a very foolish commentator; however long he has been doing it that turns up to a game thinking that he has cracked it. It's life anything can happen and you've just got to be ready for it. The pace of the game has changed in the 25 years I've been broadcasting so keeping up with it is a feet in itself. It's such a wonderfully athletic pursuit now. So nothing gets taken for granted. I still study up for all the games I call, do my homework if you like. It's like doing an examination when you're at school. You cram it into the brain. The trouble is that I'm not quite as bright and alert as I was when I was a schoolboy. I think there are certain levels of preparation. The facts and figures have to be done in case it's somebody's birthday or their wife has just given birth. Where I like to prepare is in the areas where I think the game is going to unfold and what the teams are trying to do tactically. You never know what is going to happen. I think it's a matter of reacting properly when it happens. If you try and impose your research on a broadcast however I think you're on a slippery slope." Soft Sombrero Moment November 1999
Diegos: "You have over the years tightly bonded with the Diegos, as you have with all Australians. Some of the best players in the English Premiership at present are Aussies such as Harry Kewell, Mark Bosnich, Richard Johnson, and Mark Schwarzer. How highly are these Aussies regarded in the UK and what is it about them that attracts the English clubs?" Tyler: 'I think its the genuine Australian sense of sport. We've felt the whip of the Australian in many sports. I dare not mention our cricket team. We know that there's something deeply competitive about any sportsman that comes out of Australia. Harry Kewell is a great example of a single-minded young man. He has come all this way and he is someone who knows exactly where he is going on the field and off it. He is a person who knows what he wants from his life. He impresses us with the way he sets about his career and certainly what he has done on the field makes him one of the most exciting and most coveted talents in the English game. There is all sorts of interest from other countries but I know Leeds are determine to keep him. He has got a very strong working relationship with David O'Leary. I know there's been a lot of controversy about his lack of availability for the Socecroos but I believe that will be ironed out as the years go on. The problem Harry has is that Australia is a heck of a long way to go and with the intensity of competition and huge number of games over here, it's very difficult for him to serve Australia as often as he may want to." Soft Sombrero Moment November 1999
Diegos: " Australia has recently been on the receiving end of another rancorous 'Club versus Country' tug of war between Leeds United and Harry Kewell. Who is right or wrong is a moot point but what is becoming abundantly clear is that this problem is a worldwide one and not only isolated to Australia. What's your view on the whole saga? Will FIFA have to accept that International soccer will be relegated behind club soccer in the future?" Tyler: "No. What they have to do is to sort out a calendar that suits everybody. I know that is difficult but I'm sure it's not impossible. Having international weeks as Australian have experienced in Harry's case, doesn't guarantee a solution to this problem but I think if we can work towards that I'm sure the difficulties that we are talking about can be sorted out. This is a relevant debate at the moment. There's no doubt about it. The top club sides that are pulling stars in from all over the world are likely to serve up a better quality of product than an international team. Of course we were brought up thinking that it was the other way around. Yes it is important that international football is revered and respected but it does need a bit of help from the fixture makers." Soft Sombrero Moment November 1999
One such time when we felt you went 'soprano' was Manchester United's Champion's League final win against Bayern Munich last season. Was it the best ending to a game that you've ever called?" Tyler: "Well it was certainly the most surprising. I tend to go into commentary with an old fashioned belief that I like to see the better team win. Strangely that was put to the test recently when England played Scotland in the playoffs. There's no doubt that Scotland were the better team over the two games and really deserved to go through. So I felt quite sorry for Bayern Munich but they had played particularly well and deserved to win that European cup. Manchester United have made a habit of late comebacks so I suppose there was something right at the back of my mind that told me that it could be possible but I really didn't expect it to happen. Its certainly unscripted theatre, nobody knows what's going to happen." Soft Sombrero Moment November 1999
The Diegos: "In Australian Rules football, a very popular sport in Melbourne, we recently had an incident where one player grabbed the testicles of another player on the ground. We know that a similar incident occurred in England between Vinnie Jones and Paul Gascoigne. Now you're a great commentator and wordsmith. How do you think you'd describe a similar incident on the soccer field? Tyler: "One of the wonderful things about television is that a picture tells a thousand words. If it was clear what had happened for everybody to see, l might have just drawn breath and maybe winced slightly into the microphone and let everyone make up their own mind. I have heard about the incident in the Aussie rules game, it actually made a bit of a splash over here. These things happen l guess. I suppose it's not the done thing man to man. Happily it doesn't happen a lot and thankfully I'm not put into that situation too often."
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