Martin Tyler’s voice and love for the game are a constant between football eras | John Brewin

The commentator is stepping back from Sky after three decades and his perennial presence and enthusiasm will be missed

At Sky Sports, they still called him “the Voice”. Richard Keys, the long-serving anchorman to Martin Tyler in the commentary box, claimed this weekend this was because Tyler “definitely didn’t have a face for TV” – throwing us back to a now distant, coarser era of broadcasting.

At 77, Tyler is the perennial who floated above the eras. Viewers of 40-plus will recall his career extending far further back than before football began in 1992. At both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, Tyler acted as ITV’s main commentator while Brian Moore stayed in a London studio before flying out for the latter tournament’s final. Back in the days of regional highlights making up ITV’s Big Match programme, Tyler was the voice of Yorkshire TV football and then Granada in the north-west. The more clipped Tyler of the pre-Sky years is prime commentary from an era of less meaning more.