By Harley George
Going into the 100th year of the club, we take you back to the time that the famous sports commentator who has commentated on countless Champions League and Premier League fixtures, Martin Tyler, was the Assistant Manager for Hampton and Richmond FC. You may know him from the ‘Agüero!’ moment, but many of you probably didn’t know about his career as a coach.
A role at the Beavers wasn’t the first time Martin Tyler has been a coach as in 2005 he was at Walton and Hersham, followed by Kingstonian, both as a part of the backroom staff, and of course joined Hampton and Richmond in 2014 as Assistant Manager. He is currently Assistant Manager at his boyhood club, Woking FC, who he has supported since he was five years old. They are competing in the National League, currently sitting in 10th place prior to the COVID-19 outbreak which led to the current suspension of the division. Throughout his coaching career he has worked alongside former Beavers Manager, Alan Dowson who was replaced by Gary McCann at The Beavers in 2018.
Images courtesy of The Sun
In 2017, Tyler and Dowson were extremely close to securing a place in the FA Cup first round for the Beavers, but fell narrowly short against opposition, Truro City after a replay. This would have been a significant achievement for Tyler, as in the past he played for the famous non-league side, Corinthian-Casuals but never made it to the first round of the competition. He told BBC Sport, “you had to sign a form to play in the FA Cup and it was always a thrill when I was handed one because not every player received the form - I played in the early qualifying rounds but I never managed to make it to the first round proper."
However, in early 2019, the duo made it to the third round of the competition with Woking where they faced Premier League outfit, Watford. Unfortunately for the pair, they lost 2-0 at the Kingfield Stadium that day. This will surely be a cup run that Martin Tyler will look back on in years to come as it is the furthest he has got in the competition.
Due to Martin Tyler’s very busy schedule with his commentary at Sky Sports, if there is a clash with Woking fixtures, commentary takes priority. However, fortunately for himself and the club, most of his Sky Sports took place on a Sunday and National League matches are played on Saturdays.
Tyler, who was awarded the Premier League ‘Commentator Of The Decade’ in 2003, continues to be going strong with his coaching and commentary careers at the age of 74. We hope that his previous club (Hampton and Richmond) can enjoy success when the season resumes and push on to try and get into one those beloved Play-Off positions to look to join Woking in the fifth-tier next season.
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