Clive Tyldesley had to learn the hard way about the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers when he first started commentating for the latter's in-house TV channel during the Covid-19 pandemic, with fans highlighting the mistakes he was making.
After being replaced as ITV's lead commentator in the summer of 2020, Rangers TV employed Tyldesley for the 2020/21 season - which ultimately turned into one of the most historic campaigns in the club's history.
Finishing the season with a club record 102 points, Rangers also went unbeaten in the league under Steven Gerrard. They managed 32 wins and just six draws as they romped to the title, and Tyldesley had the fortune of watching and commentating on every home game at Ibrox.
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"Rangers really wanted me – they’d done a deal to provide free coverage of all of their home games for their season ticket holders until they could go back into the stadium," Tyldesley exclusively tells FourFourTwo. "I was fortunate that Rangers won every game I commentated on, I think!
"They went through the season unbeaten and my voice became associated with a very famous Rangers season. I would see Steven Gerrard at 1.30pm, both in our masks, me keeping 10 yards away, asking for information, and him whispering in his Scouse accent.
"I couldn’t hear him properly through the mask. I would go back and say, 'I think he said James Tavernier’s playing at centre-back – I’m not sure?!'"
Tyldesley did make a couple of mistakes, however - most notably about how he referred to Rangers' bitter Glasgow rivals.
"It became a wonderful 18-month adventure... although I learned that I didn’t know Glasgow football quite as well as I thought," Tyldesley admits. "In a commentary I try to find a different way of saying the same thing, and I was talking about a Celtic match that was happening at the same time as Rangers were playing.
"I had given the score as Celtic this, Celtic that, and I happened to say, 'The Hoops have now gone three up'. I got so much mail from Rangers fans, all quite sympathetic, but there was an element of warning… One guy said, 'They are either Celtic, or they are ‘them’.' So from that point on, Celtic were Celtic – don’t call them something that sounds affectionate!"
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