Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler has apologised after referring to "Hillsborough and other hooligan-related issues" live on the radio on Friday morning.
Tyler, 76, was speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today show ahead of the new Premier League season, which gets underway on Friday evening. The first game of the new campaign is being shown live on Sky Sports as Crystal Palace welcome Arsenal to Selhurst Park.
It's also 30 years since the Premier League was launched by the FA, ending the old four-division Football League structure. Since its launch, the Premier League has been a huge commercial success across the world - with Sky and Tyler's voice at the heart of it.
Tyler was asked to recall the first Premier League game to be shown live on Sky Sports, which he commentated on. "It was very pioneering," he said. "We didn't know quite what the league - the change in structure of the league - how that would work.
"We certainly didn't know how satellite television - as it was called in those days - would work. But it was a great adventure and 3,000 live matches later - not all commentated by me thankfully for the public - it does seem it worked."
But Tyler went on to say unchallenged: "You've got to remember football was in a bit of a crisis at that time. We weren't that long after Hillsborough and other hooligan-related issues as well, so it was very much a difficult time for the game generally."
Tyler was referring to the Hillsborough disaster, a human crush that led to the unlawful deaths of 97 Liverpool fans. The incident happened at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium ahead of the FA Cup semi-final between the Reds and Nottingham Forest in April 1989.
He was also referring to the ugly hooliganism that dominated English football during the 1980s. Yet fans are furious with Tyler for referencing the two instances in the same sentence. Police failures, stadium design faults and a delayed response by the ambulance service was to blame for the Hillsborough disaster - not hooliganism.
Liverpool supporters campaigned for years to establish the truth behind the disaster after being initially blamed for the casualties. They were forced to wait until April 2016 - 25 years after the event - for an inquest to conclude fans played no part in the deaths.
Many believe the families of the victims are still waiting for justice. Only one person has received a criminal conviction in relation to the disaster. Wednesday's club secretary Graham Mackrell was fined £6,500 after being found guilty of a health and safety charge.
"Exceptionally crass comments from Martin Tyler on BBC Radio 4 - a man who should know much better," tweeted Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotherham. "Even now, people whose careers are built on football still spread these foul smears. I hope there'll be an apology sharpish."
Tyler has since apologised for the comment and the BBC has expressed its regret at not challenging him.
"We regret that we did not robustly challenge Martin Tyler on a comment which appeared to link Hillsborough and hooliganism," read a tweet from the BBC News Press Team account. "Martin has since apologised for the comment and clarified that these were separate examples and he did not intend to conflate the two."
Tyler released his own statement and said: “This morning while discussing various crises facing football 30 years ago, I referred to some examples including the Hillsborough disaster and also controversy over hooliganism at matches. These are two separate issues. There is no connection at all between the Hillsborough disaster and hooliganism – I know that, and I was not implying that there was. I apologise sincerely and wholeheartedly for any misunderstanding.”
