Top 10 Commentators

jonjoward1998
Sep 17, 2025
6 min read

I've decided to do something different for this week's Premier League related top 10 by doing a non player or team related one.

Because the Match of the Day Top 10 podcast did a top 10 on pundits, I've decided to do a top 10 on commentators.

Commentators as we all know are the people who see and report everything that happens in a game whilst it is taking place.

But before a game they need to do their research on the teams, the players and even the history of the fixture they're watching.

Throughout my years of watching football, the majority of games I've watched have either been on the BBC or ITV whether that be games in the FA Cup, World Cup, Euros, England games or even Champions League back when they were shown on ITV many years ago.

But I have watched a few games on Sky and TNT, or BT as it was known before, whether that be at a pub or at a friend or family members house.

The commentators on the list are a mixture of almost all the companies I've mentioned with most of them being from the BBC and one or two of them being from the pre-Premier League era.

Now without further ordo, here is the list:

Martin Tyler

Guy Mowbray

Clive Tyldesley

David Coleman

John Motson

Jonathan Pearce

Peter Drury

Steve Wilson

Barry Davies

Steve Bower

Steve Bower

Bower had to be at no.10 because he's probably not as well known as most of the other commentators in the list.

He's a very good commentator as he knows a lot about the game and always does his research going into whatever game he's commentating on.

He's been part of the BBC and Match of the Day for as long as I can remember and he's even done some hosting as well for Premier League Live.

Steve Wilson

Wilson has been with the BBC for many years now and has been one of their main commentators for the majority of his time there along with the likes of Guy Mowbray and Jonathan Pearce.

He's a commentator who knows a lot about the game, does his research going into every game he does, and is often quite calm when commentating.

He does get enthusiastic when a goal is scored but in a calm way in that he never loses his voice or gets too excited.

Jonathan Pearce

JP has been with the BBC for many years like Wilson and has been one of the main commentators on Match of the Day for pretty much his entire time with the company.

He knows a lot about the game, does his research going into every game he does as all commentators must do, and also goes through the emotions when he commentates.

He gets very enthusiastic when a brilliant goal is scored and when a player misses a chance he should've scored, his reaction is almost the same as the fans inside the stadium.

David Coleman

Coleman did both commentary and presenting during his time with the BBC starting off as the presenter of Grandstand and later A Question of Sport before joining Match of the Day.

He started off as a commentator when he joined Match of the Day before replacing Kenneth Wolstenholme as the presenter. But he did return to commentary whilst he was hosting Match of the Day before returning full time after being replaced by Jimmy Hill.

He was one of the most iconic commentators in sporting history who knew a lot about football as well as other sports and one who presumably did his research going into every game he did.

One of his iconic commentary moments came during the 1970 World Cup when he commentated on that Gordon Banks save from Pele when England played Brazil.

Peter Drury

Drury is current main football commentator at Sky Sports and has been for the last two seasons after previously being the main commentator for Premier League Live for a number of years.

He's someone who knows a lot about the game, does his research going into every game he commentates on, and is always enthusiastic when a goal is scored.

He speaks very clearly when he commentates and get very excited when an incredible save is pulled off, a red card is brandished and when a defender pulls off a great tackle as well as when a goal is scored.

Guy Mowbray

Mowbray has been the main commentator for the BBC for many years now and probably since John Motson stopped doing live commentaries.

He commentates on all of England's games at major tournaments, all the FA Cup, World Cup and Euros finals, and also most of the Premier League games where teams fighting to win the title are playing in.

He's been the commentator for a lot of games where iconic moments have happened including Sergio Aguero's last gasp winner against QPR in 2012 to give Man City their first Premier League title where he almost lost his voice after the goal went in.

I think he's done a bit of presenting as well as hosting as I remember him hosting maybe one or two episodes of Match of the Day 2 Extra, which was a show that looked back at Saturday's Premier League games and looked ahead to Sunday's games.

But as a commentator, he's someone who knows a lot about the game, does his research going into every game he commentates, and gets enthusiastic when something exciting happens in a game.

Barry Davies

Davies will always be remembered for that famous "look at his face, just look at his face" quote he said when describing Francis Lee's facial expression when he was celebrating his goal for Derby against Man City in 1974.

We was one of the main commentators at the BBC for many years along with John Motson with who he had a rivalry with for the role of main commentator for the BBC.

He commentated at many major tournaments during his time at the BBC as well as games in both the FA Cup and First Division/Premier League both live and for Match of the Day. He even returned to Match of the Day in 2014 as part of the show's 50th Anniversary.

He was a commentator who did his research ahead of every game he did, knew a lot about the game and was calm when commentating as most of them were back in his day.

John Motson

Motty was the BBC's main football commentator for many years and will always be remembered for his sheepskin coat we wore during the winter months.

Most people will remember that time he wore it during a snowstorm in 1990 after an FA Cup game between Wycombe and Peterborough was called off because of the snowstorm.

He was a commentator who definitely knew about the game as I remember him always coming up with a stat whenever he appeared on Football Focus to discuss the game he was about to watch.

He commentated on many great moments in the game over the years including the FA Cup final in 2006 and in particular Steven Gerrard's rocket right at the end, and Michel Platini's extra time winner against Portugal in the semi finals of Euro 84 where his commentating got the goal was iconic.

Clive Tyldesley

Tyldesley was the main commentator for ITV for many years and is one commentator whose voice I've heard a lot mostly from England games as well as games from the FA Cup, Euros, World Cup and Champions League.

He had two spells at ITV either side of a spell at the BBC who he joined at the start of the very first Premier League season.

He spent four years at ITV in his first spell before returning for his second stint in 1996 and he's still working for ITV today even though he doesn't commentate on as many games with Sam Matterface now the main commentator.

He's a commentator who knows a lot about the game, does his research heading into every game he commentates on and stays calm when commentating, even when an exciting moment has happened.

Martin Tyler

It's very hard to pick the best football commentator as they're all the same in that they all do their research heading into whatever game they're commentating on and know a lot about the game.

But if I was to pick the best one it would have to be Martin Tyler because of his longevity, his knowledge of the game which was incredible, and how big a name he is in the world or football commentary.

He was the voice of Sky Sports for many years going back to when the Premier League began in 1992 right up until he left in 2023.

During his time at Sky, he did a series on social media called Tyler's teasers where he would ask the viewers a question about anything football related.

He witnessed many of the greatest moments in Premier League history during his time as a commentator and he was always enthusiastic when he was commentating on them.

His most iconic moment for me was when he said "you'll never see anything like this ever again" when he was commentating on Sergio Aguero's last gasp winner for Man City against QPR to win them their first Premier League title in 2012.

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