Clive Tyldesley doesn't get paid to predict scores. It is, in fact, the very opposite of what he does. A long-time presence in Premier League circles, Tyldesley is now among the leading voices in Champions League coverage in the United States. And he doesn't like speculating on what might happen.
"I don't get paid any more for predicting. I lose my job if I get the result wrong after the game, but they don't give me any more money for getting the result right before the game," he tells GOAL.
But that doesn't mean that he lacks opinions. Tyldesley has been around the game for 50 years now. He knows how it can evolve and change. He can also identify a winning team when he sees one. For example, 2024 PSG, he says, are the poster child of Champions League success - beat the big teams early, find a rhythm, and walk your way through a final once everything falls into place.
"They grew as a force through the course of the season. They beat the best of English to get to the final, and won the final with more style than anybody who's won a Champions League final for quite some time," he says.
This year, things might look the same. He has backed the "usual suspects." Even a struggling Real Madrid can piece a run together.
But being in America has forced him to consider other perspectives. It is in his interest, he admits, for the USMNT to piece together a strong World Cup run next year. And even if he doesn't have biases while calling games for CBS and Paramount+, it is always a good thing to see U.S. internationals perform on a European stage.
Tyldesley's true passions, though, remain at home. He is heavily involved with the FA these days, raising awareness around the Silent Support campaign, which encourages parents to think before they speak to youth players and referees during local games. A more respectful ecosystem, he argues, will bring about more understanding - and perhaps even better footballers.
"A very tiny percentage of them will go on any kind of level, but those memories are still, I think, very, very important and particularly important to the players that did graduate into the professional game," he says.
And perhaps that's what it's all about: enjoying this, at all levels of the game. Tyldesley covered all that and more in the latest edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL taps into the perspective of analysts, announcers and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
