Martin Tyler: Sky Sports commentator apologises for Hillsborough disaster 'hooligan' comments

Mr Tyler has been the voice of Sky’s coverage of the Premier League since its inception in 1992 and appeared on the BBC’s Today programme to discuss the new season which begins tonight.

He said: “You have got to remember football was in a bit of a crisis at that time (in 1992). 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.”

The remarks prompted a furious backlash from Liverpool fans and the wider footballing community.

For many years, Liverpool supporters were incorrectly blamed for the 1989 disaster at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium in which 97 fans of the Merseyside club died.

A 2016 inquest finally ruled that the fans were unlawfully killed, and hooliganism played no part in the tragedy.

In a statement this afternoon, Mr Tyler 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.

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“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.”

The BBC said: “We regret that we did not robustly challenge Martin Tyler on a comment which appeared to link Hillsborough and hooliganism. Martin has since apologised for the comment and clarified that these were separate examples, and he did not intend to conflate the two.”

Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, appeared to call for Tyler to be sacked, tweeting: “How can he be allowed to have a career in sports journalism and perpetuate these lies?”