Clive Tyldesley opens up on the “bitter disappointment” of exiting the World Cup early after ITV relegation

Clive Tyldesley has revealed the pain of his early exit from the World Cup after being dropped from ITV.

The established commentator, 68, who is working on his eighth World Cup, flew home early from the Qatar tournament after asking to be allowed to leave.

And Tyldesley told the Mirror he was “bitterly disappointed” after being demoted to third choice behind Jon Champion and leading commentator Sam Matterface.

Commentator Clive Tyldesley (left) revealed the pain of his early exit from the World Cup in Qatar

ITV demoted the veteran 68-year-old to third choice before Tyldesley asked to be allowed to leave

He said: “Was I bitterly disappointed? You bet it was me. But it’s a decision I have to accept and by and large people don’t turn it on for the commentator, they turn it on for the football. I didn’t agree with the decision, but I accepted it.

“I was offered a quarterfinal to comment on highlights. It would have meant staying in Qatar for another four or five days, essentially commentating on 10 minutes of TV after midnight.

“I said I’d be happy to do it if they couldn’t cover without me, but I preferred to fly home early if possible and they said OK.”

Tyldesley returned home ahead of the quarter-finals after being overlooked at ITV’s two live games, which used Matterface and Champion for those games, and was asked to comment on highlights but declined .

However, he has insisted there is no dispute with the TV network bosses and that he would not work with them for January’s FA Cup games if there was “a lot of bitterness”.

Tyldesley took to Twitter to express his sadness and has once again spoken out about his disappointment

He insisted there had been no dispute with the channel and that he would work with them in January

He added: “Some have clauses in their contracts that guarantee them certain games and odds. In 26 years at ITV I have never asked for a clause like this.

“Commentators, like footballers, should be chosen on form so I guess if that’s all that happened here I can’t complain… I have to accept a decision made purely on merit and I do that.

“I think ITV had a really good World Cup, a lot of the news agenda was done by the likes of Roy Keane and Gary Neville and Graeme Souness. We have talented artists like Laura Woods, Mark Pougatch and Gabriel Clarke who have given us an advantage over our opponents.’

England’s quarter-final against France was shown on ITV. The Three Lions lost 2-1 after goals from Aurelien Tchouameni and Olivier Giroud.

Manager Gareth Southgate is reportedly due to have a debrief with the FA in January to decide his future in the job.