13 August 2023 , 14:00
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Peter Drury admits he doesn't pay too much attention to his huge following on social media after his monologue on Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United went viral.
Drury will be at the heart of Sky Sports' Premier League coverage this season after succeeding Martin Tyler on the gantry. He's been a commentator for more than 30 years and has previously worked for the BBC, ITV and BT Sport, among others.
Yet many fans, particularly those of a younger age, will recognise Drury’s voice from social media. Many of his introductions have gone viral in recent years, making him one of the most popular commentators in football.
One of Drury’s most famous introductions was delivered two years ago when Ronaldo re-signed for Man Utd. As the Portuguese superstar walked out at Old Trafford for his second debut, Drury said: "Madeira, Manchester, Madrid, Turin, and Manchester again.
"Wreathed in red. Restored to this great gallery of the game. A walking work of art. Vintage. Beyond valuation, beyond forgery or imitation. 18 years since that trembling teenager of touch and tease first tiptoed onto this storied stage. Now in his immaculate maturity. CR7 reunited."
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Although Drury acknowledges and appreciates his support on social media, he’s more interested in the job at hand. He tells Mirror Football: "I’m not on social media. You talk about my social media presence, and I would tell you that I don’t have one.
"But it’s hard not to be aware because people tell me. Honestly, I do my best to shut it all out. That’s not to say I’m not grateful that people like some of my work. But if you take notice of that (the praise), you also have to take notice of the nasty side. That, in my job sadly, is inevitable.
"I want to remain level-headed, even-tempered. I don’t have a particularly thick skin, so criticism when it comes - and that is inevitable - will hurt. But if I want to try and shrug that off, I can’t really embrace all of the side you’re talking about - the sometimes approval of what I do."
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Like all commentators, Drury’s preparation is meticulous. "My rule... is you cannot prepare words for anything that happens between the first and last whistle. That is an entirely reactive discipline because you don’t know what’s going to happen.
"Ronaldo walking out at Old Trafford, obviously I knew exactly what was going to happen. He was going to walk for 25 seconds from that tunnel in the corner to the centre circle, with a camera up his nose.
"That, from a commentator’s perspective, was what you might call a set piece. Just like practicing penalties or free kicks, it would’ve been foolish not to have a few words ready for that occasion.
"In terms of preparation for the match itself, the hours that I and every other commentator puts in are to enable you to cover every conceivable eventuality. That’s what you’re preparing. Whoever scores, I need to know when he last scored or how many goals he has scored... that’s the basic statistical and journalistic preparation you have to do.
"But in terms of actual words, be careful not to try and preconceive or premeditate something that may happen in the game itself because it won’t quite happen in the way that you imagined it."
Yet if Drury could offer one piece of advice to any budding commentators, it’s that they should be original. “My advice is always to be authentic. Don’t try to be someone you’re not, don’t try to pretend to be someone else who’s gone before.
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"And do it because you honestly love it. Don’t do it for some sort of fame search because, in my experience, that’s the least enjoyable part of the whole experience. If I could do it privately, and I know that’s a contradiction, but if I could do it privately I would because I love football, and I love articulating football.
"Most of all, amid all of that advice, understand that when they turn on the telly, they’re turning it on for the game and not for you!"
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