Rob Green: ‘I always want to bring a human element to my commentary’

Even towards the end of his football career, Rob Green hadn’t thought about what came next.

“You’re so ingrained in the game. It’s drilled into your brain that you have to play. If you even have the thought of quitting, it’s an admission of defeat. It’s very difficult to manage that in your brain,” Green told the Guardian.

During his 20-year career, Green made over 600 appearances in the Premier League and Championship for Norwich City, West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers and Leeds United, as well as 12 caps for England.

Green’s calmness, his big-picture vision and his refusal to sensationalize make his work as a co-commentator on the US Champions League coverage a standout effort, especially compared to his colleagues who are fond of cracking jokes and quick to criticise.

Green spent the last few years of his playing career pursuing a degree in business management, which found him studying on buses and planes as he traveled to games. But once he had his degree, Green still found himself at a crossroads.

“I always had different ideas about what I wanted to do. But I never really understood how the outside world worked. When you’re in football, it’s just a completely different world,” Green says. During his final season as a player, at Chelsea, where he didn’t feature, Green paid close attention to the workload that coaches take on, as well as the “internal challenges” that crop up every day at big clubs. “It confirmed for me that I didn’t want to be a coach.”

Green was still obsessed with the game and wanted to be involved in some way. “That’s where co-commentary came in,” he says. Taking a step back and not obsessing over football also gave him time to prioritise other aspects of his life. “I had other considerations. I have a family. I love spending time with my kids and watching them grow up. That last year at Chelsea I was living away from home. We worked out that I had six days off in the season. I just didn’t see my family.”

Many ex-pros want to become studio analysts. That way, they can watch games freely while preparing their half-time and post-match commentary, where they can show their passion and energy. Green, however, felt more at home as a co-commentator, giving his direct thoughts and explanations as the game unfolded. “I love the nature of live television. I tried to do what Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards do in the studio. But it just wasn’t something that resonated with me as much. It takes a special kind of skill, where you have to bring your own personality and tune in to each other.”

It was Carragher who initially encouraged Green to become a co-commentator. “He told me it was the closest thing to playing. Because you have to think quickly, you have to say why something is good and you have to do it well. You have to trust your instincts. Trust that you know the game. In a way it’s exciting, because you live off the game.”

After spending the past 20 years in stadiums trying to block out the noise of the fans, Green also realised that he loved going to games. So much so that he and his wife went to Paris this summer to enjoy the Olympics and he found himself immersed in the atmosphere there too. “I just love watching live sport. I love going to football games. I remember the Champions League games last season, just sitting there enjoying the excitement of anticipation. I never enjoyed that when I was playing.”

Green soon discovered that life as a goalkeeper had actually prepared him perfectly for his new job. The same qualities that had made him play for England were transferable to the world of commentary. “As a goalkeeper you’re involved in every goal. You’re observing all the time. You can see so much of the game unfolding. And 99% of the job is reactionary and commentary is reactionary. You want to bring in an element of reasoning and rationality and you try to find an explanation for things that are happening in front of you.”

The CBS studio show has quickly become the standard-bearer for quality football programming in the US, combining Monday Night Football-style analysis with a healthy dose of Inside the NBA. But while Carragher, Richards, Kate Abdo and Thierry Henry provide the fireworks between the action, it’s up to Green and Clive Tyldesley to guide the audience through the 90 minutes of a match.

The two have forged a strong partnership. Tyldesley, the master of letting a match breathe, has clearly had an influence on Green, who uses his advantage to provide subtle insights that fans at home can’t see, rather than turning European nights into a continuous Rob Green Show.

When Green intervenes, it’s to note the details that non-professionals would miss. During a match at Stamford Bridge last season, he pointed out that a goalkeeper was unable to catch the ball because the floodlights facing the goal were set to low. “People watching at home don’t know that, apart from the goalkeepers who played there.” When Andre Onana was blamed for the goals in Manchester United’s 3-3 draw at Galatasaray in November 2023, Green had noted the goalkeeper’s nervousness earlier in the game after he had twice slipped while taking goal kicks. “I could see him struggling because he was thinking too much. I’ve seen that. I’ve done that.”

Meanwhile, Green is always quick to point out that the hugely talented, physically impeccable multimillionaires who play the game are still human first and foremost. “I always want to bring a human element to my commentary. These are young lads who play the game and happen to be brilliant at football. Sometimes it feels like a father watching his child. You just want to give them a big hug. Sometimes it’s awful. But that’s football.”

But while co-commentating comes with its own set of obstacles, potential failures and humiliations, Green has certainly been in worse positions on the pitch. “It’s not as stressful as playing, I can tell you that. At the end of the day, you just have to forget about the people watching or listening at home and look at it like you’re watching the game and talking to your mate. That’s how you do it.”