Author Archives: FWA News Editor

FWA Q&A: Rex Gowar

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REX GOWAR on Maradona being called fatty…a dodgy Tiger in Seoul…and missing out on Messi

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
Paint shop manager, teacher, photographer. I was almost 30 when I started my media writing career at the Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina’s English language newspaper.

Most memorable match?
Two, the 1978 and 1986 World Cup finals. I watched the first from “la popular”, the higher banks of terraces behind the goals, in this case the one where Kempes scored both his goals, Naninga headed the Dutch equaliser and Rensenbrink hit the post. Victory ended years of Argentine agony watching big rivals Brazil and Uruguay lift world titles and the need to give substance to a belief of superiority.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
The match when a teenage Maradona put four goals past Boca Juniors Hugo Gatti playing for Argentinos Juniors days after being called a fatty by the goalkeeper. That and other moments of Maradona magic before his first big money move to Boca Juniors. He was to the modest Argentinos side in the late 70s what he became for Napoli and Argentina in the mid-80s.

Best stadium?
River Plate. Apart from being the stadium where I saw my first matches (and bias because they are my team), I have great memories of “shooting” matches there and at many other Buenos Aires grounds in my earlier career as a sports photographer.

…and the worst?
Platense in the Honduran city of Puerto Cortes when on a fact-finding trip three months before the 2010 World Cup finals though I can’t complain about the atmosphere. Good thing I didn’t need to file anything from there.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Luckily nothing major.

Biggest mistake?
Not interviewing a teenage Messi in Geneva in 2005 when Argentina played England and he was suspended. I didn’t have an appointment but I’m sure I could have talked to him when he’d finished with another journalist in an empty lounge at the team’s hotel if I had had the sense to wait around.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Depends what you mean by mistaken. I was at a match at the small Atlanta ground, during the 1978 World Cup, between European and South American media but featuring lots of golden oldies — Di Stefano, Kopa, the Charlton brothers and Ian St John in the European side, Sivori, Artime, Onega for the South Americans and someone in the stands shouted “Tarantini” as I emerged from the tunnel in that exalted company… I regret not taking up the offer to fill a gap they had at full back for the Europeans but I had a bad knee that was sure to give way again at Onega’s first swerve past me.

Most media friendly manager?
Carlos Bilardo… and I recall Bobby Robson being very approachable in Montevideo during England’s 1984 tour of South America.

Best ever player?
Maradona.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
That I’ve seen live, Ronaldinho’s Barcelona team with a young Messi, the Independiente side which in 1985 won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup and Brazil at the 1982 World Cup.

Best pre-match grub?
At a rugby match, laid on by the organisers at the Heineken Cup final in Bordeaux between Brive and Bath in 1997, a French feast.
Best meal had on your travels?
A barbeque at Conmebol president Nicolas Leoz’s ranch outside Asuncion on occasion of a South American Football Confederation general assembly.

…and the worst?
Korean fast food at the Tomorrow Tiger in Seoul during the 1988 Olympic Games. We were two Reuters journalists writing for the Spanish Language Service until all hours of the night and this was the only place we found open… night after night.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Aloft in Abu Dhabi for the 2010 Club World Cup, great buffet breakfast and superb pool.

…and the worst?
A flea pit with sheets for walls between rooms in some remote part of the south of France while covering the Tour de France in 1997. The contrast could not have been greater when the next night we stayed at a chateau with its own wine label and ate like dukes. Don’t remember the names of either of them.

Favourite football writer?
In England, I’ve always liked reading David Lacey of football and Rob Kitson on rugby, in Argentina Ezequiel Fernandez Moores who writes a weekly column in La Nacion.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Martin Tyler, who I’ve known since the 1978 World Cup when we compared university notes and found he played as striker for East Anglia U against me in goal for Essex U in Norwich. I forget the score but have to concede it might have been 2-1 to them.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
It’s a pipe dream in modern football but let us arrange to speak to players when we want without having to go through a press officer who rarely answers the phone.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
I’ve been lucky to get to top games in a wide variety of sports but none of the major American sports so of these I’d go for a NFL Super Bowl.

Last book read?
A biography of Juan Sebastian Veron in Spanish called “El Lado V” and I am now reading Jonathan Wilson’s The Outsider on goalkeepers.

Favourite current TV programme?
French police drama Spiral.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
A tape recording of an interview with a 19-year-old Maradona in 1980 before he travelled with Menotti’s Argentina to Europe to play England at Wembley. I did it for Shoot magazine but it was never published because of a printers’ strike in the UK. Talk about exclusive!

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
None that has not already been given in this column by people far better qualified to give such advice.

REX GOWAR is a Buenos Aires-based Reuters sports correspondent for Latin America.

Next week the Q&A’s world tour ends with World Soccer editor Gavin Hamilton.

Michael Calvin on Millwall and FA Cup Violence

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What distresses me is that people had taken their children to Wembley for their first big game and the kids were so terrified they don’t want to go to football again – Michael Calvin

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

NOBODY saw it coming, not least Michael Calvin who spent a year virtually living with Millwall to write “Family – Life, Death and Football.” Families may argue, but fight?

The images of violence at the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley were a chilling reminder that while improved stewarding, policing, all-seat stadia and CCTV have done much to make English football safer, hooliganism is still bubbling below the surface. What Pele called the beautiful game showed its ugly face over the weekend with 12 Millwall “supporters” arrested plus 29 at the Newcastle v Sunderland Tyne-Wear derby.

Calvin refuses to call those who disgraced the club, the FA Cup, English football and the sport in general “fans” or “supporters”. “They don’t deserve that dignity,” he said. “They are louts.

“It is wrong to even attempt to defend the indefensible. The starting point for any debate must be to condemn the behaviour of those in the Millwall end who chose to fight among themselves, before rounding on the police. As we can assume that Wembley has almost as many CCTV cameras as the CIA headquarters hopefully it should be a relatively simple process to identify the troublemakers.”

Millwall’s history has given the club an image that will be difficult going on impossible to change despite the sterling efforts of the club. South-east London, where I grew up, was the last part of the capital to be modernised, a hard-nosed area with the Old Kent Road and Walworth Road still stuck in a tenement time-warp.

“It’s a very complex club,” said Calvin. “It’s tribally driven and in many ways it’s a generational thing. The people who formed Millwall’s reputation during the Seventies and Eighties are now fathers and grandfathers who take their sons and grandsons to matches.

“Millwall’s attraction to me as a journalist was its very nature, it’s a proud working-class football club in an area that is slowly becoming gentrified. The reputation does attract a certain type of person. The images of fighting, terrified children and baton-wielding policemen are damning and demoralising for everyone who has a genuine feeling for the club.”

There have been inevitable calls for Millwall to be punished by the Football Association and Calvin said: “My early journalistic training taught me perspective boils down to the man on the Clapham omnibus. What would that reasonable person make of a libel case, or something like this? Reasonable people would surely say Millwall, as a club, did everything they could. I don’t believe they are in denial. Sadly, the majority have once again been tainted by the minority, perhaps as few as 50 people.”

Millwall’s average attendance at The Den is around 11,000, yet 35,000 followed them at Wembley. Calvin said: “Where did the extra 20-odd thousand come from? The statistical probability is that some of those had absolutely no affinity with Millwall at all. They were mates of mates or whatever.”

Football can no longer accept sponsorship from tobacco companies, though alcohol, the product that is responsible for making so many people turn to violence, still promotes itself through football, even the FA Cup. The early evening kick-off allowed more refuelling time than usual, the official Football Association Twitter site, unfortunately but blamelessly tweeting an hour before the kick-off of Saturday that 75,000 pints and 50,000 bottles of Budweiser will be sold at the two semi-finals over the weekend.

Calvin said: “High risk league games are invariably played at lunch-time. Television, understandably given the money they pay, want FA Cup semi-finals to kick-off at a time when then can maximise their ratings. What we have is a commercially driven kick-off time, but the fact remains the likelihood of that sort of trouble would have been significantly reduced had it been played at lunch-time. Also, had the semi-final been played earlier the Wigan fans would have been able to take a train home afterwards.

“Saturday was the car crash, the worst case scenario, a game watched by a massive global audience and it developed into a media frenzy. I don’t criticise anyone for writing the story, but some of the comments, calling for Millwall to be thrown out of the FA Cup, are just knee-jerk, intellectually flawed nonsense.

“What particularly distresses me about the whole scenario is that last Sunday, four or five people contacted me to say they had taken their children to Wembley for their first big game. The kids were so terrified they don’t want to go to football again.

“To say it was an internal squabble almost dignifies it. Those responsible were a bunch of drunken invertebrates fighting among themselves. It just happened to be at a football match. It could have been in a pub car park, a street brawl…anywhere. But football attracted them on Saturday and the fact they had been drinking all day compounded the issue.”

Ticket restrictions should ensure only verified supporters can buy them, though those who can remember easier access to watch a game will bemoan a society that must now be segregated.
The trouble involving Millwall followers could hardly have happened at a more high profile occasion, but there is a worryingly amount of football-related violence that is not reported nationally. Wembley and Tyneside were far from the only scenes of violence over the past year.

In February, 10 fans were arrested during and after the Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic derby. Several rows of seats and the toilets in the away end were damaged while troublemakers smashed cars and damaged residents’ property as they made their way home. Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts, who led the operation, described their actions as “mindless destruction.”

Six men were arrested on suspicion of affray thought following violence that erupted in the city centre after the Newcastle v Chelsea game on February 2.

Police made 19 arrests when Sunderland and West Ham supporters clashed before the game on January 12.

Last month 87 people were arrested in the build-up to the Blue Square Bet Premier match between Nuneaton Town and Lincoln City.

Thirty one arrests were made following violent scenes in Huddersfield on May 19, 2012 – the day of the Championship play-off final. The trouble continued in the railway station before spilling on to the tracks. Several men chased each other through the platforms and eventually down the track towards Deighton, causing 61 trains to be delayed and seven to be cancelled altogether. The disruption caused nearly 15 hours of delays and cost thousands in lost earnings.

Calvin said: “Occasionally football holds up a mirror to who we are and what we have become. This is England, our England. Every Friday and Saturday night pubs and night clubs can become battlegrounds. Wembley was a manifestation of the society we’ve become.”

*Family – Life, Death and Football by Michael Calvin (Icon Books, £8.99)

NEW DATE FOR MANAGERS’ LUNCH

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Please note that our annual NORTH WEST PREMIERSHIP MANAGERS LUNCHEON, sponsored by BARCLAYS, at The Manchester Thistle Hotel, Portland Street, Piccadilly Gardens will now be held on WEDNESDAY APRIL 24th, 1pm for 1.30pm. The change has been forced upon us because of re-arranged Premiership matches on the original date.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, David Moyes, Brendan Rodgers, Tony Pulis and Roberto Martinez have all been invited along with a number of former managers and prominent personalities and, as usual, part of the event will involve interview opportunities for the Dailies and Sundays.

Please confirm your acceptance to the secretary by email.

FWA Q&A: MARK GLEESON

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MARK GLEESON on a free Camel in the press box…a rat-infested room in Brazzaville…and some Hot Chilli Peppers in the bar

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?

I started my journalistic career covering the courts, schools fetes and the ladies society’s tea parties but thankfully that did not last long. I got a chance to cover football very early on in my career, first as a substitute and quickly thereafter full-time.

Most memorable match?

Growing up in apartheid South Africa and the international sports boycott, it was always the subject of furious conjecture as to how our teams or individual sports people would do on the world stage. For many years I wrote frequently about how a possible national team might shape up, who might play and how it might fare. So the night South Africa’s first ever national team played its first international, against Cameroon in Durban in July 1992, was exciting, emotive and strangely surreal. It was not a great game and played in the rain with a soft penalty to give South Africa a fortuitous home win. But it was a game of such significance, marking the start of a whole new era. Football in the country has not looked back since.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?

Maradona’s mazy run against England at the Azteca Stadium at the 1986 World Cup and his semi-final effort against Belgium days later. I was at the stadium for both games, having been sent to the World Cup in Mexico by my Johannesburg newspaper as a green-horned 22-year-old. I remember just as keenly the Camel girls who dished out free cigarettes in the press box and the pizza they brought in at half time.

Best stadium?

After decades of covering African football, traveling from one rickety stadium to the next with little or no facilities, the venues built in my own country for the 2010 World Cup still take my breath away. The stadium in my home town Cape Town looks, from far, like a giant bath tub while I have not missed many major matches game at Soccer City in Johannesburg since it was first opened in 1988. But the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is really special, iconic almost.

…and the worst?

Across Africa there are many, a lot unsuitable for the game. But they also have a quixotic charm. And in many places, it is all they have. In Blantyre, Lilongwe for example, there has been teargas fired off by trigger-happy police every time I’ve been there, a nasty experience. People storm the gates, causing a suffocating crush that invariably always causes injury. But they never seem to solve the problem.

Your personal new-tech disaster?

Fortunately I have a decent understanding of laptops, wi-fi etc. But I have a habit of losing written notes, invariably long interview where I have not used a recording device.

Biggest mistake?

Many, but I prefer to push them to the recesses of my brain and move on …

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?

Gary Bailey. Often. It’s because we both do a lot of local TV in South Africa and while many people have seen me on screen they don’t know my name and so blurt out the first football name they know and in South Africa it is invariably Gary Bailey.

Most media friendly manager?

Delia Fischer at FIFA does a brilliant job. She was embedded in SA before the 2010 World Cup and is now doing the same for Brazil.

Best ever player?

I’ve unfortunately never seen him live but to live through the career of Lionel Messi I think will prove a special honour of those of us who sit back on the couch late on Sundays to take in a Barcelona game on the telly. Not sure there will be another like him for generations to come

Best ever teams (club and international)?

The current generation of Barcelona and the Germans for their incredible consistency. I’d like to mention Cameroon of 1990 too because they did much to elevate the profile of African football, even if they kicked everyone off the park.

Best pre-match grub?

At Cape Town’s Athlone Stadium, they do a cold crumbed chicken that melts in the mouth. I had a wager once to try the cane rats on skewers, which they served outside stadiums in Malawi, but despite plenty bravado could not bring myself to try it.

Best meal had on your travels?

On my way to a 1998 World Cup game in Paris, I had a lamb kebab at a little hole in wall off the Champs Elyse. I went back almost every day after that.

…and the worst?

The local Reuters correspondent in Mali threw a welcome party at his house for the reporting, photographic and TV teams that went to cover the 2002 African Nations Cup. It was a oily peanut stew with fish, including a head in it. We ate so as not to offend to our host but were all sick for days after.

Best hotel stayed in?

During both the 2005 Confederation Cup and 2006 World Cup, I stayed at a hotel on the banks of the Rhine, not far from Cologne’s cathedral and railway station. Opulent luxury, sumptuous food and a regular diet of rock bands like U2 and Hot Chilli Peppers to hang out with in the bar.

…and the worst?

I went with the South African club Jomo Cosmos to Kinshasa to cover an African Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final tie in 1993. There were no direct flights so we flew to Brazzaville on the other side of the Congo river, to take the ferry across. An incredible journey. But we got to the harbour after closing time and had to spend a night at a hotel/lodge/bordello next to the crossing point. The rooms were rat-infested so the entire night was spent in the bar [The best excuse I’ve heard yet – Ed].

Favourite football writer?

My favourite journalist for his style and use of the language is Robert Kitson, but unfortunately he is wasted on the oval ball game. I enjoy Jonathan Wilson’s enterprise and Simon Kuper’s views on the game. I was a big Frank Keating fan as a young journalist but in those days the Fleet Street papers were over a week late in landing in the office.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?

Peter Drury. I’m not sure whom he works for the UK but he commentates a lot of the English premier matches we see in Africa. He is always thoroughly prepared, not only with interesting information but with clever descriptions and phrases. His voice does get a little falsetto when excited but he is class.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?

Access to players. It is not as bad in Africa as it is in Britain but more and more doorkeepers are being engaged to keep reporters away from talking to the real actors of the game.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?

A cricket test at Lord’s between South Africa and England and the Super Bowl.

Last book read?

A book on the history of settlement in the Caribbean, an area I intend to travel once my kids are out of the house. The last sports book I read was the autobiography of Springbok rugby captain John Smith and the last football book was Once in a Lifetime: The Incredible Story of the New York Cosmos by Gavin Newsham.

Favourite current TV programme?

I rarely do current TV but a night in with a box set of the Sopranos, Wired or Mad Men is a rare treat. I’m behind on the last two. I always make as point of watching Telefoot, the Sunday morning French programme which always does such clever and interesting inserts.

Your most prized football memorabilia?

I have the captain’s pendants that were handed to South Africa’s soccer teams by Portugal, the Netherlands, Bolton Wanderers, Dundee etc. from the 1920s to 1950s. I rescued the archive of the old Football Association of South Africa before it got tossed out and have since passed onto a university archive.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?

It’s a privilege to cover soccer, a daily joy. Football reporters frequently moaning about their plight, meals, travel etc. get my back up. The best thing I ever did as a young reporter was go to the daily training sessions of the clubs I was assigned to cover. I suppose that’s not possible in Britain anymore but it is still the best source of stories and, more importantly, relationship building.

Mark Gleeson covers African soccer for Reuters, World Soccer and many other titles worldwide; he also works for the South African television channel SuperSport and is a partner in a domestic sports news agency, all from the shadow of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

‘Those who work for Millwall must pull their hair out at times at the way the club are depicted’

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TOBY PORTER on the public perception of FA Cup semi-finalists Millwall

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

NO ONE may like Millwall, but Toby Porter certainly does care about how others view the club.

Porter is the sports editor of the South London Press and has covered Millwall for 11 years. Millwall have a stigma, mostly outdated and based on events from 30 or 40 years ago, but it is an image that the club will find difficult to shake off even though they have done everything to eliminate violence and racism with success.

As the Lions prepare for their FA Cup semi-final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley, the perception most have about Millwall does not affect the way Porter goes about his job, but on a personal level it is a different story.

He said: “In the first season I covered Millwall there were 187 arrests for football-related incidents. Since then there have been no more than 20 or 30 [a season] and consistently lower than that. Basically about a tenth of what it was.

“The 2002 playoff semi-final against Birmingham City [at The Den], where there was a lot of unrest, was significant in Millwall moving forward, making a decision to ensure anyone with a criminal background was not allowed in the ground or allowed to go to away games with the club.

“The reality is that the violence is much less than it was. There are still some elements drawn to Millwall because of the past, but the club could not have done more to eradicate violence or racism. Those who work for Millwall must pull their hair out at times at the way the club are depicted in a quite out-of-date manner by lazy journalists.

“Millwall’s main claim to fame was the 59-game unbeaten home run ended in 1967 [by Plymouth Argyle]. Most people would not have heard of the club apart from the bad stuff.

“For the media, there is no other hook to hang on Millwall. It doesn’t affect my job in any way because I know what the truth is. But inaccuracies should hurt any journalist and it affects me personally when I see the club depicted in an unfair manner, though that’s an emotional reaction.”

Bradford City of League Two reached the Capital One Cup final on the crest of a media wave with most neutrals hoping the Bantams would add Swansea City to their list of Barclays Premier League scalps, underlining the British affection for the underdog. Should Millwall overcome Wigan they are unlikely to enjoy such support, even against Chelsea or Manchester City, whose Russian and Middle Eastern financial backing causes such resentment.

Porter said: “The crucial period for Millwall’s reputation was the Panorama documentary in 1974.”

Millwall had invited the TV cameras into The Den for a programme about their supporters. Over the previous three years there had been a considerable drop in hooliganism, which was rife in English football at the time, and the club hoped the programme could show the benefits of responsible stewarding.

It backfired spectacularly with the BBC concentrating almost exclusively on the alleged thug element that followed the club. When Millwall and the police saw a review of the show they implored it should not be broadcast. Denis Howell, the Minister for Sport, met with Sir Michael Swann, chairman of the BBC, because of fears that the programme would succeed in encouraging rather than discouraging unruly behaviour. And so it proved.

The horrendous scenes at the 1985 FA Cup tie at Luton gave Millwall a scar for life and it is the image many people still have of the south-east London club.

That was then. When Millwall reached the FA Cup final nine years ago, there were zero arrests among their fans at the semi-final against Sunderland at Old Trafford or in Cardiff where Manchester United won 3-0 at the Millennium stadium.

Millwall are no strangers to Wembley in recent years – they made their debut in the Auto Windscreens Shield final in 1999, losing 1-0 to Wigan, the Lions cheered on by an estimated 47,000 of the 55,000 in attendance. They also reached League One playoff finals in 2009 (losing to Scunthorpe) and 2010 (beating Swindon).

This is their first FA Cup semi-final at English football’s headquarters and Porter said: “It means more to the older generation because for them Wembley was a long wait. Millwall have now been to Wembley four times in the last decade and a half whereas there had been none previously to that.”

Porter and the South London Press have enjoyed a close relationship with Millwall over the years and it would be difficult to find any football writer with a complaint about manager Kenny Jackett’s commitment to the media. “They give me all the co-operation a journalist needs,” said Porter. “It’s a very good, positive relationship and works best that way.

“Kenny is a considerate man. He likes to keep his cards very close to his chest when it comes to giving out information on the club purely because it makes his job more difficult if this becomes public. I understand that even though as a journalist I want every bit of news possible.”

Porter will be writing the bulk of the eight-page supplement ahead of the Wembley match which should boost sales of the SLP. “Since I joined the paper the only time sales increased drastically and were sustained was in 2004 when Millwall reached the FA Cup final.”

To paraphrase Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, Wigan are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. They are as likely to score three goals as concede three, though Porter does not see a goal-feast at Wembley.

He said: “In recent games Jackett’s made it hard to score against Millwall. They have had five clean sheets in the last seven matches and I think they’ll be difficult to break down. Wigan have some very talented players and I think it will be close.”

FWA Q&A: MARCEL VAN DER KRAAN

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MARCEL van der KRAAN on watching Jesus in football boots…being mistaken for Lance Armstrong…and paying for toilet paper in Belarus

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
When I was 17 and still at college, I had my own little business in polishing cars. I was making more money than my dad. People would bring their car and pick it up at night. The boss of a major company asked if I could polish his wife’s car. He insisted that I would pick it up at his house in the country on a Saturday morning at 7 am. There was one slight problem, I had no driving licence. He said that it didn’t matter. I could drive, couldn’t I? So I did. Unfortunately it had been snowing and people were skating on ice in Holland, as it had been minus-10 for a week. Not used to skiddy roads, on the way to my little business I skidded, hit a tree at 50 miles an hour on the side of a river, the car went through the air and landed upside down on the frozen river. It went straight through the ice, sunk and until this day I still don’t know how I got out. I walked back through the fields and told the guy I had given the car a good wash, but it might be time for his wife to buy a new car because the engine was not running so well any more. He laughed, thank God. He wasn’t short of money and his wife had a new car a few before lunch. Farmers got the car out and police were never involved. Good job, not only did I not have driving license, it was not my car and I was not insured.

Most memorable match?
Holland v England (2-0) in De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam, the 1994 World Cup qualifier where England were knocked out for the finals in the United States and Graham Taylor saw his reign coming to an end. This was such a bizarre match. I still don’t know how Ronald Koeman managed to stay on the pitch. He could [should – Ed] have been sent-off for fouling David Platt. Instead he scored for Holland. But I also remember this match for the crazy press conference 24 hours earlier. I have seen some verbal fights between managers and reporters, but all my Dutch colleagues fell off their chairs when they attended the major confrontation between Graham Taylor and the English press in the Novotel. I still have to laugh now, when I think about Taylor shouting at Rob Shepherd: “Come on, Rob, don’t be silly! What is up with you English lot of the press?’’

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
George Best playing in that same stadium in 1976 in a World Cup qualifier. He ran the show against a team with Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Wim Jansen, Arie Haan etc. That same Dutch team went on to play in the 1978 World Cup final in Argentina, but they were held to a draw (2-2) in Rotterdam that night. I was a young kid, at the match with my dad, and all I can remember is watching George Best for 90 minutes. It was like watching Jesus in football boots. Absolute magic.

Best stadium?
I hate to say this as Dutchman, but it has to be the Allianz Arena of Bayern Munich. A prime example of the modern football arena. At last year’s European Championship the newly-built Warsaw national stadium was almost as impressive. Not all football reporters visited that stadium during the Euro’s but I was there for Poland v Russia and it gave me shivers down my back. Incredible atmosphere. I have been all over the world in football stadiums for 32 years now, but this stadium is brilliant.

…and the worst?
In that same European Championship the stadium of Kiev for the final. Everyone needed binoculars to see the players.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Leaving my phone with 1,200 contacts in football in a Glasgow taxi. And no back up on the computer. I still blame Keith Jackson (Daily Record) for that. He took me to that Glasgow pub five hours earlier…

Biggest mistake?
Accepting a lift from Paul Smith (Match magazine at the time) in Rome during the World Cup in 1990. He had hired a nice car and during the first 10 minutes, trying to get out of the city of Rome, he shouted at every Italian man and woman that they did not understand the rules of traffic. It did not quite occur to him that their way of driving around the Collosseum was slightly different from the English on the left side of the road. We ploughed into a car on the next cross road and we never did get to Italian training camp that day. We have laughed about that many times since.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Yes, Lance Armstrong. Until they heard my strange, English Leicester accent. Then they realised I was not American. I have been married to Kathy from Leicester and used to live round the corner to Gary Lineker in the early eighties.

Most media friendly manager?
In Holland Ronald Koeman (Feyenoord) and Frank de Boer (Ajax). They are both a breath of fresh air. Open and honest all the time. They don’t duck any questions and are always available for the media. In Britain it has to be Terry Yorath. I had never met him, went to meet him in Wales when Holland were going to play his team. We spent hours talking about the game. These days a manager does not give you that much time when he does not know you.’’

Best ever player?
Johan Cruyff. I have loved every match I have seen of him in my life.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
The Holland team that played total football in 1974 and lost the World Cup final against West Germany. At club level the AC Milan team with Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Ancelotti etc. in 1987.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal. I can’t believe the food they supply there for journalists. It’s similar for most Barclays Premier League clubs. In Holland all we get is a sausage roll and a cookie with a cup of tea. English clubs seem to spoil reporters with food, but access to players is really, really hard. In Holland it is the other way round. The food is terrible, but the working conditions at games are terrific. We can talk to every player and manager. It might be a good idea to spend less money on all these hot dinners in the Barclays Premier League and supply a few more players in the mixed zone.

Best meal had on your travels?
In a Pizzeria in Napoli at the 1990 World Cup finals, but only because of the conversation with two other Dutch journo’s and Paul Smith again. It was so hilarious, I wet myself that night. This Dutch TV commentator was talking about having to dig through the snow in Calgary. He had been to the Winter Olympics earlier. As we had just spent two weeks in Cagliari with England and Ireland on Sardinia, where Jack Charlton pronounced the city all the time as Calgary, Paul got funny with the Dutch commentator. He said: “Are you taking the mickey? Snow in Calgary? It was 100 Fahrenheit there. ‘’ The Dutch guy then went mental too. It took five minutes before they realised they were talking about two entirely different cities.

…and the worst?
A BBQ with Holland in Brazil. The meat had been on display outside in the garden of the hotel for hours. I would not touch it. The players did and so did many Dutch journalists as they would, with it being free. Everyone spent the next 48 hours on toilets and in bathrooms. The players had to be substituted on the pitch for having the runs in the game the next day.

Best hotel stayed in?
Sopwell House! There is not a more comfortable and real English hotel which breathes football than this place in St. Albans. Arsenal chief scout Steve Rowley recommended it many years ago for the sausages at breakfast. I love staying there.

…and the worst?
Some awful hotel in Belarus. I slept in my clothes, on top of the bed. But I remember it more because I had to pay for toilet paper.

Favourite football writer?
Jonathan Northcroft of The Sunday Times. Wish I had the space he has for his interviews, but he does fill it with great stories.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Mark Pougatch. Just so multi-talented.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers in England what would it be?
I would invite press officers [of English clubs] to attend one Dutch league match with the mixed zone structure afterwards we enjoy in Holland.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
The World Championship naked women water skiing.

Last book read?
Tony Adams’ autobiography Addicted. I read it years ago and have just read it again. Can’t think of a former footballer who has developed into such a great person as Tony. Can’t think of a player these days with so much character in the game either. A natural leader, honest, fantastic professional and Arsenal should have him on board in any kind of technical role.

Favourite current TV programme?
The Voice on the BBC. I love music, and in my opinion Britain produces more good singers than any other country in the world. Well, the history of pop music proves that, doesn’t it?

Your most prized football memorabilia?
I give everything away that I receive from players or managers to kids and friends. I love writing about football, I absolutely love my job, but I don’t care about material things or fans’ stuff.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Don’t be a fan of anyone because you’ll just be disappointed when you know what happens behind the scenes in football. More than 90 per cent of people in the game are driven by money. Players, managers, agents. That is my only bitterness about the job.

Marcel van der Kraan writes for De Telegraaf in Holland. He is a regular contributor to talkSPORT.

Next week’s Q&A visits MARK GLEESON in Cape Town who talks about [Arsene Wenger look away now] eating rats.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA CANNOT COMPETE WITH THE THRILL OF A BACK PAGE EXCLUSIVE

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Sunday Mirror sports editor DAVID WALKER on how the internet is affecting newspapers

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

IN THE very old days spectators were told the half-time scores from other games when someone placed numbers along the touchline of one side of a ground. By “A” – say, Arsenal v Chelsea – the numbers “1” and “1” or whatever were placed, the key to the letters in the programme.

In the not quite so old days supporters would wait at a station for the Saturday Pink Un or Green Un to arrive an hour after the final whistle. These papers were essential reading, not just for the results and up-to-date league tables, but for a report on matches played that afternoon and football columns. The demise of the Saturday 3pm kick-off and the continuing technological advance of new media have seen the downfall of these papers – the Birmingham Mail’s Sports Argus, which used to be the biggest selling Saturday sports paper in England, ceased publication in May 2006.

These days fans are aware of goals, red cards, results…everything…courtesy of Planet Internet which has, in many respects, proved to be a football writer’s best friend though progress too often comes at a price.

David Walker, the sports editor of the Sunday Mirror, spoke to footballwriters.co.uk, his views personal and not necessarily those of Trinity Mirror, about the effect of the internet on the more traditional world of newspapers. The times, definitely, are a-changing and Walker said: “Just about every local paper in every city or town ran a Saturday evening special. They were a vital part of the journey home for fans. For journalists, they were an integral part of any paper’s output. That whole market was huge and it has been wiped out.

“The next issue was the power of a closed-shop union regarding the minimum salaries in some national newspapers.”

When Walker started on his first national paper in 1982 his salary was £16,900. That equates to £51,000 now, and there are many football writers who would love to earn, let alone start on, that wage.

“Salaries have gone down and so has the number of people being employed in the industry, yet the work-load has increased with the biggest development being reporters having to write across the board, from newspapers to the electronic media.”

While the older generation remains faithful to buying a daily and Sunday newspaper, the growing influence of the internet has seen sales of national papers drop by 16 per cent over the last five years, three per cent more than the European average.

A recent survey claimed that in the UK only 18 per cent of the total population read a daily newspaper compared with 53 per cent in Germany, 21 per cent in France and nearly 70 per cent in Norway and Switzerland.

“People in their twenties are not the avid newspaper buyers their parents are,” said Walker. “They get their media fix in a different way, not least the free access to most newspapers’ web sites. The one hope I have is how good some of the apps are looking, particularly newspaper apps which are based on the design of a page, with advertising and content which makes it the nearest the old school will get to the actual feel of a newspaper on a screen.”

The internet does not affect Walker’s weekly plans for the Sunday Mirror sports pages though the football writers are expected to contribute opinion columns for mirrorfootball.com and help with breaking sports news stories.

The desire for newspapers to break stories on their web sites rather than holding them for the following morning’s paper is a progression that particularly worries football writers who are responsible for the majority of back page stories.

Walker said: “Are they protecting stories for the newspaper or, as is increasingly the case, putting them on line to get as many hits as possible for the site? The Daily Telegraph were one of the first to break a good story on-line with the row between Kevin Pietersen and [England head coach] Peter Moore about the England captaincy. They put the story on their site around tea-time which meant every other paper could pick it up.”

Fleet Street had previously been very protective of exclusive stories at the front and the back of the paper. A big transfer scoop would be kept out of the first edition and held for the last edition so no one else could lift it. The ultimate satisfaction for a reporter has always been to pick up his paper and see an exclusive story that is immediately followed up by all parts of the media. The new generation, weaned on electronic media, have a different time schedule, rather than wait for the morning’s paper they often try to beat rivals by minutes by putting a story on line first.

“If we have a really big story we’d still try to make it so people would have to buy the paper to read it,” said Walker. “For me, breaking an accurate story in a newspaper remains the greatest thrill, be it football, news or politics. A newspaper’s greatest strength is to publish a really good exclusive story. Perhaps reporters in their Twenties may have a different view.”

But should newspapers give away for free on line what is in their print editions? The Mail Online has become the world’s biggest newspaper website with one recent month’s figures showing 90,309,252 unique browsers. The BBC’s web site has an estimated world audience of 150 million unique monthly browsers.

News International led the way in the UK with a paywall. ABC figures in 2012 for The Times were 393,187 and 955,248 for The Sunday Times. Combined with 130,751 digital subscribers, it meant a total paid audience of 523,938 for The Times. The Sunday Times had 126,989 digital subscribers and a total paid audience of 1,082,237. Obviously the on-line subscriptions makes money for NI even though the figures are minimal compared to the free sites.

On-line advertising yields far less revenue than that for newspapers and we have yet to see how significant profits can be made from electronic media.

Walker said: “The game used to be that newspapers had a cover charge for the newspaper, advertising was sold, the circulation was known and you could work out your revenue per day. For their web sites, newspapers are looking for sponsors, advertising…but can they protect material that is behind the paywall? Can others copy what is on a site and pass it on?”

Despite the emphasis being placed on the internet Walker does not see a time when a newspaper will have their own football correspondent writing exclusively for the web site. “That would be pigeon-holing a writer which is not what newspapers want. They prefer journalists to write for the paper and the net, which from an accounting viewpoint is staffing as many areas as possible with the fewest number of people.”

FWA Q&A: MICHAEL CHURCH

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MICHAEL CHURCH on the silence of Melbourne…golden showers in Jakarta…and a Chinese fan who cycled 2,000 kms to meet “him”

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?

Yes, I worked as a lifeguard at my local swimming pool for much longer than I care to admit or remember during my teenage years back in my home town of Larne, in Northern Ireland. The sights seen back in those days still haunt me. Baywatch it most certainly was not.

Most memorable match?

There are a couple that stick out for very different reasons. The first, for many of the right reasons, is Australia v Iran at the MCG in Melbourne when the Iranians came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and qualify for the 1998 World Cup. The silence that descended on the MCG was eerie and witnessing the look on Terry Venables’ face in the post-match press conference was worth the trip Down Under in itself. Perhaps the best thing about attending that game is that I still have the opportunity to quieten down our Aussie friends by bringing it up on a regular basis. Those scars run very deep. The second was a match in a tournament called the Tiger Cup in Vietnam in 1998 when Thailand and Indonesia faced off in a group match that both were desperate to lose due to the ill-thought out scheduling and rules of the tournament. The game finished 3-2 to Thailand and the sight of the teams defending each other’s penalty areas was just odd, but not as bizarre as witnessing the gusto with which the Indonesians celebrated scoring the winning goal for Thailand. A very odd – and depressing – evening indeed.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s winner at the Camp Nou on May 26, 1999. I was fortunate enough to be at the game and refuse, to this day, to watch anything other than the goals on TV as I want it to remain in my mind’s eye exactly how I experienced it. But that goal will live with me forever and I’d happily put it on a continuous loop.

Best stadium?

The Allianz Arena in Munich’s a personal favourite when it comes to facilities etc. while the atmosphere at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran is only matched by that at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Both stadiums are crumbling dumps but when they’re full – with crowds in the region of 90,000 – there are few more intimidating or exciting places to watch football on the planet. Always best to keep your head down midway through the second-half in Jakarta as urine-filled bottles have been known to start raining down from the top tier by that stage…

…and the worst?

Nothing – not even Jakarta’s golden showers – surpasses The Showgrounds in Newry. Watching – if you could, given the amount of condensation on the windows – from a cold, wet, draughty press box with a long drive home to follow made it worse than unpleasant. After almost two decades of travelling around varying venues in Asia, nothing has yet come close. A character-building experience.

Your personal new-tech disaster?

Those usually centre around wifi and the inability to get access to a network as deadline approaches thanks to the photographers using up all the bandwidth. Have to admit, nothing major comes to mind on this. Perhaps I’ve been fortunate up until now.

Biggest mistake?

Where to start? Getting the score wrong in a game because I was in a soundproofed press box (depressing enough in itself) and couldn’t hear when the referee blew the whistle to rule out a goal is right up there.The comments made in the press conference put everything into context and sent a very cold shiver down my spine. Fortunately, the guys uploading the story onto the website I was working for were slow to put the story online and a catastrophe was averted.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?

Many moons ago in deepest darkest China I was walking through the lobby of the hotel I was staying in, which was the same hotel hosting the players from the Chinese champions of the time, Dalian Wanda. I was very quickly accosted by a Dalian fan who, it turned out, had cycled something like 2,000 kms to meet the players and support the team in that day’s match. For some reason, he thought I was one of the club’s Swedish imports and asked me to sign his shirt. I protested for a bit, telling him I wasn’t anyone famous until it became clear he wasn’t going to take no for answer. So, sheepishly, I signed the shirt only for someone to then tell the fan – finally – that I wasn’t who he thought I was. It’s fair to say he was none too chuffed.

Most media friendly manager?

When you’re away from the goldfish bowl of European football, it definitely gets easier to deal with managers. Philippe Troussier was fantastic during his days as Japan national team boss – couldn’t have been more helpful – and Bobby Houghton is an absolute gentleman, one of the nicest guys you could meet in any walk of life. But there are others, too. Bora Milutinovic is a gem. The sadly departed Tomislav Ivic was one of the most genuine people I ever had the pleasure to deal with and Milan Macala, who has worked across the Middle East, is a joy to work with. Former Notts County goalkeeper Raddy Avramovic is another, as is Jalal Talebi, who took Iran to the 1998 World Cup. I could go on as most managers I’ve dealt with have been helpful, which is what makes working in Asia so rewarding.

Best ever player?

I think it’s only fair to stick to the players I’ve seen in the flesh rather than waxing lyrical about highlight reels of George Best or Diego Maradona. Globally, the power and pace of the original Ronaldo always mesmerized me – pre-knee injuries he was an awe-inspiring sight when he was in full flow. It wasn’t hard to see why defenders feared him so much. The fact, too, that he managed to so successfully reinvent himself after his knee operations is a genuine sign of greatness. From an Asian perspective, the best player I’ve seen is Shinji Ono (Japan), who should have gone on to be a household name across the global game, but had an injury in his early 20’s that stopped him from fulfilling his true potential. Hidetoshi Nakata’s application and determination to succeed marked him out as well, especially at a time when he was breaking down barriers by going to Europe. Chinese striker Hao Haidong would have been a success in Europe, too, had the authorities allowed him to move when he was at his peak.

Best ever teams (club and international)?

Again, think it’s only right I stick with the teams I’ve seen in person and regularly via work. The best club side were the Jubilo Iwata team that won the Asian Club Championship in 1999, beating Esteghlal from Iran in the final with an all-Japanese starting line-up. National team is also Japanese, the one that Philippe Troussier took to success at the Asian Cup in Lebanon in 2000 – they were a fine side, although the current Japan team is of similar quality.

Best pre-match grub?

You guys in Europe are spoilt on this front. Pre-match food in Asia – if you’re lucky – is a cold bento box in Japan, but otherwise it’s whatever you pick up yourself at the local 7-11 around the corner from the stadium. The only events I’ve been to where that wasn’t the case were the Asian Cup in the UAE in 1996 and the most recent Asian Cup in Qatar in 2011. The food on offer there was great, I think. Or maybe I thought it was great because of the usual dearth of eating options at Asian venues.

Best meal had on your travels?

Hmmm, not sure as there’s so much great food in Asia. Although, funnily enough, the one that sticks in my mind isn’t Asian cuisine. There’s a very famous Brazilian churrasco restaurant in Tokyo I was taken to many years ago called Barbacoa – a venue beloved by Brazilians and the signed plates on the walls bearing the signatures of Zico, Ayrton Senna and the like proving the point – where the food is sensational. A bit pricey, but worth every penny.

…and the worst?

The chicken satay I had in Chiangmai in northern Thailand from a roadside vendor certainly made its presence known for longer and in a more colourful fashion than I appreciated.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?

The Tour de France. I’ve been following it since I was a kid, but haven’t been yet. Despite all the scandals and nonsense over the last two decades, it still holds an immense amount of fascination for me – would love to follow on my bike for a few weeks, but am wary of becoming a lycra-groupie.

Last book read?

Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh. A brilliant read, but a damning indictment on many within our profession. Also Boomerang by Michael Lewis. Having read that off the back of The Big Short, it has encouraged me to keep what little money I have under the mattress and out of the hands of anyone in the banking industry.

Favourite current TV programme?

Breaking Bad – brilliant concept, superbly put together with just enough humour among the grimness to stop you from descending into depression.

Your most prized football memorabilia?

I used to be a bit of sad git when it came to this, picking up all sorts on my travels: a Jubilo Iwata shirt signed by Dunga is a definite highlight or a ball signed by Pele. But nothing beats my ticket for the 1999 UEFA Champions League final signed by Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer. Still the greatest night of my life.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?

Keep an open mind and look beyond the obvious to try to build a career – the world of football does not begin and end at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or even Camp Nou. Football is one of the only truly global sports and the opportunities to learn so much about other countries and societies through the people you meet in the game are limitless. The standard won’t always be the best, but the access to players and managers and the fascinating stories that lie behind many of those involved will always make it worthwhile.

Michael Church has covered football across Asia for close to two decades, moving to the region in 1995 and has lived and worked in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. He was the Press Association’s Head of Sport for Asia for four years and writes for the South China Morning Post and World Soccer as well as serving as Managing Editor of AFC Quarterly, the Asian Football Confederation’s official magazine.

The Q&A’s world tour continues next week with leading Dutch football writer Marcel van der Kraan.

Mike Collett of Reuters analyses the Barclays Premier League run-in

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Mike Collett of Reuters analyses the Barclays Premier League run-in at both ends of the table.







Listen to ‘Mike Collett of Reuters analyses the Barclays Premier League run-in’ on Audioboo


The FWA Interview: Paul Hayward

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“It wasn’t possible to talk to Sir Bobby Robson without falling in love with football all over again,” says Sports Writer of the Year PAUL HAYWARD

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

PAUL HAYWARD will never forget writing the article that gave him most pleasure in an award-winning career – it left him injured and unable to walk properly for a week.

Hayward, the Daily Telegraph’s chief sports writer, was this week named the 2012 Sports Journalists’ Association Sports Writer of the Year. The only damage this time was to his wallet as he bought celebratory champagne for his colleagues in Podgorica, his Olympic-based portfolio winning the award for the second time.

The injury came while writing his 5,000-word Olympic review “which ended up as its own supplement,” said Hayward. “I started writing on the Friday and filed it on the Sunday afternoon. It was such hard work almost being chained to my lap-top for three days that I put my back out. I could hardly walk for the following week.

“But it was a great privilege to be asked to write the piece, telling the story of the Games. I’ll never have the chance to cover an Olympics in London again and it turned out to be a glorious success rather than the farce some had predicted.”

Hayward was not at the awards ceremony, he was in a bar in Montenegro with England sponsors Vauxhall. “We were watching the results roll in on Twitter, there’s a sign of the times,” said Hayward. “Martin Lipton [of the Daily Mirror] showed me his BlackBerry with confirmation I’d won it. I initially told him to stop messing about because for me David Walsh was certain to win the award after exposing Lance Armstrong. Martin showed me his phone and I spent a lot of money on Montenegrin champagne.”

The winners are not told in advance “but had I known I would have still gone to Montenegro because the job always has to come first.”

Walsh, of the Sunday Times, was named Sports News Reporter and Feature Writer. “We all assumed David would complete the Slam, winning every award possible. His exposure of Armstrong is a great moment for our profession. It shows sports journalism still has bite, that reporting, digging and a free press is still the highest form of journalism. David had to put up with so much intimidation and pressure, but he kept going. In the end he brought the villain down.”

Hayward was with the Daily Telegraph when he won the award for the first time 16 years ago. He started his career on the Racing Post, joining the Daily Telegraph from the Independent. After two stints with the Guardian and one with the Daily Mail, Hayward returned to what many consider his natural home in 2011. “I’ve been a Guardian reader from my young days, but the Telegraph has always promoted sports journalism like no one else and has given me my greatest opportunities.

“The daily sports supplement during the Olympics was magnificent, the proudest I’ve ever been on a newspaper. The people in the office were producing a 30- or 40-page supplement every day and each page was brilliant.”

The sports editor when the Daily Telegraph became the first national daily newspaper to produce a sports supplement that appeared initially in 1990 appearing on Mondays and Saturdays and then daily was David Welch who died a year before London 2012, sadly never seeing his dream become a reality. Hayward said: “David campaigned for the London Olympics at a time when it was a very unfashionable idea. He kept banging the drum, even getting it talked about in the House of Commons. He believed London would stage a great Olympics and on the day of the opening ceremony I thought of David. He’d have loved to have seen that, but unfortunately he was taken away from us before he could have that opportunity. I made sure I remembered his contribution throughout the Games.”

While Hayward’s title is chief sports writer, inevitably football dominates his schedule. “We were speaking about this in Podgorica, discussing what proportion of the agenda is taken up by football in sports journalism. I argued for 70 per cent. Henry Winter, our football correspondent, said: ‘As low as that?’ Henry loves football so much he’d like it to be 100 per cent.

“At various points of the year other sports become dominant. The British & Irish Lions tour this summer will be huge, there’s Wimbledon, the Open, the Ashes…they have their periods when they are the absolute centre of attention, but taking the whole cycle of the year football rules. It’s still the daily consuming diet of drama and controversy plus usually high class action.”

Unsurprisingly the Olympics and football World Cup are Hayward’s favourite major events. “I like World Cups because they give you the opportunity to travel round countries. I enjoy the feeling of moving along on a white water rapid where the story changes all the time. When there is an Olympics or World Cup, there is a beginning, a middle and an end…it takes your life over and every day is a fresh chapter.”

Hayward has met most of the outstanding sportsmen and sportswomen of his generation, but one stands head and shoulders above all others. “Sir Bobby Robson, a true gentleman” he said, a sentiment no doubt shared by those who were lucky enough to work with him. “I still have a very soft spot for Bobby who transmitted his enthusiasm to you. It wasn’t possible to talk to him without falling in love with football all over again. When I was writing his final autobiography I used to come out of our sessions together bouncing and loving football in a new way. I’d sit down and ask Bobby one question and by the time he’d finished talking I’d have 100,000 words.

“During our interviews he’d be jumping up and imitating Alan Shearer or illustrating some defensive position to stop Ronaldo. His energy for the game would just pour out of him and I found that very infectious.”

Hayward was also influenced by many his own profession. “From a young age I looked at the great sports writers as people to be revered. They set the standard for journalism and I read them avidly at university. When Frank Keating died recently it brought back the memory of the time I was at the Cheltenham Festival as a young Racing Post reporter and he came into the press box. I couldn’t believe I was in the same room as Frank Keating and was unable to speak to him.”

When Hayward was in Podgorica celebrating his latest award he proposed a toast to “the reporters.” While Hayward’s job does not involve him to be at the sharp end of digging for news stories he retains the greatest respect for those who are responsible for the back page stories.

“My message to young journalists is to remember to report, to talk to people, go to places, makes notes…all the old fashioned reporting skills which have been under threat as a result of mass opinion, Twitter and blogs. Reporting is still the most valuable thing we do and for me there is no higher calling in journalism that being a reporter.

“In football, the barriers are so high. Football pushes you away, putting obstacles between writers and the game, it closes itself to journalists. Reporters who have to fight their way through that jungle to get stories…they are amazing and I don’t know how they do it.”

Hayward has the luxury of a week off before heading to Augusta to see whether Tiger Woods can win his fifth Masters tournament, but keeping a close eye on Brighton’s challenge for promotion to the Barclays Premier League.