Category Archives: FWA Q&A

FWA Q&A: IAN HAWKEY

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IAN HAWKEY on covering Ba#celona…the singing nuns of Ougadougou…and don’t mention the Waugh

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?

Some temporary shop jobs with unsightly uniforms and a stint as a painter-and-decorator, but otherwise worked only as a journalist, in various capacities, but mainly sports reporting.

Most memorable match?

Professionally, probably Juventus v Man United, 1999, the semi-final in Turin, the United comeback. Emotionally, the Europa League final in 2010. Every Fulham supporter – I am one – who had watched that club scrabbling around at the foot of the Football League in the 1990s felt something dreamy going to Hamburg to see Fulham, yes Fulham, in a European final.

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

Zinedine Zidane’s volleyed goal in the 2002 Champions League final.

Best stadium?

San Mames, Bilbao. Not for the facility, which is aged, but the atmosphere.

…and the worst?

I’ve been to same very basic grounds covering football in Africa, but also spent too many nights despairing about why the great football city of Rome cannot do something about a Stadio Olimpico that is decrepit, that neither of the tenant clubs like.

Your personal new-tech disaster?

I had several faulty keys on my laptop six or seven years ago. One was the letter R. I covered a lot of Barcelona and Real Madrid at the time or, as the poor subs on my newspaper wearily learned as they dealt with tight deadlines and late kick-offs, I covered teams known as Ba#celona and  #eal Mad#id, and their inconveniently influential players #onaldinho, #onaldo, #aul and #obe#to Ca#los. My typing is still #ecove#ing.

Biggest mistake?

Loads, but I remember with embarrassment an evening chatting, while waiting for a cab, with someone who had been at the game I had just covered. I talked at length, with increasing conviction, about the shocking performance of one the defenders – player X – from the home team. He, the very polite fellow to whom I was speaking, talked wisely about the match. And after about 25 minutes, once his cab arrived, he told me he was player X’s brother.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?

Mark Waugh, the Australian cricketer, in a hotel lift Down Under. Also in the lift were the Aussie cricketers David Boon and Ian Healy, so I guess context had something to do with it. I was much younger then.

Most media friendly manager?

It’s easy to get nostalgic about the days when fewer media demands on them meant managers didn’t feel obliged to speak only in bland sound-bites, or not speak at all. In my experience, Roy Hodgson has always been patient and helpful. In most of the countries he has worked in, journalists would say that of him.

Best ever player?

Lionel Messi. I have been lucky to see him live, a lot, and initially thought he might be too physically frail to continue playing as brilliantly as he did as a teenager. There will be a ceiling for his brilliance at some stage, but he’s been great for football.

Best ever teams (club and international)?

The AC Milan of Baresi, Maldini, Gullit, Rijkaard and Van Basten and so on.  And the Spain of 2008-2012.

Best pre-match grub?

Saint Etienne. Excellent cheese.

Best meal had on your travels?

One that sticks in the mind is a Boeuf Bourginon at L’Eau Vive in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso during the African Cup of Nations in 1998, a culinary highlight of a trip to place where … well, there’s not an overabundance of fine restaurants in Ougadougou, but the food here was genuinely very good. The rituals were unique. The restaurant was run by nuns, and at a certain point in the evening, whether you had a full plate in front of you or not, you had to stand up while the nuns sang. Everybody obeyed.

..and the worst?

Some bad sardines in Lisbon. Made me very ill, spectacularly. Used to love sardines, now can’t touch the poisonous beasts.

Best hotel stayed in?

Maybe the Villa Bregana, well located for the rather remote Milanello, AC Milan’s training centre.  It’s very quiet and rural, restaurant’s good. We now know that somewhere in the vicinity, some lively bunga-bunga was going on. Alas, I never saw any there.

…and the worst?

In the late 1990s, I used to get booked into an awful place in Manchester. They had cardboard murals of skylines instead of windows in the bedrooms. I forget the name of it, and don’t wish to be reminded.

Favourite football writer?

I grew up reading Brian Glanville and Hugh McIlvanney, like a lot of people. Brian once came to give a talk at my school when I was about 12 or 13. I was very lucky later that both Hugh and Brian became very generous colleagues at The Sunday Times.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?

Barry Davies.

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

A standard daily press conference at all Barclays Premier League clubs, at least on days when they train, in which a player is designated to make himself available to the media, except on pre-match days, when the coach/manager normally speaks. It’s a system that works, still, at several clubs in parts of Europe and some of the most popular clubs in the world know from their research it is a very effective device in maintaining their global popularity. It encourages players to learn they can interact confidently with the media, reminds players they have duties representing their employers, and, for clubs, it eases the bottleneck of media demands they complain about ahead of weekends.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?

A Test match in Jamaica, with a full crowd, a bit in the wicket for bat and ball, featuring a competitive West Indies against a strong opponent.

Last book read?

‘I Do Not Come To You By Chance’, by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. A very funny novel.

Favourite current TV programme?

Almost anything on mainstream British TV, which is so much better than television in southern Europe, with a notable exception: football review shows. Match of the Day could learn a lot about being more dynamic from seeing how they do highlights-and-analysis in Germany or Spain.

Your most prized football memorabilia?

I have a vault of stuff connected with African football, of very limited interest outside Africa, but some rarities. But I’d be most reluctant to give away the letter Malcolm Macdonald wrote to me when he was Fulham manager in 1983.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?

Diversify: If you’re good and know your stuff in one medium, you’ll have something to offer in others, so learn and appreciate the needs and demands of TV/radio/print/web. And keep loving the game, even when aspects of it seem unappealing.

Ian Hawkey spent 11 years as The Sunday Times’s European Football Correspondent based in Barcelona before becoming a freelance.

FWA Q&A: CHRIS BASCOMBE

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CHRIS BASCOMBE of the Daily Telegraph on having to praise Hamilton Ricard…digital incest…and a Royle ban

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
I worked in a pub in the Old Swan area of Liverpool. If the acts booked for the evening’s entertainment didn’t end their set with ‘The Best’ by Tina Turner there was a riot. Used to be quite tricky for the Irish Revolutionary Ceilidh bands to learn the words.

Most memorable match?
The answer is more boring and predictable than the match itself. Istanbul, 2005.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
David Attenborough should send his documentary team to observe those whose natural habitat is the post-match mixed zone. A DVD on the 101 great excuses for refusing to speak to the Press would be entertaining. Emile Heskey has never been given the credit he deserves for inventing the ‘I can’t stop because I’m talking on the mobile phone’ routine at the World Cup in 2002. It would have worked too if one of the journalists didn’t have his number. It rang just as he was walking past us all.

Best stadium?
I can’t remember a bad atmosphere in The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (except when Wales play). A great city centre venue. The domestic finals there were far superior and more supporter friendly than trips to Wembley.

…and the worst?
The Riverside or BT Cellnet or whatever it’s called now. Always cold, drab and there used to be an unnervingly agitated bloke sitting immediately in front of the away reporters’ desk, He never watched the match. He’d just stare at you trying to make sure you gave Hamilton Ricard a positive write up.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Anything involving Twitter. It’s ghastly, particularly when friends who can text or call each other have excruciatingly self-aware conversations accepting praise (or retweeting  comments) about how marvellous they are. It’s even worse when you know they’re sitting in the same office. It’s like two people using a megaphone to have a chat across a crowded room. Digital incest, that’s what Twitter is. “Look at what this complete stranger who is not my friend at all has just tweeted about my wonderful new book.” Seriously, just get a cubicle.

Biggest mistake?
There are enough people pointing those out in the comments section of The Telegraph’s web pages every day. No need for a free advert here.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Not yet, but I’m trying my best. The car park attendant at Everton calls me Chris Babbacombe. Not sure if there is a Chris Babbacombe whose thunder I’m stealing. If there is I hope our paths eventually cross and I’ll apologise if he is being mistaken for me.

Most media friendly manager?
Joe Royle was really friendly. He was the first to ban me from a press conference – an away game in a pre-season match at Man City – because he blamed the Liverpool Echo for getting him sacked at Everton. The fact that was before my time at the paper didn’t matter. Since then I’ve endeavoured to ensure whenever I get banned I’m the only one who
deserves the credit.
This will seem like opportunistic flattery but Brendan Rodgers is very friendly, although new Liverpool managers usually are. Then they go a bit… unstable. I fear the manager’s room at Melwood is a bit like the caretaker’s office in ‘The Shining’.

Best ever player?
Lionel Messi. His performance in the Champions League Final at Wembley in 2011 was perfection. Thierry Henry is the greatest Barclays Premier League player I’ve seen. For several years every time he came to Anfield with Arsenal he was applauded off the pitch.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Barcelona 2011. Spain 2010.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal and Manchester City

Best meal had on your travels?
Lobster Tagliatelle in Capetown.

…and the worst?
Chicken Kiev in Kiev.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Taj, Boston. I was there for Liverpool’s pre-season tour last summer. I thought there’d been a mistake with the booking when I arrived. Turns out there was. For some reason their computer said I wasn’t due until January, so obviously our travel company had been charged a cheaper rate. It was the hotel’s error so they let me stay and only had a suite available.

…and the worst?
For legal reasons, I dare not name the hotel in Bloemfontein during the World Cup in 2010. It made the projects from ‘The Wire’ look like Disneyland. When England lost to Germany, a seven hour drive back to Sun City was preferable to returning to the fleapit of a room.

Favourite football writer?
I’ll have to be nice about someone here, won’t I? When he was deputy sports editor of the Liverpool Echo, Phil McNulty (now chief football writer for BBC Sport online) was always ready and willing to write something scathingly unpopular if he knew it was right, and was wonderfully contemptuous of those who told him his forthright opinions were wrong. It’s had a profoundly negative impact on my career ever since. If I’d ignored him I could have spent 40 years on a local paper saying how wonderful everything at Liverpool is and mastering the art of sycophancy with every player and manager I’ve met. In fact, his articles about Joe Royle led to me being thrown out at Manchester City on the day I  referred to earlier. He’s been a shocking influence. In all seriousness, I think I was extremely lucky to start in sports journalism working alongside a journalist with his skill.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Clive Tyldesley. Before his ITV fame he worked for Radio City in Liverpool. Most Liverpool and Everton fans of a certain age can recite his commentaries from the greatest games of the mid-80s in the era before television took over.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs
and football writers what would it be?
They (currently) answer the phone at Liverpool and Everton. That’s the important thing. Other than that, I’d urge them to ban all club media wearing the team’s casual sports gear on pre-season tours. We all know what they’re doing, trying to pretend they’re players to those gullible overseas fans. It could have serious consequences if those Thai or Singapore supporters believe that website reporter with sparrow legs is a new signing. It could cost millions in merchandise sales.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
Centre court at Wimbledon. Murray v Djokovic. Men’s Final, 2013.

Last book read?
‘Charles Dickens: A Life’ by Claire Tomalin. And ‘The Gingerbread Man’ by Let’s Start Reading. My two year old is a huge fan (of gingerbread men).

Favourite current TV programme?
The Killing (Danish version) and Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
Signed Liverpool shirt from the last match I covered for the Liverpool Echo.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Steer clear of that moral high ground. It’s a bit overcrowded at the moment and it’s really dull up there. It’s much more fun getting your hands dirty and dodging the shellfire in the trenches. And we need all the help we can get down here, otherwise all those lovely columnists will have no breaking stories to pontificate about.

FWA Q&A: BOB CASS

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The Mail on Sunday’s BOB CASS on missing bums at Darlington…oh dear Cantona… and an Eye-talian lady thinking he was Charles Bronson

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
Apart from two years serving Queen and country doing National Service in the Royal Army Service Corps, where incidentally I played in the same football team as Ron Yeats, Chris Crowe and Alec Young (the Golden Vision) – No.

Most memorable match?
Easy – the 1973 FA Cup final – Sunderland 1 Leeds United 0.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Jimmy Montgomery’s double save in the above match. The greatest in the history of football.

Best stadium?
The now lately lamented stadium that used to house my team, Darlington, where 90 per cent of the 25,000 seats never had a bum on them during a football match.

Worst?
The same because incurring the debt that it cost finished the club as a Football League outfit.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Apart from the usual, accidentally obliterating copy right on edition time on several occasions, I fear that is still to come.

Biggest mistake?
Telling the sports editor there was no truth in the speculation that Eric Cantona was about to quit football.

Have you ever been mistaken for anybody else?
When I sported a droopy moustache, a beautiful Italian lady told me I looked like Charles Bronson. Turned out she had cataracts!

Most media friendly manager?
Kevin Keegan – he talked in headlines.

Best ever player?
Toss-up between George Best and Lionel Messi.

Best ever teams?
Club – Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3, European Cup final 1960; international – Ferenc Puskas’s Hungary side which beat England 6-3 at Wembley in 1953. Two great matches that stick out in my memory after watching both on film.

Best pre-match grub?
Competition is fierce: Manchester City’s ham might just edge it.

Best meal had on your travels?
The Kobe beef in Kobe during the 2002 World Cup…mouth-watering memories.

Worst?
Lyon has a reputation for being the gastronomic capital of France. I must have picked its worst restaurant.

Best hotel stayed in?
Upgraded to a suite in the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo – fabulous.

Worst?
Hotel Ukraine in Kiev. It really was the pits.

Favourite football writer?
There are many good and few poor ones. Henry Winter is always good value.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Age has yet to catch up with Motty and neither has the competition.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers, what would it be?
It’s getting better, but there are still too many incompetent media officers. They don’t know enough about what newspapers are all about and accordingly can be very negative. And no problems – Wi-Fi should be essential at every Premier League club.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
Been lucky enough to cover all the top golf tournaments and been racing at all the top meetings. But my ambition is to go to the Melbourne Cup.

Last book read?
Just finished `Nobody Ever Says Thank You’ – Jonathan Wilson’s biography of Brian Clough. Superbly researched but he never got near the fella.

Favourite current TV programme?
The Newsroom, first series has just finished; can’t wait for the second.

Your most prized football memorabilia
Billy Hughes’ number seven shirt from the 1973 FA Cup final.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Don’t forget to subscribe to Twitter – it means you don’t have to make the kind of contacts that thankfully I did. The game has changed.

(The Football Writers’ Association have led the drive for efficient Wi-Fi at all Premier League clubs and most have this facility).

FWA Q&A: RORY SMITH

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RORY SMITH of The Times on being mistaken for a drugs trafficker in Chile…why Ian Herbert grew a beard in 17 minutes…and Joycey’s two-foot long loaf

Have you ever worked in a profession other than journalism?
Regulars at several pubs in west Yorkshire will bear witness to the fact that I’m a better barman than a journalist. I was a Christmas card salesman for a while, too – in an office, not door-to-door, like some sort of festive tinker – but the best job I ever had was with a landscape gardener. My boss was a raging alcoholic. We’d do a bit of weeding and go for a fry-up, then he’d be off into the night. Or afternoon. Or the morning.

Most memorable match?
A toss-up between the 4-4 between Liverpool and Arsenal in 2009 – the one where Andrei Arshavin used up his lifetime’s supply of talent to hand Manchester United the title – and Tottenham beating Reading 6-4 in (I think) 2007 [it was 2007 but only just, Dec 29 – Ed]. Chelsea against Barcelona in the Champions League semi at the Nou Camp would be up there, too. That was just a ridiculous game of football.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Of the ones that aren’t already on DVDs, Benitez’s press conference after Liverpool beat United 4-1 at Old Trafford was pretty special. Martin Blackburn walking down the steps of the Stadium of Light in Lisbon declaring that he “just wants to know everything about” Angel di Maria, like a love-sick teenager.

Best stadium?
The Stadium of Light. You’re right in the gods, so the view is brilliant, and any ground where they release a bird of prey before a match is alright by me. The Allianz Arena is superb, too. The atmosphere at the San Paolo in Naples is unique, but there is a chance you’ll be stabbed by ultras before you’re allowed to experience it.

…and the worst?
Layer Road in Colchester was horrible. That takes it from Turf Moor on a Wednesday night in January during an FA Cup third round replay. The wind, whipping off the Pennines, cuts to your bones, but the smell of 10,000 Lancastrians lighting up at one end of the Main Stand at half-time just saves it. Also, on a side note: the press box at White Hart Lane. Really? Is that really the best you can do?

Your personal new-tech disaster?
I’m not sure it was my fault, to be honest, but the wifi at the Artemio Franchi in Florence is abysmal. We were there for the beginning of the end of Benitez’s Liverpool, and there was some intricate financial story breaking at the same time. None of us had any phone signal, any wifi, or any understanding of what a share issue was. That’s probably the single most stressful hour of my life, alleviated only by watching Ian Herbert’s face melt with the pain of it all. He used to look quite young, did Herbie. That night did for him. He grew a beard in 17 minutes.

Biggest mistake?
Many and various. Asking Steven Gerrard after the 2012 FA Cup final what the mood was like in the dressing room. Mistaking Cristian Rodriguez for Mariano Gonzalez – or vice versa, I’m still not sure – after boasting that I could get us a Porto line in an Old Trafford mixed zone was pretty embarrassing. My favourite is suggesting, in the spirit of Garth Crooks, that Jonny Evans’s form was so good that it was a mystery why Fabio Capello wasn’t picking him for England. Mark Ogden still asks me when I think he’ll get the call up.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
I was once mistaken for a drug trafficker by a border guard in Chile. That may not be what you meant.

Most media friendly manager?
I’m contractually bound to say Rafa Benitez, but very few would agree with me. Roberto Martinez is brilliant to talk to, and David Moyes if the mood takes him. The most interesting – this sounds deliberately offbeat – was Ralf Rangnick, who used to be at Hoffenheim and Schalke. Perfect English – obviously – and really engaging on stuff like training methods and his playing philosophy.

Best ever player?
Messi, Maradona or Pele, depending on what floats your boat, I suppose. That’s quite boring, isn’t it? The ones that I loved watching when I was younger were Juan Roman Riquelme and Rui Costa. That laconic style, the effortless grace, the impression that they’ll stroll to the side of the pitch and have a smoke in a few minutes. That’s what football’s all about. I also spent much of my teens nursing an unhealthy obsession with Patrik Berger.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
I suspect I’ll tell my grandkids that I saw this Spain and this Barcelona play. The best teams are the ones that change the game, that leave the sport different. Both of those teams fall into that category, with Holland in the 70s, Brazil from 1958 to 1970, and Sacchi’s Milan.

Best pre-match grub?
Manchester City. The pick and mix puts them ahead of Arsenal’s ice cream. I have fond memories of the buffet at Watford when Boothroyd was there. It was like going to a children’s party (as in, that’s how I remember children’s parties being, not that I go to a lot of children’s parties now). Nothing’s a patch on when QPR had their catering done by Marco Pierre White, though. That was incredible.

Best meal had on your travels?
Henry Winter and Matt Lawton insisted on trying one of the little home-kitchen things in Lyon when Liverpool played there, and the food was magnificent. More magnificent was the fact that the usually reserved Paul Joyce managed to put away an entire loaf of bread during the course of the evening. Not like a Warburton’s Toastie loaf, either: a big, two foot long ciabatta. He loves bread, Joycey.

…and the worst?
Czech garlic bread in Ostrava. Just a loaf – an actual loaf – with whole cloves of garlic stuck in it. It hadn’t even been cooked.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Westin Palace in Madrid is pretty good: we had to swap with the Liverpool players for some reason, so they stayed in a Novotel or whatever, and we got their rooms at the best hotel in the city. Payback, that’s what that is.

…and the worst?
Er, the Stadium Apartments in Donetsk. I say “er” because it’s not really a hotel. It was a one-bed flat in a proper old Stalinist block on the outskirts, in an estate filled with mangy dogs and endemic sorrow. There were no towels, no hot water, no pillows and no duvet, though the latter two weren’t really relevant because there was no bed. There was no wifi and no plug sockets. It cost, I think, £500 for two nights. Slap on the back for Commodore.

Favourite football writer?
There are far too many to mention. There are loads of journalists who you read and think either you wish you could write like that or you wish you could get stories like that. The two who maybe don’t get the credit they deserve are The Times’ George Caulkin and Dion Fanning, at the Irish Sunday Independent. Both are genuinely different, which is a rare skill.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Ian Dennis [senior football reporter for Radio 5 Live], because of his famous love of wine gums. He carries two “grab-bags” wherever he goes, dishing them out to strangers and friends alike. He has the “there’s a moose, loose, aboot this hoose” advertising campaign of the mid-90s as his ringtone on his Nokia 8210. He has a dog called Maynard: that’s how much he loves them. That’s a little-known fact, but it is very much a fact.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Something the FWA could help with, actually: I think we should get a compulsory mixed zone after Barclays Premier League games. Not a press officer going into the dressing room and asking “do you want to do the press?” in the same tone of voice as someone might ask if you want to attach electrodes to your genitals or lick a tramp, but a roped-off area where the players actually have to walk past the press, and decide if they want to talk to them or not. Make them front up, as they say in east London and films.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
Live, no holds barred, man on man Kabbadi. I reckon a Super Bowl would be pretty good, and it has built-in breaks for snacks, too.

Last book read?
*Desperately tries to think of something pretentious* My girlfriend’s got me into William Boyd – he gives good story – and before that Inverting the Pyramid. On a point of principle, I don’t buy Jonathan Wilson’s books, because I don’t want to contribute to his debauched, Bacchanalian lifestyle. But I saw that one in a bargain bin in Books Etc, so figured he wouldn’t be able to buy too much speed with my money.

Favourite current TV programme?
I quite liked The Newsroom. Especially the bit where all these producers in America are sitting around watching stories develop and they say: “Does anyone have a contact in the Jordanian militia?” And then two put their hands up and say: “Oh, I was at college with the man who does the catering for Hezbollah. He’s staying at my house at the moment.” Oh, and the Bundesliga highlights on ITV4. I love the commentary. “That’s a second goal for Aaron Hunt – and don’t forget, his Mum’s an Englishman.”

Your most prized football memorabilia?
I don’t really have any, to be honest. My Dad was 70 this year and Coventry City very kindly provided pictures of the 1935 and 1936 teams of which my Grandad, noted left-back Bernard Smith, was a member. He cost £1,000, did Bernard, in 1932. He was described as “young” at the age of 28, and his half-time routine consisted of a coffee and a fag. Anyway, I thought it was a really thoughtful gift. He hasn’t put them up yet.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Bring fingerless gloves, and always go back for seconds.

FWA Q&A: ALAN SMITH

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Daily Telegraph columnist ALAN SMITH on the Crazy Gang…Sam Wallace pressing all the right buttons…and Leicester’s lovely pork pies.

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
Only for half a day. When I was 18 I got picked from a long queue outside British Leyland in Birmingham to clean the oil pits during the factory holidays. Good money too – £100 a week. But couldn’t stick it.

Most memorable match?
Has to be Anfield 89 when Arsenal had to beat Liverpool by two goals. We knew afterwards that nothing could ever beat that. What a night, what a journey home and what a weekend.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
England winning the World Cup in Brazil.

Best stadium?
Loved Highbury. It could be a nightmare when you weren’t playing well – the fans were so close to the pitch you could hear all the stick – but what a historic place, from the huge dressing rooms with underfloor heating to the marble halls. No ground like it.

…and the worst?
Didn’t like Plough Lane too much. Not just because it was a bit of a dump with tiny dressing rooms and a dodgy pitch but because the old Crazy Gang at Wimbledon gave you a right going over if you didn’t go into the game with the right attitude.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Like most journos, I’m sure, I have lost my entire piece from my laptop just as I was about to file once. Started panicking like a good ‘un. Luckily, Sam Wallace was on hand to tell me which buttons to press to retrieve it. Cheers Sam.

Biggest mistake?
Stretching for a ball at Millwall in January 1995. Tore my cartilage and never played again.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Not really. But my Alvechurch team-mates called me Seb after Seb Coe.

Most media friendly manager?
Roy Hodgson was always helpful as a club manager and remains so with England (before he caught the tube anyway). Sam Allardyce too. Usually manage to have a good chat with Big Sam before his games. Not always about football either. For someone from Dudley he’s an interesting bloke.

Best ever player?
Thought I’d never see anyone better than Maradona but Lionel Messi tops him. Unbelievably consistent with a fantastic temperament. And never gets injured.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
I’ve got to say Barcelona who were probably at their best when they beat Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League final. Unstoppable, whatever you tried. On the international front, the present Spain team aren’t bad. But I did love Brazil in 1970.

Best pre-match grub?
At the home of football of course – the Emirates. What a spread. That said, Leicester did a lovely pork pie back in the 80’s.

Best meal had on your travels?
Arsenal stopped at the Palace of Versailles hotel before facing PSG one year. The creme brûlée was out of this world. And before we played at Torino, the lasagne was spectacular.

…and the worst?
The ones when we lost afterwards. If in doubt, blame the pre-match meal.

Best hotel stayed in?
Perhaps that one in Versailles. Properly elegant set in beautiful gardens
…and the worst? The one in Tirana when England played Albania in late 80’s. The bed sunk down in the middle and the water was brown.

Favourite football writer?
If I’m forced to stray off piste and nominate someone outside the Daily Telegraph, I’ve got to say Martin Samuel. But special mentions reserved for Henry Winter and Paul Hayward.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Love everyone at Sky Sports obviously. But I also like John Murray and Mike Ingham on 5 live.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Make sure the Wi Fi works.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
The Masters. Always working when it’s on but one day I’ll get there.

Last book read?
Catching the Sun by Tony Parsons. A great holiday read. Miss that sunbed already.

Favourite current TV programme?
Boardwalk Empire.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
My memories really. Never been one for putting too much store in medals.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Never take this job for granted. It’s a fantastic way to earn a living.

FWA Q&A: Barry Flatman

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BARRY FLATMAN, taking a trip along memory lane, on being called Colin…Chairman Ken going down…and a Big Apple hair-dryer from Fergie

Your first ever job in journalism?
Covering Hayes in the Isthmian League for the Middlesex Advertiser and Gazette. I started on the Monday and the following evening went to pre-season training. An extremely tall and muscular teenager in a woolly hat, who appeared to have been working on a building site all day, turned up to sign. His name was Cyrille Regis.

Have you ever worked in a profession other than journalism?
In between leaving school and going to college, I worked in a builders’ merchants. I realised it probably wasn’t my true vocation in life when somebody told me to go to stock-take the gravel.

Most memorable match?
It does rather date me, but the 1975 FA Cup Final. Being a Fulham man the memories are not particularly joyful and, unfairly I think now, a picture always forms in my mind of goalkeeper Peter Mellor almost waving the West Ham forwards through like a policeman directing traffic.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
The night I was as Luton v Millwall [in 1985] when the rioting away fans ran onto the pitch and started hurling turf and anything else they could rip up at the press box where I and several other intrepid reporters were desperately trying to file copy down telephones. Perhaps it might have elicited a medal for bravery whilst under fire. Either that, or a moment in the Stamford Bridge foyer. Chelsea had just been relegated and their then chairman, Ken Bates, fancied purging a bit of malice on the gathered press corps. “Going back to your council houses then?,” asked Chairman Ken as he got into the lift. “Going down, Ken?” replied Joe Lovejoy, then of the Mail on Sunday just before the lift doors closed.

Best stadium?
Having primarily covered tennis for the last couple of decades, I have never experienced the luxury of the Emirates or the Etihad. Thinking back to my football writing days, for atmosphere it was hard to beat a big European night at White Hart Lane, but for sheer magnitude the Nou Camp (or Camp Nou if you like) is some place.

…and the worst?
These days I figure well down the pecking order of the Sunday Times’ match-list when there is no tennis and I am sent to football. I always cringe when I’m told the destination is Crystal Palace. Has that press box been updated since the days of Big Mal? Birmingham City is also pretty awful and so is Portsmouth, but of course they are skint.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
It was back in the days of the Tandy and those two muffler connections we had to strap to a telephone receiver. In a fit of temper, when I could not get the things to work, I wound the elastic fastener so tight it snapped and was made to pay for a new pair by then Express sports editor Ken Lawrence.

Biggest mistake?
It happened just the other week during the US Open when Sir Alex Ferguson gate-crashed Andy Murray’s press conference with Sir Sean Connery. I could be wrong, but he appeared to have had a glass or two of red wine and was very convivial. So I chanced a joke to him that it was the longest he’d spent talking to the press in years. At first he laughed but five minutes later in the corridor outside growled: “I’ll remember you.”

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
For a while Graham Taylor always used to call me Colin. “How are you Colin? Nice to see you Colin. No, you cannot talk to that player Colin.” When I later pointed out the error to him, thinking he was having a Trigger-like problem from Only Fools and Horses (Rodney always being called Dave) he admitted to mixing me up with Colin Gibson [ex-Daily Telegraph football correspondent].

Most media friendly manager?
Tough one this because two stand out. Back in the day, you just couldn’t beat Jim Smith. Always helpful, regularly comical and more often than not an invitation into his office afterwards for a glass of something. The late Ray Harford was also a top bloke; he didn’t suffer fools but was always totally honest which couldn’t be said for some of his contemporaries.

Best ever player?
As a kid I used to love watching Rodney Marsh play, George Best was somebody really special and nobody, but nobody had the class of Bobby Moore. In a working capacity, the most naturally talented player I have regularly written about would have to be Gazza.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Barcelona of the current day, and Brazil of 1970.

Best pre-match grub?
I don’t know about pre-match but you couldn’t beat the scones with jam and occasionally cream they used to serve during half-time at Craven Cottage.

Best meal had on your travels?
In terms of magnificent setting then it’s Doyles On The Beach, across the harbour from Sydney. But for great food then I make it a tie between Santopadres in Rome and Smith and Wollensky in New York.

…and the worst?
Now I like Chinese food in Britain. But in the Press Restaurant in Shanghai a few years back they served up things I wouldn’t feed to the dog that always used to chase me on my paper round.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Park Hyatt in Dubai. I walked into the suite I had been given and felt a compunction to ring reception to ask if there had been some kind of mistake…but I managed to fight off the urge.

…and the worst?
The Shinjuku Washington Hotel in Tokyo. Some might call the ability to touch all four walls whilst laying in bed – homely but I drew the line at pillows that seemed to be filled with pebbles.

Favourite football writer?
In terms of dedication to duty and being well informed then I don’t think you can beat Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph. Of the younger breed I go for Tim Rich of The Guardian or Sam Wallace on The Independent.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Mike Ingham (radio) and Martin Tyler (TV). Both consummate professionals and very nice blokes in the bargain.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
In tennis the press are still regarded as part of the sport rather than aliens. We are allowed to mix with the players and are therefore on first name terms with megastars like Nadal, Federer and Murray. I appreciate it is asking the impossible in today’s football but it would be a reversion to the way things were back in my days of football scuffling. I don’t expect perpetually open doors to the press at training grounds or players’ lounges but football writers should be not be regarded as a huge threat.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
Being at the Ryder Cup when Europe made that astonishing comeback or watching Usain Bolt win gold.

Last book read?
Reelin’ In The Years by Mark Radcliffe…a thoroughly entertaining read for somebody of my advanced age who has always liked music but admits to being completely non-plussed when somebody called Example entered the Fulham press room.

Favourite current TV programme?
Much to my family’s dismay, whenever at home I tend to get engrossed with Sunday Supplement. Then I get annoyed at Sky Sports for not having a tennis chat programme so I could pick up the same fees.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
The match programme from Aston Villa beating Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final signed by all the players. They were the good old days when the press were allowed to go out and celebrate with those who did it on the pitch.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Honestly, I would struggle to advise any youngster wanting to come into the football media world on the ground floor when I see so many hugely talented and experienced writers being thrown out of the top storey because newspapers are trying to save money and see such professionals as dispensable.

Barry Flatman is the Sunday Times’ Tennis Correspondent and has been on the tennis tour for 20 years. Before that he was a football scuffler for the Daily Express. He decided to give up front-line football reporting because “I got pissed off with George Graham being so unhelpful and the likes of Eric Hall and Jerome Anderson telling me I couldn’t speak to their players because the Sun paid them more money.”

FWA Q&A: TOM HOPKINSON

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TOM HOPKINSON of the People on packing Hula Hoops and Hobs Nobs…the missing dentist’s chair…and no Kidding, looking like Ronaldo

Your first ever job in journalism?
I had three months on the Coalville, Ashby and Swadlincote Times but have always felt my first proper job was on the Romford Recorder. So many on Fleet Street got their breaks with the Recorder Series – it was and I’m sure still is a fantastic training ground – and I got mine when I replaced the man who replaced my People colleague, Dave Kidd. I’ll be for ever grateful to Peter Butcher, our sports editor, for showing me the ropes and making sure I had skin thick enough for what was to follow. He once read one of my intros to the rest of the office, turned to me, scowled and asked: “Are you proud of that?” “Less so now than I was five minutes ago,” I replied.

Have you ever worked in a profession other than journalism?
I did have a couple of short-term jobs after leaving college, the worst of which was undoubtedly packing Hula Hoops at the KP factory in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. One of the jobs there meant sitting at a conveyor belt watching thousands of crisps passing by, and I promise this is true, if there were any I deemed not round enough for public consumption I had to throw them in a bin. Or eat them. The salt on your clothes at the end of a shift was horrific and it was years before I could bring myself to eat a Hula Hoop again. Packing Chocolate HobNobs down the road at McVitie’s was much more enjoyable, albeit dangerous for someone with such a sweet tooth.

Most memorable match?
As a reporter, probably Tottenham’s victory over AC Milan at San Siro in February 2011. Great atmosphere, a really good game and then came the fireworks at the final whistle when Gennaro Gattuso, who’d been simmering all night, boiled over and butted Joe Jordan. We cleaned up in the mixed zone afterwards and then a big group of us rounded off the night with a very enjoyable meal at Picanha’s Churrascaria, a regular post-match haunt for players from both Milan sides. As a fan, Derby’s 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup in 1993. A thrilling match.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
It has already been done and I never tire of seeing it – Paul Gascoigne’s goal against Scotland during Euro ’96 and the celebration which followed. After the Asia Trophy final in Hong Kong in 2011, a bunch of us headed to Banana Joe’s on a pilgrimage to see the infamous dentist’s chair. Sadly, we couldn’t pay proper homage to Gazza, Teddy Sheringham and Co, because it’s no longer there.

Best stadium?
When it’s full, San Siro. Old-school grandeur.

…and the worst?
Fratton Park. Awful place to work.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Still waiting for it.

Biggest mistake?
I was on ‘Andre Villas-Boas for Chelsea’ fairly early but, a few weeks after writing it, allowed myself to be convinced by a mate on another paper that Guus Hiddink was getting the job instead. We both filed for the Sunday that the Dutchman would be named later in the week; my paper ran it on the back, his didn’t use it at all. A couple of days on, AVB was confirmed. I was gutted, but learned a valuable lesson: trust yourself and your contacts.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
I wouldn’t say mistaken, but there was a time a few years ago when I was often told I looked like Adam Garcia, the actor, or Kelly Whatshisname, the journalist-hating frontman from Stereophonics. These days Dave Kidd’s the only person who tells me I’m a ringer for anyone. He regularly asks if I’ve met the Italian Tom Hopkinson yet – apparently he’s a journalist as well – and he’s adamant I look like Ronaldo. I’ve never bothered to ask which one, but assume he’s talking fat Brazilian rather than pretty-boy Portuguese.

Most media friendly manager?
Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Martinez are gents. And I could listen to Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho all day.

Best ever player?
Igor Stimac. My hero. I remember watching him make Eric Cantona look very ordinary when Manchester United visited Derby for a midweek game in the 90s. And when I met him at the Euros this summer he couldn’t have been more charming, a real raconteur. He did me a great service by recording a video message for my Derby-supporting dad, wishing him a happy Father’s Day and good luck in the London to Brighton bike ride, both of which were on the following Sunday. Suffice it to say, it made my dad’s day … and didn’t cost a penny.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Sorry to be boring: Guardiola’s Barcelona and the 2010 World Cup-winning Spain side.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal. Although I’m convinced the portions are getting smaller.

Best meal had on your travels?
For the food and the setting, Cin Cin By The Sea in Barbados this summer will take some beating. Mark Irwin, Andy Mitten, Steve Anglesey and I spent the evening, erm, let’s call it debating, the merits of tactics blogs with the younger members of our party. We were on the island for the legends tournament, which wasn’t the worst trip I’ve been on. Perhaps the most memorable, though, was a night at the Bed Supper Club in Amsterdam with Rob Shepherd. Within four hours of landing the day before the pre-season Amsterdam Tournament kicked off, Shep and I had good Sunday hits in the bag from Jose Mourinho and Manuel Almunia, so we formed the advance party looking for food and drink. The daily boys rocked up a few hours later to find us lying on one of the beds, shoeless as per the requirements of the establishment, and with several empty plates and wine bottles scattered between us. I still chuckle about the looks on their faces as they surveyed the carnage before them.

…and the worst?
Let’s just say I’ve never found a pre-match meal at St Andrew’s particularly tasty. And I’m being very generous at that.

Best hotel stayed in?
For the room, The Savoy in Florence. Amazing hotel, beautiful city. For the views, the Libertas in Dubrovnik. Stunning.

…and the worst?
I’ve no idea what it was called but it was in Lyon on a Champions League trip covering Chelsea. I was an hour from the airport and an hour from the stadium, and I remember saying out loud as I opened the door to my room: “You’ve got to be ******* joking.” That was before I’d seen the dirty bed sheets, too.

Favourite football writer?
Tough question, because there are some seriously talented journalists throughout the ranks who I have big respect for. I don’t want to sit on the fence, though, so I’ll single out Matt Lawton, who’s perhaps the best all-rounder. I always enjoy his match reports and interviews, and he’s a very good story-getter as well.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Five Live’s John Murray.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
I’m sure this will be the answer most have given but increase the chances to mingle with players, managers and staff at training centres. A bit of chat and banter, football-related or otherwise, will always improve things because it humanises both sides a bit more and creates personal relationships. Spurs Lodge was always good for that but Tottenham’s new training ground, as impressive as it is, has taken it away.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
A Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG. In the stands with the Barmy Army rather than in the press box. That said, I’m not sure I’ll ever cover or attend a better event than Hatton-Mayweather in Las Vegas in 2007. What a weekend that was.

Last book read?
I’m not an avid reader of sports books but I’ve just polished off two back-to-back. ‘Racing Through The Dark – The Fall and Rise of David Millar’ is a really good read and, before that, ‘A Life Too Short – The Tragedy of Robert Enke’. It’s heart-breaking, but everyone should force themselves to pick it up and see it through to the end. An incredible book.

Favourite current TV programme?
Curb Your Enthusiasm is genius and I’m going to say Friends as well because you can still always find a rerun. I love HBO shows like The Sopranos, Generation Kill, Entourage and The Wire, and I’m looking forward to the second season of Homeland. I do occasionally get out.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
I’ve never really been a collector of memorabilia, but I do still have a couple of trophies from my younger days. Nearly 20 years ago, I was voted Players’ Player of the Year for a half-decent Ratby & Groby Under-16s side and I think I’m right in saying Emile Heskey won the club’s Under-15s award that year as well. Terrific footballers, both.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Enjoy the highs and try to learn from the lows because there will be plenty of both. Work hard but keep a healthy balance with the rest of your life. And bring a back-up plan with you, just in case.

FWA Q&A: Tony Banks

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TONY BANKS of the Daily Express on mixing up the Laudrups…upsetting Harry of Romford Market…and drinking with Scottish oilmen in Qatar…

Your first ever job in journalism?
I worked on the Informer group of free newspapers in Surrey/Middlesex area. Started off doing match reports for nowt for them on Kingstonian in the Isthmian League. Wouldn’ t recommend working for nothing though.

Have you ever worked in a profession other than journalism?
Worked in a factory making pieces for petrol pumps, then one packing medicines for Unichem for delivery to chemists. Brilliant moment when we arrived for work and factory had burned down, someone had tried to go through the roof with an acetylene cutter to get to the secure hard drugs section. Marvellous.

Most memorable match?
1991 FA Cup semi-final Spurs v Arsenal.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Obviously, one of my goals for the infamous Kew Barges. There were only two so it wouldn’t be a long clip.

Best stadium?
Probably Craven Cottage – or rather the walk to it through Bishops Park on a sunny day after a pint or two in the Bricklayers.

…and the worst?
Really not a fan of San Siro. Cold and austere – and the wi-fi is a nightmare. And Selhurst Park. Always a traffic jam, always windy.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
At Millwall. They had just knocked Southampton out of the cup in a midweek replay. Rewrite written just on deadline. Push button, piece disappears. Can’t find it anywhere – do it again over phone off top of head, stream of consciousness. That original piece is out there still somewhere. If you find it, send it home please. You’ll know it – lumpy, dull intro.

Biggest mistake?
Blimey. Calling Brian Laudrup “Michael” in a press conference. Tons of them. Called Anna Kournikova “Steffi”. Bit frosty after that. Did a line once that while Arsene Wenger shops in Armani, Harry Redknapp (then Pompey) has to make do with Romford Market. He didn’t think that was funny.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Albert Steptoe. By my mum.

Most media friendly manager?
Can’t really look past Harry – mind you, he can look past me. But a big fan of Alan Smith (ex-Palace).

Best ever player?
Lionel Messi.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Brazil 1970 – though never actually saw them live. Barcelona 2009/10.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal is very good but Chelsea (got to keep in with Theresa) is top notch now. And sweets!

Best meal had on your travels?
Some lovely cookies in Amsterdam. They were nice.

…and the worst?
Moldova. With Spurs. Uefa Cup. Pre-match banquet. Had the ice-cream. Don’t ask. Some of us still scarred by the experience.

Best hotel stayed in?
Can’t remember the name but it was in Qatar. Amazing. But no bar – only place you could get a drink was in a room on 34th floor. Full of Scottish oilmen who had all, oddly, played for Queen of the South.

…and the worst?
Some place in Moldova a long time ago…..

Favourite football writer?
I’m a fan of the news getters – so Pat Sheehan, John Cross, Kevin Moseley, Shaun Custis.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Martin Tyler. And Brian Moore, of course.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Trust us a bit more. Relax. Mostly we are on your side.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
I’m generally late for events, so probably not the 100 metres final. Done a few GP’s, but fancy Monaco.

Last book read?
Robert MacFarlane “Wild Ways.”

Favourite current TV programme?
Boringly, it’s probably Match of the Day.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
Got a sign from Bradford Park Avenue’s old ground. Meat pies 3d. Doesn’t actually say its from Park Avenue on it, but it is.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
First, be persistent. Then work your nuts off and get numbers in your book. More the better.

FWA Q&A: Steve Anglesey

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Daily Mirror columnist STEVE ANGLESEY on undercooking Spear of Destiny’s chips…an un-matey deputy sports editor…plus a loud argument, noisy sex and deep snoring

Your first ever job in journalism?
Book and film reviews for the posh Cheshire Life magazine, mid 1980s. Which naturally led to a job writing about American football in 1987.

Have you ever worked in a profession other than journalism?
As Jamie Jackson never tires of hearing, I worked as a chef in Manchester’s (in)famous Hacienda nightclub in the mid-1980s. I walked out one megabusy Saturday night when, after the manageress had left me alone for two hours so she could go dancing with her mates, she returned to tell me that Spear Of Destiny had complained their chips weren’t brown enough.

Most memorable match?
In person: Attempting to make sense of Man City 2-2 v Liverpool on the last day of 1995/96. Had to fill 12 pages on it overnight for the club magazine. As we’d just been relegated because of Alan Ball’s invisible radio and no players would speak, it wasn’t a best-seller.

In the office: Liverpool’s Miracle in Istanbul. “We’ll be in the pub for last orders,” we said at half-time. We weren’t.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
“Aguerooooooooooo!” I own the DVD.

Best stadium?
Football: The Emirates/The Bernabeu. Other: The Linc in Philadelphia.

…and the worst?
Boundary Park on a cold night. Or on any night. Or day.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
One of my roles in my first proper job was to delete all the previous week’s copy on the servers. With one missed keystroke I managed to wipe out all of the current week’s paper, plus all the files for three magazines we were currently working on. None of it could be rescued.

Biggest mistake?
On my first shift at the News Of The World, circa 1988, I turned up sporting a No.1 cut and wearing a leather jacket and a T-shirt with a Vincent Van Gogh print on it. I had four pints during my break, came back and called the deputy sports editor “mate”. He replied: “It’s mister f*****g mate to you, son.” I didn’t do many shifts there.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Elton John (I guess that’s why I support the Blues).

Most media friendly manager?
Owen Coyle/Ian Holloway

Best ever player?
For City: Trevor Francis. Everyone else: Maradona.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Club: The City team in the 5-1 at White Hart Lane and the 6-1 at Old Trafford last season. International: Brazil 1982, the best fifth-place team ever.

Best pre-match grub?
Corned beef hash and mushy peas, Elland Road, circa 1995

Best meal had on your travels?
Just about anything in New Orleans on NFL trips. The last one was robin (the bird) gumbo.

…and the worst?
Mystery meat in “the best restaurant in Moscow” the night before the Steve McClaren disaster in 2007, washed down by a £16 bottle of lager in Abramovich’s bar afterwards.

Best hotel stayed in?
Essex House, New York or Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans.

…and the worst?
Nameless fleapit opposite Newcastle Station. Went on a dream job for FourFourTwo – watch the Tyne/Tees derby during NUFC’s relegation season under Shearer in Shearer’s Bar inside St James’. They beat Middlesbrough to give themselves a chance of staying up and whenever they scored it was like the opening scene of Fraggle Rock. By the final whistle, a handsome bloke in a replica No.9 shirt was simultaneously snogging one girl while groping, and being groped by, another blonde behind him, out of the first girl’s line of vision. Maybe it was the three of them in the next room who kept me up all night with a loud argument followed by noisy sex and then deep snoring.

Favourite football writer?
Current: Ollie Holt and Martin Samuel. All-time: Hugh McIlvanney.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Current: Martin Tyler and Mike Ingham. All-time: Brian Moore and Peter Jones.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Clubs should take a one-season gamble on improving trust between players and writers by opening the training ground dressing room once a week, NFL-style.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
The Argentina Grand Prix, when/if revived.

Last book read?
Creole Belle by James Lee Burke. He’s been writing the same book for 25 years but it’s always the best book you’ve ever read.

Favourite current TV programme?
Treme, Parade’s End, Girls (starts next month on Sky Atlantic, unmissable)

Your most prized football memorabilia?
Replica Corgi-style model of City’s team bus on the 1956 parade with the FA Cup.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Don’t do a media course at college. Specialise and start a blog about a facet of sport you’re interested in. Use Twitter assiduously. Hassle a website/paper/mag you like, get in on work experience and make yourself part of the furniture. Find a mentor there – someone as good as Ian Stirrup, Alan Lees and Loz Hatton, Danny Kelly and Howard Johnson, Des Kelly and Dean Morse would be nice but you’d be lucky – then watch what they do and try to do the same. And look after your teeth.

FWA Q&A: Lee Clayton

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LEE CLAYTON, the Daily Mail head of sport, on a laptop swimming in Diet Coke…Bradley Wiggins’ sideburns…and trying to be Alvin Martin

Your first ever job in journalism?
I worked at The Sun 25 years ago, aged 16. One of my jobs was copytasting from the wires for the editor Kelvin Mackenzie. I had to learn fast. I worked with some excellent journalists, who taught me high standards and I was thrilled to be part of a team who expected to win every day. It was a good early lesson. In those days, The Sun was must-read. The first read. Nobody else could compete with it. I was a bit laid back, but they knocked it out of me.

Have you ever worked in a profession other than journalism?
I was an outdoor clerk (briefly) for a firm of solicitors in Chancery Lane. I was good at the outdoor bit, but I wasn’t a very good clerk.

Most memorable match?
Can I say three? Manchester United versus Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp. Ribbons on the trophy, intro and match report written…and then Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer intervened. It was wonderful! England v Argentina in Marseille was another dramatic evening in the 1998 World Cup, but my favourite has to be England 4 Holland 1. I was Football Correspondent for the Daily Star and – along with Martin Samuel and Rob Shepherd – spent quite a lot of time following Terry Venables, the England coach, in the build-up to the match. Venables scouted the Dutch players obsessively (which mainly consisted of watching a lot of Ajax). I knew that stunning win wasn’t about one night’s good work, but months of preparation by Venables, studying the Dutch system and uncovering weaknesses. I learned a lot from watching, listening and talking to him. It was a privilege for a young journalist to be given such a football masterclass.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Ray Stewart’s penalty technique…and give it to every England player. Why are England so useless at penalties? When will they learn? Goalkeepers dived out of the way when Stewart hit the ball.

Best stadium?
Nou Camp. Made me think: “How lucky am I to be working here?” I like the charm of Villa Park and enjoyed the hostility of the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, where Fenerbahce play. They turned out the floodlights before Manchester United came out, plunging the ground into darkness. No health and safety there. I have a season ticket at West Ham, but I don’t see too many wins there. Newcastle is the best ground I visited last season – when they were flying. Reminded me of how the whole city comes alive on match day.

…and the worst?
Sorry if this is a bit romantic, but there’s never a bad ground in which to watch football as a fan. I went to Soham Town last season to watch Charlton’s U18’s win 9-0. I love watching games live. I don’t have to work in football grounds now, so it improves all of them! No reason to moan about facilities, cramped press boxes and poison hot dogs.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
A laptop swimming in Diet Coke is never a good idea. Mine happened as David Batty missed his penalty in the shootout between England and Argentina [at France 98]. I knocked over the can. Paul Hayward put his arm around me and said: “Are you ok, mate…you’ve gone as white as a ghost.” I felt sick. My ‘running’ match report had just got through to the office to make the first edition. The rewrite had no chance.

Biggest mistake?
Not working hard enough at school.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
No. But I was recently told I have had the same sideburns at Bradley Wiggins. They’ve gone now. And I don’t have a bike, either.

Most media friendly manager?
Terry Venables, Alan Pardew, Harry Redknapp have to be up there. I also like Mark Hughes, but he’s not very media-friendly! We have had a few discussions about it – and we might have a few more. I like him, though. He’s good company, he was a great volleyer and he absolutely has to win.

Best ever player?
Zinedine Zidane was decent. Messi can play. But can they really share an answer with Alvin Martin? Should have won more caps for England. I loved watching him play as a kid and then as a young reporter. Tony Gale used to complain that I would always give Alvin higher marks in my match reports. He was right. Sorry, Tony. Alvin was the centre half I always wanted to be. Anyone who saw me play will confirm that never happened.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Manchester United’s treble-winners. Watching and covering the football United played, with two wide players, pace and flair was a treat. I interviewed Eric Cantona on the pitch at Old Trafford once and he was huge. I really did enjoy his swagger. He made that Manchester United team and they made him. I was also invited to spend a little time with Sir Alex Ferguson, by Steve Curry. It was a treat talking football with him for a couple of hours. And Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t bad, either. I can’t think of anyone better than the current Spain team.

Favourite football writer?
Alex Montgomery was my chief football writer on The Sun and he wrote match reports that were about the football. It was a pleasure to sit next to him in press boxes and listen to him dictating live reports to copytakers with his soft Scottish voice. He taught a young and very raw junior a lot on those nights. He also had a dignity and a presence that all football correspondents should have (and many do). I do think there are some brilliant writers around now. And they all work for the Daily Mail. Well, most of them do. I’m very lucky to have an amazing team, who can write with intelligence, insight and authority. There is an art to good match reporting on tight deadlines.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
John Motson and Mike Ingham on football while Brendan Foster and Steve Cram called the Mo Farah 10,000 meters absolutely brilliantly. I grew up listening to radio commentaries on Radio Two and it’s the job I always wanted, but never got. Foster and Cram that night, in the Olympic Stadium, delivered a masterclass on BBC1. I do think radio commentary is much underrated. Five Live’s Olympic commentary was excellent too, such as Alan Green at the rowing.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Follow the example of Manchester City.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
The Olympic 10,000m with a British winner in London. Although that can never happen, can it? In the meantime, I’ve got my eye on a Lions Tour to South Africa and a Ashes series in Australia. Probably for when somebody tells me I can’t do my job any more. I hope that doesn’t happen soon.

Last book read?
I’m obsessed with James Patterson. I’ve read something like 30 of his books. They’re not the most challenging, but they are fast and punchy and he brings his characters, like Alex Cross, to life. He’s the Dragon Slayer and very, very cool. I usually read crime novels. I don’t like autobiographies, but read them when I have to. Steven Gerrard’s book with Henry Winter was among the best.

Favourite current TV programme?
I don’t get to watch much TV. I liked the BBC drama Line Of Duty and I especially liked the line from the character played by Lennie James. “Son, if you are going to shoot the king, don’t miss.” And I like Luther, with the brilliant Idris Elba. I can’t miss Match Of The Day, but it needs an overhaul. Maybe I do watch quite a bit of TV. Sky Plus is the answer.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
I’ve kept most of my stories from The Sun, the Sunday Mirror, the Daily Star, the People and the Daily Mail. I’ve kept the good ones; it’s a small scrapbook.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Do it. It’s brilliant. If someone tells you no, don’t believe them. Find someone who believes in you and keep searching for that person. I’ve been very lucky. I found a lot of people who believed in me and they will all tell you that when I was told ‘no’, I wasn’t listening.