Making My Debut In The Champions League

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Interviewing Arsene Wenger for ITV Sport

It all started with a friendly and ended in the Champions League. To say it’s been a challenging and incredibly rewarding few weeks is probably an understatement.

I was recently asked by ITV Sport to do some pre and post match interviews for them. First up, I had the task of doing new Tottenham boss, Mauricio Pochettino’s very first “as live” TV interview in English, at Spurs friendly against Schalke at White Hart Lane. As a North Londoner, the gig was perfect. Just a 15 minute journey to work.

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It was a real honour to receive the call, as I have grown up admiring the work of ITV top dogs Gabriel Clarke and Ned Boulting. Both are exceptional interviewers – so I knew the audience would have high expectations. Trust me, I did not sleep much the night before.

Match day came around and the gig went pretty smoothly. Pochettino spoke well, I was prepared and a good result for the home team made post match fairly straight-forward.

I made the 15 minute journey home itching to have another go. And when I checked my email inbox the next day, that opportunity was staring back at me – but this time in the Champions League.

Without much time to think, I found myself on a plane to Istanbul to cover Besiktas v Arsenal in a Champions League qualifier. This was no friendly.

I did not sleep for two nights – wrestling with nerves and anxiety. I read absolutely everything about both sides – twice. Then before I knew it Arsene Wenger was stood in front of me, and I had fulfilled the brief of delivering a concise 1 minute pre match interview, before an eventful draw gave me plenty to ask about after the final whistle. Job done.

My hat trick of gigs was completed at Celtic for their qualifier against Maribor. I slept like a baby before this one, but the nerves were still eating me up.

A few years ago I was afraid of failure. I seriously would have turned these opportunities down – opting for a quiet life. Then I reached a point where that was no longer an option. This column, making films, and interviewing on BBC and ITV all come with risk attached. Not everyone will dig you. But I feel we should grab the opportunities those before us never had – and enjoy them!

Contributing To A Reggae Boyz Revival?

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Together with the High Commissioner and Jamaica player delegation

I recently helped to organise a very special gathering to discuss the development of football in Jamaica.

 

My interest in Jamaican football stems from the Reggae Boyz World Cup campaign in 1998. Jamaica qualifying for the tournament was on another level. Watching Robbie Earle, Theodore Whitmore, Paul Hall and Ricardo Gardner do their thing in France – set to the sound of horns blowing non-stop for 90 minutes – was very special.

 

Since then, the team have shown promise but never really built on that success. I thought 2014 may be the year Jamaica made it to their second World Cup, as they only had to finish fourth in a group of six to make it to the play offs. Finish third or higher and the dream would become a reality. It was not to be. The team finished bottom, without winning a game.

 

Soon after Jamaica were beaten 8-0 in a friendly by France. A former Jamaica international pointed out to me that the team didn’t pick up a single booking in the defeat. Did anyone care enough out there?

 

Then it dawned on me. I was speaking to so many talented people from the football world with Jamaican roots in the UK who could contribute so much back to the island.

 

I made it my mission to try and open up a conversation about how this could happen. Former Jamaican international, Michael Johnson, one of the most qualified coaches in the world, shared that vision. So together we brought a delegation of former players and coaches to meet with the Jamaica High Commissioner Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet-Assamba.

 

I spend a big chunk of my life in meetings. Some meander without direction or purpose, while others smack the nail on the head with one blow. It was a private meeting so I cannot share what was said, but I can report that it went well and the ball was firmly nudged and is now rolling.

 

But to be clear, this is not about British Jamaicans parachuting into the country claiming to know it all. It is about tapping into the vast knowledge of coaches and working in partnership to develop Jamaican talent back home and also here in the UK.

 

2018 marks 20 years since the Reggae Boyz 1998 World Cup campaign – the goal that year must be to get to Russia to blow our horns and cheer on the next generation.

 

Watch this space…