Key to success for Sky sports

What's it like presenting the Premier League on TV?
“The best way to describe it, is it's like pursuing a hobby, and getting paid for it. Which is a lovely position to be in. I enjoy it, full stop.”

Just watching you on TV, you can see that you are enjoying yourself.
“Yes, it's great. Nine times out of ten I have the best seat in the house for the best game of the weekend. There are times when this isn't the case because quite rightly we like to say that we cover the Premiership in all its shades and every team gets its fair crack of the whip.”

There appears to be a great team spirit on the show?
“It is fantastic. Working with Andy Gray is great fun, Martin Tyler is also a great professional, and then there are hundreds of others who are involved.”

How did you start?
“I worked for TV-AM and I got the call from Sky. Initially we didn't have the Premier League but we had the FA Cup and England internationals. Then we added the Premier League to our portfolio. I think most expected us to fail, probably most of them would have liked us to fail, but we never thought that was an option. We set out to change as much as we could as quietly as we could. I think we re-wrote the rulebook, I think if football is not covered how we cover it, then it is not being properly covered.”

Do you think there should be more live sport on terrestrial television?
“I don't know about terrestrial TV I think there should be sport on terrestrial but those who work there are often frustrated that they haven't enough air time. I think the world of TV is changing to such a degree that I think that soon there will be a dedicated golf channel, there will be a rugby channel, a cricket channel. I think the days of multi-entertainment channels are dwindling.”

You get the impression by watching Sky Sports that you are more supportive of the players than other programmes such as Match of the Day?
“I believe that our standards have been set by Andy Gray. Andy having been a player knows how difficult it is to perform week out, week-in. You can't always turn it on. I prefer to give the guys the benefit of the doubt. I never forget that without those players I would not have a job. I never forget that to some degree we are all in the same team. Andy's job is to educate us, and not to hammer people.”