Football and Me - Dan Walker

Dan Pope, Club Website editor

As a keen Saturday footballer, I don't get to watch Football Focus all that often these days, but I'd seen enough of its presenter Dan Walker to know that he'd be an interesting bloke to interview.

Whether watching him on Focus, at golf's Open Championship or even just following his light-hearted chat on Twitter, he seemed bubbly, eloquent and a huge football nut - always a decent combination for an interview.

Having set up the interview via Twitter - a pleasant surprise itself when I saw the number of messages he receives - I went to Television Centre this week to see if Dan Walker the bloke matched up to the person I'd seen on TV.

I wasn't disappointed. For the best part of an hour Dan spoke passionately about a whole host of topics, including his love of broadcasting and his love of Crawley Town, about Respect and money and Twitter, about his Christian faith and how that has shaped his career. But mostly we talked about football, and I get the feeling that if we didn't have jobs to get on with or homes to go to, we could still be talking about it now.

We like to find out how people fell in love with the game. What was your first experience of football?

My Dad was into football and a big Spurs fan. He took me to see Spurs v Stoke at White Hart Lane. I don’t remember the year, but I know Glenn Hoddle was playing. I remember the noise and the whole thing dazzled me really.

I’d always been psychotically into football. I’d build assault courses in the back garden and dribble around cones and I’d spend hours trying to curl free kicks into the side of my Dad’s shed. That’s really where it all began.

Did you play for any school or any club teams?

The first school team I played for was Three Bridges Middle School. I was a huge kid, a good six footer aged nine or 10, so I found football relatively easy at that age. I was heading in goals while defenders were scrabbling around my ankles.

I realised as I got older and everyone got to the same height as me that I was distinctly average at football. But for those first few years my little dreams of being a professional footballer were going along strongly and, because I was tall and scored a few goals, when I was 11 I got asked to have trials at teams like Brighton and Crystal Palace.

That was the time when I thought briefly that I could make a career out of it, but I was a typical deluded youth I suppose. The trials never came to anything because I think they realised this kid was tall and rangy but he runs a bit like a demented crane fly!

Ha! Trials apart, any highlights from your early playing days?

I suppose the highlight of my career came when I was 14 and we played in a County Cup final against our arch rivals, Thomas Bennett. I scored two goals in a 4-2 win - one came off my face and the other deflected off me from about a yard out, but I scored two goals.

The next day in the Crawley Observer, the report said that the game changed at the start of the second half with two fantastic goals from David Wakker!  And that was extent of my noteworthy footballing career really. I sort of knew it was never going to be a career for me but, like everyone else in that team, I just used to love playing football.

Do you get to play much these days? I recall a Twitter profile picture of you striking a ball at Wembley.

I play five-a-side here most Tuesdays. Occasionally Martin Keown will play - he's still a big hacker. I just stroke it around at the back. I'm like a taller, fatter, Ronald Koeman.

The Wembley appearance was a media and music industry game last season. We had Simon Webb [from Blue] up front and a couple of guys from Reverend and the Makers.

It was weird because you're at Wembley but, as soon as the game kicked off, I could have been playing at my local park.

Then every so often you look up and think "strewth, I'm in an 80,000 seater stadium and there's no-one watching!

I put that picture on Twitter because, for a millisecond, it looked like a great strike. I showed it to Mark Bright and he was impressed - "good straight leg". I won't tell you where it finished though!

So a career as a footballer was never likely for the young Mr Walker, but he soon found himself moving down a career path in the field of sport. Having been nominated for a student radio award whilst at Sheffield University - "more for content than expertise" - he developed a real taste for it, although the idea of working in sports broadcasting had occurred to Dan at a very early age.

Was sports broadcasting something you always wanted to go into?

I wrote to Des Lynam when I was 11 to ask him how to get his job. He wrote back to me saying: "Do your GCSEs, do your A-Levels, go to university, don't do a media degree, do something like History or English then do a postgraduate course in Broadcast Journalism and then get a job in local radio." And, bizarrely, that's the route that I took.

Dan won a commentary competition with Hallam FM in Sheffield and, on the back of that, got two weeks work experience which was swiftly followed by a move to Key 103, a local radio station in Manchester. Dan cut his broadcasting teeth at Key 103, commentating on Manchester's two big clubs - a job which began in 1999, a big year for football in Manchester.

After four "great" years at Key 103, television beckoned for Dan. After six months with ITV in Manchester, he switched to the BBC and worked with Gordon Burns of Krypton Factor fame - ask your Mum and Dad, kids - for 18 months on North West Tonight. A move to London and BBC News 24 followed, before work on various BBC Sport output - Final Score, golf, rugby union, Wimbledon - led to being offered the big job as the Football Focus front man.

Football Focus is an iconic show. How does it feel to be the presenter of it?

It's brilliant. Growing up, watching Football Focus with my dad was a big part of my Saturdays. Everybody watched it. In today's world, it's a bit more of an awkward time for people but it's still the most-watched football magazine programme by a mile, and we're always trying to make it more appealing to football fans of the modern day.

When they offered me the job I made a noise not too dissimilar to a teenage girl. It's such a fantastic programme to work on and great people to work with.

To now be sitting on that sofa and presenting it... well it's bonkers really. It's very odd but a real privilege. I'm very thankful to be doing the job that I do.

I know you don't work on Sundays as part of your Christian faith. How big a challenge did that make to get somewhere in the industry?

A lot of people told me I was an idiot and that I'd never get anywhere with an attitude like that, and in some ways I expected it because in the industry it is work all day every day. But I made the stand because I want to show that something is more important to me than the sport that I love.

I absolutely adore football. I still get upset that Sol Campbell's goals against Argentina [in 1998] and Portugal [in 2004] were disallowed as much as anybody else, but I know where to draw the line and I think I have some persepctive on it.

It has made decisions difficult and some juicy, honey-covered carrots have been dangled in front of me over the years that I've had to say no to, but doors have been opened for me which I didn't even think were there for me in the first place. I see that as God directing my life and career. I was told I would never get a job like this without working on a Sunday, but I have.

I've been in this line of work for 10 years now and I know there's a reason for not employing me because I don't work Sundays, so I do longer hours and I'm more enthusiastic than most other people. I know I have to make myself the best that I can possibly be, but I genuinely love doing this job.

Of course, lots of major sporting events finish on Sunday. What if you were offered the chance to anchor coverage of the World Cup Final or the last day of the Open Championship?

Yeah. I haven't been offered the World Cup Final [he says laughing], but I have already been offered very nice jobs that involve being at the climax on a Sunday.  I'm not going to lie and say I've never though "hmmmm", but I've made this commitment and I'm trying to show that there are more important things than the final of the World Cup or the last day of the Masters.

I'm not making a judgement on anyone else who works on that or watches that - it's not a problem at all. I love sport and I love covering it, but there is a line at which my faith in Jesus Christ is more important to me. I'm wholly at peace with the decision I've made. If you wholeheartedly believe in something then I think it's got to make a difference to how you live your life.

Now moving another part of your life, Crawley Town. Can they make the fifth round of the FA Cup?

Definitely. Torquay is a good tie for Crawley. I'm not going to go all Steve Evans and say that we could beat Man United, but most of our players could easily play in League Two and Torquay away is a game that we can win. Then a home tie in the next round would be fantastic.

It's great for Crawley. I know we're getting a bit of bad press at the minute because we're spending so much money and nobody likes the manager. We're one of the few clubs who never sing a song about their boss and I think he knows that.

He knows what he's done in his past [Evans was convicted of tax evasion while at Boston United in 2006] and he'll have to live with it. Having said all that, you can't question the players he's bought with the money that he's been given have been very good buys - Tubbs, Tores, Brodie - he's built a very impressive team.

I'd like to ask about some wider issues in the game now. The FA have this week launched Respect FC, targetted at improving behaviour right across the game, but it comes after a weekend where TV viewers have again seen players swearing at referees. Can Respect work at grassroots level while this goes on?

It's a problem. For me, there has to be an ultimate sanction. When Rafael was sent off against Spurs, he basically told Mike Dean to "eff off" to his face and then showed total and utter disrespect for the ref.

I'm a bit of a disciplinarian when it comes to this sort of thing, but I think if a player touches or swears at the referee then it's a red card and everybody should know that. If you do so after you've been sent off then you should get a longer ban. It would only take one weekend of four players being sent off in one game and everyone will know they can't do it.

That would wipe it out completely. If Rafael knew when he gets that second yellow, whether he disagrees with it or not, that if he tells the referee to eff off that should be an immediate three match ban.  People might say that's harsh, but it would have an immediate impact on the Premier League and that would filter down to the lower levels.

We've just had the fiftieth anniversary of the maximum wage being abolished and I read in the paper today that a top England international in 1957 earned £,1677 (£75,000 in today's money) in a year. That's about one week's salary for many current Premier League players. How does that sit with you?

On some levels I find it immoral, that there's such huge levels of poverty in the world and people earn that, but there's always those sort of financial injusticies wherever you look. The thing about football is it makes a lot of people happy and it is entertainment and the top entertainers earn a fair whack.

I'm not going to sit here and say that it's right for Yaya Toure or whoever to earn over £200,000 a week because there is something wrong with that, particularly when you see clubs like Dover who get to the third round of the FA Cup and I think they got £6,000 out of that FA Cup run.

It's a bit Robin Hood, but I think if there was a bit more spreading of that cash around the game it would help everybody but, having said that, I don't think it's going to happen. There's always going to be injustices in sport, particularly in football because it is such a big business but, without ripping it up and starting again, it's never going to change and, however much people say the bubble's going to burst, they said that three years ago and the bubble's got even bigger.

As the bubble's got bigger the dislocation between players and fans has done the same, at least until Twitter came along. A number of players use it and you're a keen user yourself, so what do you make of the use of this media within the game?

I think it's given people a real access to their superstars. I mean look at Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) - I think he's doing a Q&A session today and he'll get thousands of questions on that. He's England captain! When has the England captain ever given you that kind of access to the way he works?

It has changed football, but I think it has done so for the better. So long as you don't insult Liverpool on it, you're alright!

I like using it myself and, the way I look at it, when I was growing up or if I wasn't doing this job, to be able to speak to the presenter of Football Focus would be wonderful. My wife says I spend a bit too much time on it - but, if somebody asks me a question, has a comment on the programme or says something particularly funny, I just think if I was in their position and I got a tweet back, I think it's a nice thing to do. It's no skin off my nose, so why not?

Or asks for an interview for a grassroots football website!

Exactly. If it wasn't for Twitter we wouldn't be sitting here now.

It's much appreciated Dan. To finish off, I've got a couple of questions from our users about the content of Focus if you wouldn't mind?

Yeah, fire away.

Mike Robinson asks if there is any room for a focus on the grassroots game. Small junior clubs are often the starting point for future internationals, so would that be something worth looking into?

Definitely. Whenever someone criticises the show or asks a question, I'll always take it into the meeting we have on a Tuesday and say "look, people have asked can we do this." A few people have suggested the grassroots and we're not afraid to do things differently. I like the idea of taking risks and I think if you could find the right story and the right way to treat it and go to a club that has produced an international player, then why not?

The final question is from Neil Robinson, on a similar issue but about the women's game. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls play the game every weekend. Neil said they don't expect equal coverage because the men's game is so much bigger, but is there scope for a slot on Football Focus?

I'm not going to come here and say that we're going to start doing something on women's football every week because, if I'm brutally honest, we've got to think about maintaining our audience but I think, Neil's right, we should do more on women's football.

You've got to think about longevity and you can't just do Arsenal Ladies or Everton Ladies or Hope Powell every week. There needs to be enough in that sport to maintain a regular piece otherwise it's just dull to watch because it's the same stuff all the time, but there's definitely more we could do.

In Jacqui Oatley we've got someone who is very closely aligned with women's football, loves it and regularly beats the drum about it. We've got packed programmes every week, but it's a bad thing to say there's no room for that sort of thing becuase there is and we should do more.

Cheers Dan. I'm sure our users will appreciate the opportunity to feed back straight to the main man on Football Focus. Thanks for your time. It's been really interesting.

It's a pleasure.

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Dan Walker hosts Football Focus at 12.15pm every Saturday on BBC1, as well as the Focus Forum and Friday Focus on the BBC Sport website. He also has a blog on the BBC Sport website and you can follow him on Twitter at @danwalkerbbc.

With thanks to the BBC for the use of images.