Geoff Shreeves enjoys seeing the surprise on people’s faces when he tells them he started live Premier League football on Sky.
“Well technically it is true,” says the man who has become one of most recognisable voices in the game with his compelling pre- and post-match interviews. Shreeves then smiles as he explains he gave the thumbs-up for referee Mike Reed to kick-off Nottingham Forest’s game against Liverpool on the first-ever Super Sunday in August 1992.
“It would be a good quiz question,” he says. “I was at the City Ground in my role as a floor manager. I had eight or nine years away from the camera before they finally let me loose with a microphone.”
In the intervening years, Shreeves has built a reputation for refusing to shirk the toughest subjects. Arsene Wenger confessed he wanted to punch him after Arsenal had suffered an 8-2 humiliation at Old Trafford. Shreeves felt like “the man who shot Bambi” when he told Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic that he would be suspended for the Champions League final after being booked during an epic Nou Camp rearguard in 2012. And it was only a few weeks ago that he was abused by Twitter trolls for asking James Maddison about his England prospects.
“I hate being told I ask THE difficult questions,” says Shreeves. “That makes it seem like it’s all about me. “I prefer to say I ask the right questions. Sir Alex Ferguson once said he couldn’t trust people who try to make their name at his expense. If you go in there heavy-handed then you’ll soon get a reputation of just trying to stitch people up. At the same time, you do have to ask questions that are uncomfortable. It’s all about balance. Sometimes you pitch it right, sometimes you don’t. I’d like to think I get more right than wrong because 99 percent of the time my interviews with managers and players end with a handshake.”
Shreeves, 57, has written a book about his experiences at the sharp end of the biggest league in the world. ‘Cheers, Geoff’ is packed with brilliant anecdotes about the biggest names. As you would expect, Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Sir Bobby Robson, Pep Guardiola feature prominently. As well as the time Shreeves took the Premier League trophy to Afghanistan, got a lift with Mick Jagger in the rock star’s private jet, interviewed Kevin Costner, almost drowned Charlie Adam on Blackpool beach and nearly took out Ferguson's eye with champagne before a live interview.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What are your favourite memories of Shreeves' interviews? Let us know in the comments section
Shreeves’ own backstory of how he broke into sports journalism is another jaw-dropper. He appeared destined for a career as a property developer until the housing crisis of the late-1980s wiped him out. “Me and my now-wife Di were living on beans on toast,” recalled Shreeves. “Then I walked into the office of a mate called Kevin Luckhurst while he was on the telephone and I heard him say ‘the bloke you need has just walked in.’ I thought a garden might need clearing out.
“But he was talking to his brother, Mick, the former NFL kicker who used to host American Football on Channel 4. Mick was going to cover Italia 90 for American TV. He needed a researcher - and I got the job. It’s a cliche, but it was a sliding doors moment. I was flying by the seat of my pants at times - even though I would watch David Frost and Michael Parkinson thinking ‘I’m sure I could do that.’ I couldn’t, of course. How arrogant can you be?”
Shreeves also writes candidly about his battle with depression - and how the experience would prompt him to urge Vinnie Jones to seek help when he recognised the Wimbledon-hardman-turned-Hollywood-star was struggling to cope after the death of his wife. “I spoke to Vinnie at one of his film premieres - and he was dead behind his eyes,” says Shreeves. “We knew each other pretty well by then. We had played against each other in a cup final when we were teenagers and after Vinnie had done a piece with me speaking directly to the camera, I told him he should go into acting. Vinnie got the help he needed - and then spoke freely about mental health and how even the toughest people can have problems.”
Cheers, Geoff!: Tales from the Touchline by Geoff Shreeves will be published on 13th October by Macmillan priced £22.00
