This should have been the blog that never was. I am not a football fan. I don’t know much about the game, nor do I have any desire to learn.
So, never in a million years did I think I would ever find anything to say (meaningful or otherwise) on the ‘beautiful game’. That is, until I heard Robbie Savage, Captain of Derby County, interviewed by BBC Radio Derby earlier this week.
If you haven’t heard it, listen again on BBC Sport, but be prepared for a pretty uncomfortable 10 minutes.
So, what went wrong?
I believe Robbie forgot, or worse, chose to ignore the fundamental rules of being interviewed, some of which are:
· Go into the interview with 3 x clear messages of things you want to put across. And stick to them.
· However, do try and answer the other questions asked; then bring it subtly back round to your message – this can work especially well if the interview is not going to plan.
· Never get riled – it’s an interviewers dream, and never, EVER, be aggressive, even if they are being pretty ruthless to you. Remember, you’re not just talking to one person – you’re talking to every listener.
I should never have heard this interview – it should have been a fairly routine 10-minute slot, listened to by staunch Derby supporters living in the near vicinity. That should have counted me out. Absolutely it should have been dissected, mulled and chewed over by fans in the comfort of their own homes or the local pub, as only football fans do best, but that should have been that.
I should never have heard it on national radio, national news, or watched it accompanied by music and images on You Tube, put up by gleeful rival fans. But the momentous ‘horribleness’ (the best non-word I could find) of Savage’s approach to the interview means that I, along with millions of others, have been listening to it with a fair amount of sniggering for the past couple of days.
The moral of the story; don’t underestimate the press – if you take the wrong tack even ‘friendly’ interviews can get savage.
