Kenny Millar is a sports reporter with The Scottish Sun, getting to interview famous footballing figures and cover matches across Scotland and beyond. His writing hasn’t just been confined to newspapers though, he’s also the co-author of the book Football Manager Stole My Life. We managed to grab a word with him to find out how he made his way into the competitive media sector and what advice he’d offer to people trying to break into journalism jobs.
At what age were you bitten by the journalism bug?
I think I was nine years old when I started writing dummy match reports from games I’d been to. Probably around the time when my Dad, rightly, hinted I might not have much of a future on the pitch. From age 10, I remember being totally convinced that’s what I wanted to do.
Can you describe your path into the industry for us?
I was halfway through my sixth year at school and had accepted an unconditional offer to study journalism at Edinburgh Napier University. Out of the blue The Sunday Post advertised a sports reporter post in Glasgow and, thinking I had nothing to lose, I applied and got it. I could have gone to university, but there was no guarantee I would come out of it and into a job. I also think it’s a job best learned through doing. I got a head-start making contacts, building up experiences and learning from colleagues across the Scottish media. That was in January 2004 and everything has really just rolled on from there.
Being a football journalist is the dream of many people, but there must be a lot of hard work and unsociable hours involved?
It is hard work, but I feel guilty in saying that. I genuinely love my job and appreciate how lucky I am to be in this position – and I think most of the guys in here would say the same. You do work long days, weekends, and even on days ‘off’ you are constantly conducting interviews, talking to sources or arranging things for the next day but that’s just part of the job. It’s a small price to pay for being paid to watch football and speak to some really interesting people.
How would you weigh up the importance of academic qualifications versus experience when it comes to pursuing a career in journalism?
I think it’s different for everybody. I don’t feel as if I missed out by not going to university. By the time people my own age had graduated I had built up a pretty decent contact book, reporting experience at home and abroad in all sorts of different situations and learned from mistakes and successes on the job. I’d built up practical experience in print (with newspapers and magazines) and dabbled in some broadcast work, but I would never advise anyone against going on to college or university. I was very lucky to get the break I did.
The internet has led to many more opportunities for people to write or to create audio or video reports. Do you think the resulting explosion in content has been a positive or a negative for the journalism industry?
The internet has been a positive in that it gives you so many more platforms to break and tell a story – which is really all our job entails at the end of the day. The instantaneous nature of social media and fan forums makes it harder to break exclusives, but by no means impossible. It’s a dream for research purposes and for filing match report copy – by far more preferable than having to do so by phone. I still have nightmares about trying to spell out the Lithuanian national team line-up to a poor copy-taker on a dodgy phone line. As for the explosion of content, there’s a lot of good stuff and a lot of drivel online – which people would argue is the case in print as well. I guess it’s up to the reader to decide at the end of the day what they enjoy.
Football was your passion before you began writing about it for a living. Has your love of the game been dampened or deepened by building your career around it?
I don’t think anything could shake my enthusiasm for football and sport in general! Sometimes it is disheartening when you speak to coaches and players who are less than helpful or rude, just as it’s sometimes not a good thing to know too much about the inner workings of the club you support. But for every time that happens there are tens of examples that restore your faith in the game and importance of it in society. Recently I spoke to a 12-year-old Somalian asylum seeker who has joined Celtic and hopes to provide for his family as a result. That reflects well on the game and the nation.
It must be important to retain a professional appearance but have you been left star-struck by any interviewees?
I can honestly say I don’t get star-struck and I’ve never asked for an autograph or photo. The one footballer who ever left me lost for words was Franck Sauzee, my Hibs hero as a kid. I like to think I could at least mumble my way through a conversation with him now.
Is there somebody you’d love to interview but haven’t had the chance to yet?
Zinedine Zidane was always a favourite of mine. He was THE footballer for me and a complex character. I’d love the chance to pick his brains.
What advice would you give to any aspiring journalists?
Stick in. It’s really hard to get your foot in the door, and just as hard to stick it out when you get there but it’s worth it in the end. There are so many more opportunities to stand out now. Get practical experiences with local newspapers and radio stations, build up a portfolio and pitch ideas you think are relevant to different outlets. Everyone is looking for good content and they don’t care where it comes from if an idea is good or imaginative. Thanks to Kenny for speaking to us. If you want to keep up to date with his latest journalistic exploits then you can follow him on Twitter.