An Accidental Career in Soccer Media – Chapter 2

The hook we decided upon was that of providing exclusive recorded interviews on a weekly basis with anyone and everyone connected with Hibernian FC.  A grand idea for sure, however one which required the permission of Hibernian FC if it was ever going to get off the ground.  I have to say right here and now that the club were absolutely brilliant with us from the get go and really liked the idea and what we were doing. Permission was duly granted for us to conduct a weekly interview which we would arrange via then manager, Bobby Williamson.

At this point I will say on record that on a one to one basis I found Bobby Williamson to be a very amiable chap and certainly far from being the gruff individual he perhaps came across as when dealing with the mainstream press or TV.  I’ll always remember seeing him on the Friday after we beat Rangers on penalties in the CIS Cup Semi Final at Hampden. He asks me … “Cliff were you at the game on Wednesday there?” I reply “Yes.”  Bobby follows up with  “Aye, I thought I saw you jumping up and down on the seats, did you have a blue jacket on?”     ”Yes” I reply again, a little more sheepishly. “What the **** were you wearing a blue jacket for?”  he retorts whilst shaking his head!  That gave me a wee chuckle! 

Anyway, I digress as I have a habit of doing! One of the early interviews we did with Canadian defender Paul Fenwick certainly had sufficient content for Edinburgh Evening News reporter David Hardie to produce a story around it for which he duly credited us in the paper. I’d provide a link but the site doesn’t permit them! I still have it saved for posterity though! Wow .. we’d arrived with a bang with being mentioned in the local rag after just a mere few weeks in existence! 

On the subject of interviews, the first interview which actually aired on Radio Hibs dot net was with Hibee legend Keith (Keith Keith Wright. A very good interview as I recall it, conducted by Stuart Crowther but one which I don’t sadly have a copy of.  I’m sure Stuart will have somewhere though.

That said, in only our second live show we actually had our first celebrity Hibee in situe namely Mr Paul Kane. “Kano” came along to the “studio” in Stuart’s spare room and brought along some smashing prizes such as a limited edition print and signed goodies. I have to say I can’t remember what Kano’s question was or who actually won the prizes but whoever it was would have been delighted with them. Kano’s appearance came about as a result of me attending a Sportsman’s Brunch in some hall near Shrubhill on the Sunday following our first show. Kano was also an attendee at said Brunch. Not being the shy type I introduced myself and extended an invitation to appear on the show. Kano readily accepted, mobile numbers were exchanged and the job was a good ’un for the following Saturday and show number two! As it happened, another Hibernian legend namely Jim O’Rourke was also in attendance and was also duly invited to be a guest. “Rourky” too accepted the invitation although his appearance came a little further down the line alongside another Hibee legend. More on that in a future chapter … if I remember!

Anyway, only a few weeks into the radio thing fate was about to play a wee hand in how I eventually came to be doing what I now do! Utility man (he hates that term!) Derek Townsley was our guest player and Stuart invited me along to Easter Road on the Friday lunchtime to let me see what was involved. Everything seemed pretty straightforward until I got an e-mail from Stuart later that evening saying that for some reason or another his recorder had ****** up (I think were his exact words) and therefore we’d have no player audio for the following day’s show.  Now in those days that wasn’t a huge issue for us because we also played music to fill in the gaps and in fairness, none of Stuart, Andrew or I were/are shy when it came/comes to blethering about the Hibees! I have to also say at this stage that despite being only three or four shows in we had already built up a healthy wee audience who also got involved via both e mail and an interactive chat page. Suffice to say we managed to fill the two hours!

Anyway, Derek Townsley being the first class guy that he is happily agreed to re-do the whole interview the following week. Stuart however was a bit reluctant to do it himself again and suggested that to freshen it up from Derek’s point of view, maybe I’d like to do it. I’d never done such an interview before however I was reasonably comfortable in interviewing people for jobs at my place of gainful employ so I thought it can’t be much different speaking to a fitba’ player … can it? Just remember the six honest servants … who, where, what, when, how & why and you’ll be brand new!

At this point I have to say a big thanks to Stuart for providing me with the opportunity to do that interview but I would also offer equal thanks to “big Del” for making it so easy. He really came across as a big likeable guy who was very down to earth and very easy to speak to. It very quickly became like talking to a mate in the pub. That is in fact almost the case as far as Derek & I are concerned as from that day he and I indeed developed a friendship which still continues despite him now being back down in Carlisle. I’ll try to get down to Anna at some point this season to take in one of his games but we still converse regardless about how Hibs are doing and Derek definitely considers himself to be one of us. So much so that EVERY text or e-mail I get from him ends with GGTTH!

Building such relationships is one of the things we pride ourselves on at Radio Hibs/Hibernian Interactive call us what you will. Our approach to dealing with the lads is such that we want them to feel like they’re having a chat with a mate. Or 10,000+ mates! We’re Hibs fans doing this for Hibs fans and that green and white bias is what it’s all about!  More so, the players and staff at the club all know by now who we are and what we’re about and they’ll often speak to us about things they probably wouldn’t speak to the “proper meeja” about!! We’re not in the business of looking for angles!

Anyway, I’m slightly digressing there but back to Mr Townsley. The upshot of my debut interview was that Stuart for whatever reason (you’d need to ask him) seemed to think I was more suited to the task of interviewing than he was and promptly suggested that maybe I’d like to continue in that role. As a dyed in the wool Hibee needless to say that was one offer I wasn’t going to turn down. I mean the chance to speak to the Hibs player of your choice on a weekly basis. “I’ll have some of that”  I thought!!

Six and a bit years on I’ve now totally lost count of how many I’ve done. I do know though that for the first fifty six, I have every one recorded on CD, labelled, dated and signed by the player(s) in question. The most prized probably being of the dual chat I had with Messrs Riordan & O’Connor the week before they both played for Scotland against Austria. I’ll talk a little more about which I personally think were the best, worst, funniest etc. later in the series. (Series I hear you say … OMG how long is this going to last?  Well at over six years now it’s a long time! )

Anyway ….. there’s still plenty more to come including tales of garden sheds, the house with no electricity courtesy of the Whispering Dick, the night before Christmas Eve with a Hibernian legend and the player who was such a fan of Radio Hibs that he did his own show!

See you for chapter 3!