We chat to Sunderland fan and Sky Sports Presenter/Associate Producer, Dougie Critchley, to discuss his career in sports media, the club’s successful start to the new campaign and expectations around what may lie ahead this season for the Black Cats.
F1879: Can you tell us a little bit about how you became to be a Sunderland supporter?
DC: I’ve been a Sunderland supporter all my life and it came about through a family link. My Grandad (on my Mum’s side) used to work for the club in the 1980s. So although my Dad wasn’t a particularly big football fan, my brother and I got into it through my Grandad and my Uncle attending out first game at home against Everton, around Christmas Day 2000 or so.
F1878: In your early career we note you worked briefly as a runner on Soccer AM, tell us what that was like?
DC: Yes, I had a week’s work experience working for Soccer AM during my university holidays. I was doing a masters degree in Broadcast Journalism at City University, and they encouraged us to try and get as much work experience as possible during the holidays. I was lucky enough to work with the Soccer AM team for a week. Seeing how a show like that came together was incredible, their creative process and work ethic. I helped find clips for their various features and came up with a few myself. A very rewarding week.
F1879: What inspired you initially to pursue a career in sports media, and how did you get your start at Sky Sports?
DC: I was in my final year of my undergraduate degree, studying International Relations, and whilst my friends were starting to pursue careers in finance, law, insurance etc, I knew that was something I didn’t want to do. Sports broadcasting dawned on me, I loved a whole range of sports and had a fair amount of public speaking experience, including student radio and a bit of event hosting. I left university in summer 2016, worked unpaid at a local website, slightly regretting my path, when I decided to reach out to a number of journalists I respected in the industry. A lot of them (including Henry Winter, Dan Roan, Mark Pougatch, Mark Chapman, Ollie Kay) were kind enough to get back to me, and Ollie Kay recommended a masters degree at City University. I called them up but unfortunately they were fully booked for the upcoming year. A few days later, as I was playing a round of golf on the Saturday, they emailed me saying someone had dropped out, and to get an application in. I started on the Monday, and that stroke of luck changed my life.
F1879: What drew you to the world of football analysis in particular and how did you develop expertise in this field?
DC: Football was always my number 1 sport growing up. Although I was very passionate about rugby, cricket, athletics, tennis… basically anything I could consume on the BBC Sport website. But football forged through assisting my brother as he played Football Manager, and watching Match Of The Day blind in the early 2000s (not knowing any of the results) and competing against Mark Lawrenson’s predictions was something that brought me and my brother Fergus so much joy.
In terms of developing expertise, on the back of my master’s degree I must have applied for 30 or 40 different jobs, rejection after rejection and more stints working unpaid. I was lucky enough to eventually land a job at Football Daily in September 2017, which had been bought by Sky the year prior. I worked alongside other football obsessives who taught me so much about how to illuminate arguments with statistics, how to edit videos and operate cameras. Like anything, in order to improve you need to be given an opportunity to, and the guys at Football Daily were my teachers (as well as my mates).
F1879: When preparing related information to share on Sky or other outlets, how do you balance using data and statistics with those personal observations from analysing players and teams yourself?
DC: I always form my arguments from what I’ve observed when watching matches. That for me has to be the basis of any argument. I then know which websites (whoscored, understat, fbref, twenty3) I can use to find statistics that support my argument. There has to be a balance between the “eye test” as they call it, and pure statistics. I think my biggest strength, rather than anything tactical, is spotting trends and narratives, finding meaning in performances and results.
F1879: You cover quite a lot of European football, how do you feel some of those leagues compare with the EFL Championship, the division Sunderland find themselves?
DC: They are all so uniquely different. The Championship is a lot less technical and a lot more physical than many of those Leagues. La Liga is the slowest, most technical and at the moment, the most defensive in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. The Bundesliga is pure frantic emotion, end to end, massive crowds, huge noise, fast paced. Serie A is in my opinion the most competitive, with 7 or so teams that could easily take points off each other at any stage. Ligue 1 is the best place to spot emerging talent.
F1879: What are the biggest challenges you face as a football presenter/analyst, especially when discussing controversial moments or players and then speaking live on camera!?
DC: The part that people don’t see, is that the producer/director is talking in your ear at the same time. Telling you when something is going to come up on screen, how long you need to speak for, whether you need to wrap up etc. I’m still getting used to that, and as helpful as it is, it can be challenging to keep your flow and momentum. It’s all about staying calm, not rushing… and remembering that although live TV is stressful, we aren’t saving lives. Mistakes are inevitable and luckily they don’t (in the grand scheme of things) really matter.
F1879: In an industry where you are focused on providing opinions how do you deal with the inevitable challenges from fans or other presenters, especially when your opinion may go against their own?
DC: Other presenters are generally incredibly friendly and easy to work with, it would be very rare for someone to attack you personally or belittle you. They ultimately understand that you are just trying to make content, and show your opinion.
Fans… different story. As my profile has grown over the years, people care a lot more about what you say. Which is a blessing but also a curse. Some fans cannot take any sort of nuisances criticism of their favourite players or teams, they are quick to say you have an agenda against them or in some cases insult you personally. Unfortunately death threats, threats made against your family and others do occur. Ultimately I end up feeling quite sorry for these people, they have lost all perspective. The moment you get personal in any discussion, you’ve lost as far as I’m concerned.
F1879: What advice would you give to those aspiring to follow a similar career path to yours?
DC: I always say that the best thing anyone can do… is to start making content now! If you want to be a podcaster when you’re older, start a podcast… if you want to be a written journalist… start writing match reports, blogs etc… if you want to be a presenter… start filming yourself. When I was at University I started a blog rounding up Premier League fixtures which I eventually vlogged and put on Facebook. It was watched by 50 or so people, most of whom were my Mum’s friends. It can be cringey, it can be embarrassing, but don’t care about what people think, the only way to get better is to start putting yourself out there, start working on your craft.
A lot of people are passionate about sport, it’s a fiercely competitive industry, so what you need to do is start putting together a body of work, to show people and say “look how much I want this.” In the age of social media, there is literally no excuse!
F1879: What have been some of your most memorable moments supporting Sunderland over the years and have they impacted upon how you find yourself covering football professionally?
DC: By the time I got my job at Football Daily, Sunderland had been relegated to the Championship, so my first experience of working in the industry was Sunderland doing the double drop. My best memories are from the early 2000s with Peter Reid and Kevin Phillips, the Martin O’Neil days with Sebastian Larsson etc and of course the 2022 League 1 playoff final which I was lucky enough to attend. A great day!
F1879: What are your thoughts on Sunderland’s performances so far this season, and to what do you attribute their early success?
DC: Absolutely incredibly, but for me quite unexpected. After a protracted managerial search this summer, I did not see this start coming. Until a few shaky recent performances we’d been close to perfect. I think a lot of young players have taken a noticeable leap this season (Bellingham, Rigg, Cirkin) in particular, Mundle has done a great job of replacing Clarke and we’ve signed some great players Isidor and Mepham in particular. Big up Regis Le Bris!
F1879: Given the exciting start, but also recognising things can change quickly, what are your expectations and hopes for how the rest of Sunderland’s season might unfold?
I’m just loving the journey, right now I’d love to finish in the Top 6 and have a chance at the playoffs, and that’s where the underlying numbers points to. But given where we are, at this stage of the season… we should dream big! What a season so far!
Thanks to Dougie. Follow him on X.
