E101: Greg Dyke

Greg Dyke’s hugely successful career is defined by leading some of the UK’s biggest and most influential organisations, from the BBC, ITV, London Weekend Television, The FA and Brentford, the west London club he’s supported since childhood. Sport has been a theme throughout his professional and personal life. When he was managing director of LWT in the early 1990s, Dyke arranged to meet representatives of five major English clubs to discuss a deal to award them a greater slice of media rights fees. This meeting is often cited as a catalyst for creation of the Premier League. Famously, Dyke’s ITV was outbid by Rupert Murdoch’s Sky, and years later, when Dyke was a board director of Manchester United, his was the only vote against Murdoch’s proposed takeover of the club. He became Director General of the BBC in 2000, with a reform agenda, famously describing the organisation as ‘hideously white’. In 2013, Dyke replaced David Bernstein as chairman of The FA, leaving in 2016, choosing not to seek re-election. We’re grateful to Nic Coward for putting us in touch. If you’re a latecomer to Unofficial Partner, you can go back and listen to our entire back catalogue, for free, via the website or Apple Podcasts. and if you’ve been with us since episode one, we’re really grateful for your support and interest, and rest assured we’re just getting going.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.