John Dykes | Presenter and Commentator at The Walt Disney Company

City or Liverpool? That’s one of the questions I posed to John Dykes, Presenter and Commentator at The Walt Disney Company when I saw down with him a couple of months ago while our favourite bands Tool and Prophets of Rage were playing in the background. Available to stream on Apple iTunes today, John also chat with me about: - Why Don Hutchison is also one of his favourite pundits - How he grew up loving sport, loving the language, working in college radio station, dropped out of university, tasted life in Hong Kong and wrote business and showbiz articles, decided to remained in Asia, and finally made his way into football TV and Singapore - What advice he would give to the rise of new generation of Presenters and Marketers ie. When you are good at something, work very hard and never stop improving your skills and listen to people you respect - Why the best day of his career was when he worked at ESPN STAR and covered Arsenal vs Chelsea at Highbury Stadium with the late, great Sir Bobby Robson and Martin Tyler on a freezing March day in England - Why he feels blessed to be a moderator or broadcasting host and present shows about English football - Who his best two bosses in his career are ie. the people who egged him on to be presenter rather than a producer and offer him the presenter job opportunity - Why his early football memories were watching Malcolm McDonald play for Newcastle, 1970 world cup as well as the Newcastle vs Liverpool ’74 English Fa Cup final - How he would like to be remembered in his career legacy - How the cable model when he first started out vs current streaming model and piracy means he has to think on his toes much more due to how people consume content, how he feels his role is still delivering the content he is asked to deliver and let the rest take care of itself - How personal branding factors more in what he does these days - What triumph of branding means to him ie. he stepped away from the self-regarding thing and never personally branded himself in the old days. Back then, people still recognised him but couldn’t remember his name, they referred to him as “ESPN!” - What changed the most in the process and journey of supporting a team or personality eg. An Arsenal fan who also supports Harry Kane is not unheard of in this day and age due to the rise of social media and sports people branding themselves through their image, his views on Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar phenomenon (brand focus for the latter rather than sporting one) - How to apply VAR without changing the rules of the game too much, why he is not anti-VAR and why he thinks EPL is right to wait longer instead of entirely destroying the competition by rushing in new technology - Why it is never all about him - despite it being a huge task working with an awesome panel of pundits consisting of Shebby Singh, Steve McMahon, Jaime Reeves and Paul Masefield on his hit show “Football Focus” and why to moderate, provoke and get the best out of everyone make for great television! - Which team he would choose if it is down to Liverpool or City?