The only way to follow Transfer Deadline Day
Time is fast running out for British clubs in the January transfer window, with many desperate to find players who can transform their season. As we draw ever closer to the deadline, Sky Sports News is getting busier and busier as we prepare for the window to shut at 11pm this evening.
It’s the time of year when managers are desperate to attract new talent, while others will go to great lengths to hang on to their star players. Clubs spent £35 million during the first winter window when it was introduced in 2003. In 2011 this figure reached a record £225 million with major deals involving Fernando Torres, Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez all concluded in the final hours.
As I write this blog, over £100million has already been spent by clubs. Agents are busy, rumours are running wild and at the centre of the drama is the team at Sky Sports News who try to make sense of it all so we can present an accurate and up-to-the-minute news service for millions of football fans.
There is no better place to be than at SSN HQ on January 31 when scripts go out the window and breaking news reaches us all the time. It’s like Election Night twice a year!
Since its introduction in 2008, Sky Sports News Transfer Deadline Day show has become one of the most talked about events in the sporting calendar and compulsive viewing for football fans many of whom are glued to their TVs at home, in pubs and even specially arranged parties! And it’s not just in the UK. Viewers across the world now enjoy hours of Sky Sports News live. Fox Soccer Channel in the United States will be showing Sky Sports News all evening, with TV2 in Norway also carrying our coverage for much of today.
The demand for immediate and accurate reporting has evolved so quickly at Sky Sports News that our coverage has now seen us go global with our reporters jetting to wherever the story is to bring you the facts as they happen. The newsroom buzzes with excitement with everyone pulling together to discover the coup of the day and the want for the latest information is so hot we just don’t stop until 11pm when the window shuts.
Transfer Deadline Day takes a huge amount of planning, which is made more challenging by the fact that we’re not yet sure what the big stories will be. The key is for us to be organised but flexible. We’re lucky we have such a great team here with terrific collaboration across departments to make sure it all runs smoothly.
We have over 100 people working across our multi-platform coverage; this includes more than 20 reporters up and down the country who will deliver in excess of 40 live broadcasts through the course of the evening.
We’ll make sure viewers don’t miss a thing as they follow Sky Sports News’ unrivalled coverage of the Transfer Window Deadline Day, whether they are in front of a TV, computer, or using a mobile device. If viewers can’t watch it all unfold on their TVs, they have a range of different ways to follow it including Sky Sports News on Sky Go, skysports.com and Sky Sports News Radio.
For me, working on Transfer Deadline Day for Sky Sports News is a dream come true. I grew up near Sky’s studios and it’s what I wanted to do since I was a young girl. Having worked my way up the ladder, from joining as a runner to now presenting, I do sometimes have to pinch myself at how lucky I am!
And having seen my co-presenter, Jim White, deliver the news for a long time, I am delighted at the deadline day partnership we’ve forged over the last few years. As Jim would say: “the clock is ticking”
Natalie's blog also appears on The Huffington Post UK.
