Express & Star

Behind the scenes with Sky Sports at Molineux

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How many people does it take to cover one football match? Well, if you're Sky Sports, it's 75.

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No, that's not a misprint. That's how many staff it takes to bring the armchair viewer the all-encompassing coverage of a Championship game.

Along with my counterpart Stuart Watson on the Ipswich Star and Eastern Daily Press, I was given a half-hour tour of Sky's massive matchday operation for the Wolves-Ipswich game at Molineux last Saturday.

And it's fair to say we were both blown away by the scale of the operation.

From presenters through to producers, commentators, visions experts, floor managers, logistics heads, set men, cameramen, analysts and a make-up artist, quite literally every angle is covered, so there is nothing left to chance as the broadcaster leaves no stone unturned to fulfil the footballing needs of its millions of subscribers.

In fact as correspondents covering our clubs, we wondered how we can possibly compete. Well, we can't!

Inside the outside broadcast truck. The replay area. Natalie Atkinson

Just 15 of those people are employed directly by the media giant, with the rest, who all do technological jobs, made up of regular dedicated freelance staff.

The overall numbers reduce by 10 for League One games because they use fewer cameras than the 14 that were used at Molineux, including a 'steadicam' – a device mounted to the balcony wall of the Billy Wright Stand that moves mechanically and independently up and down the pitch tracking the action as it happens.

On arriving in the Sky truck parked behind the Stan Cullis Stand, we were introduced to producer for the Football League, Stevie Rowe.

He is involved in the whole process from choosing which games they cover to delivering the matchday experience.

"Preparation for the game starts four or five days in advance," said Rowe.

"Monday and Tuesday, I work closely with our analyst Peter Beagrie and the presenter Simon Thomas, and Simon and I will have several chats during the week so we're ready to go with our two live games on Friday and Saturday.

"We get a 50-60 page stat pack, we look at injury news, and catch up with people at the teams such as managers and players to get the latest on what's coming out of the clubs that week."

Thomas adds: "We spend Thursday and Friday going through the stats, looking at the head to head records of the teams and going through the local press, which is where the internet has made our jobs easier."

And with the Championship promotion race involving eight teams this season, Sky couldn't have had it better.

"There has been massive interest in the Championship this season," said Rowe.

"With it being so close we've seen real growth in interest.

Inside the outside broadcast truck. The production gallery.

"It's great for us, especially with us signing a new four-year deal with the Football League."

For the purposes of continuity, the same production crew works on all Championship, League One and League Two games they cover.

As we watched on, presenter David Craig was filing a pitchside piece to camera for Sky News, and that one minute 30 second segment was then uploaded to be available to subscribers on Twitter and Facebook.

Analysis for live games has moved on from talking heads in studios, as Sky believe a pitchside presence gives viewers a more 'real' feel to the coverage, which is why Craig and fellow presenter Thomas were delivering updates from beside the advertising hoardings.

The presenters, camaras and cameramen all disappear in time for the kick-off, so the fans' views aren't obstructed.

Back in the truck, there is a really busy feel to proceedings as I glance up to see a bank of 72 TV screens covering the far wall, all monitored by match director Sarah Cheadle, vision mixer Carl Glancey and several other staff. Two other full-time staff produce the stat packs and the graphics that grace our screens.

Then we move to the other side of the truck which is dedicated to 'VT' – video tape to you and I – where each VT editor has a certain number of cameras to monitor so they can flag up suggestions for replays, analysis later, 'openers' and 'closers' to the programme or a 'showreel'.

Outside, at a ground such as Molineux, which has recently staged Premier League football, much of the behind-the-scenes cabling work is already in place, so it only takes a day to set everything up, while it's packed away within a few hours of the final whistle.

Two different production teams oversee each Friday and Saturday live Championship game but Thomas and Rowe are the only common members of staff for both matches.

But it's not all glamour as Thomas tells us that after leaving Carrow Road after the Norwich v Middlesbrough game on Friday at 10.40pm, he got to his hotel in Rugby at 1.40am.

Then after a five-hour sleep, he was up at 6am to drive to Molineux, where catering provides breakfast for all 75 staff at 9am.

Thomas, a Norwich fan, has already explored his 'nightmare scenario' – an Ipswich v Norwich play-off final.

"I asked the producer if I'd be expected to cover the game and he said 'of course you would'," he said.

But it's all in a day's work for Sky and their 75 staff.