Sky’s the limit for city students
Sunderland journalism students got a glimpse behind the scenes of the country’s leading sports channel straight from the horse’s mouth.
Sky Sports’ Premier League football presenter – and lifelong SAFC fan – David Jones visited the University of Sunderland to share his experiences of life with the satellite broadcaster and inspire some potential Sky Sports employees of tomorrow.
David has spent almost a decade covering live Premier League matches in a career spanning more than 20 years at Sky Sports, and now hosts the flagship live football shows Super Sunday and Monday Night Football.
In 2019, he became a nonexecutive director at the Stadium of Light, taking responsibility for club business such as player and manager recruitment.
He made time between back-to-back Premier League games and a midweek match at Sunderland to be grilled by students at the University’s Sir Tom Cowie Campus on his career, life inside Sky Sports, his role at Sunderland – and
what it’s like to take charge of superstar pundits like Roy Keane.
"I hugely enjoyed my visit to the University, meeting the students – and being on the receiving end of some tough questions for a change,” he said.
"It's clear there is some serious journalistic talent at Sunderland, which is great to see at the University bearing the name of a city so close to my heart.”
David began his own career as a news reporter with the Derbyshire Times in Chesterfield, and then turned to sports journalism after being given the job of writing a piece on Middlesbrough FC – the club closest
to where he grew up in North Yorkshire – ahead of the club’s 1997 FA Cup semi-final against Chesterfield FC.
He has now anchored more than 1,000 live matches, and presented Super Sunday and Monday Night Football for six years.
"I'm delighted to pass on any insight I can to students who share the passion I had when I was dreaming of a career in journalism,” he added.
"I'd like to think that I will catch up with some of those students again one day, whether it's when they're working in the press box at the Stadium of Light, another big sporting venue or at Sky Sports."