大象传媒

What's your role at Euro 2008?
I'm one of two Match of the Day programme editors for 大象传媒 TV at Euro 2008, my colleague Andrew Clement being the other. Between us, we will be in charge of the content for all the live and highlights coverage on 大象传媒1 through the tournament. We'll be based in the International Broadcast Centre in Vienna for most of June. I've used this analogy before, but if the programme is a rally car, then the director is the driver steering it - "coming to camera one, run VT, cue Gary" and so on - and the editor is the navigator, supposedly possessed of a cool head and a sense of where we're going. Only with a file of someone else's football research and a self-penned running order instead of a map.

Favourite team and favourite player?
I grew up in Teesside until my mid-teens, so I support . Graeme Souness and Juninho are probably the two greatest Boro players I've seen. Platini, and Zidane would be my favourite European Championship players. I was lucky enough to be in the stadium when , when even the hardened cynics in the media areas were like spellbound children watching the great man's range of tricks and balletic close control

Ideal sporting dinner guest?
I don't really have an ideal sporting dinner guest, though I'd like to have met that worldly-wise cricket (and football) journalist and commentator,. His assertion that some people "take life too lightly and sport too seriously" remains as valid as ever.

Best bit of advice you've received?
The best advice professionally is that "nothing is as good or as bad as it first appears". In a business where you're sometimes hailed as a genius if a great day's football gets a good audience, or feel crushed when there's a technical problem or your company temporarily loses a contract, it's a useful maxim to remember.

Tell us something the public might not know about you...
And to close the personal section, I've been asked to provide an interesting bit of information about myself. Here goes: I'm much better-looking in real life than in any of my blog photos.

Disappointed the Home Nations didn't make it to Euro 2008?
It's a shame none of the Home Nations made it, though given their respective qualifying groups, Scotland and Northern Ireland perhaps have more reason to feel aggrieved than England. That said, with the exception of , the UK's teams have never contributed much to any modern European Championship Finals. The two most exciting Euro tournaments I can remember were 1984 when no Home Nation qualified, and Euro 2000 where England lost two group games out of three and went home. Based on those and other Euro tournaments, I don't think the quality of the football will suffer because there's no home interest, and unlike any World Cup.

Will there be another surprise winner?
Most of the competing teams have a realistic chance.

Which player will take the tournament by storm?
The Premier League should provide many of the most influential players, from and Pogatetz (possibly) to Cristiano Ronaldo, Ballack, Fabregas, Torres and co. from the "Big Four".

Finally, how many goals will be scored at Euro 2008?
As for the number of goals scored, I'm going to be optimistic and say 85, which would be nearly three a game. Not including . Or being pessimistic, the same tally of 85, but including 30 scored in shoot-outs. Mostly by Germany...