An Evening with Guillem Balague

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Guillem Balague visited the Management School on Friday 9th March to give a talk to staff and students.

Guillem is a Spanish journalist and author who has been a key fixture in Sky Sports' coverage of Spanish football for 20 years. He has his own radio/podcast show on Talksport, 'Inside Football' and has written or worked for The Telegraph, Marca, The Times, The Observer, Talk Sport, BBC, Cadena Ser, 442, World Soccer, Champions magazine, and many other publications in Spain, Britain and worldwide.

Guillem has published extensively, writing the bestselling "A Season on the Brink", an insider's account of Liverpool's 2004-05 Champions' League winning campaign, updated later with the 2006 FA Cup victory.  He has also interviewed numerous professional players and coaches from the world of football including José Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Pep Guardiola, Manuel Pellegrini, Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, and Rafael Benítez. 

During his talk, Guillem spoke about his background, living in Liverpool and his experiences in sports media.  Attendees were also able to ask questions throughout. 

Kristiyan Nikolov, MSc Sports Business student, organised the talk and commented, “I focused specifically on Guillem as he is knowledgeable, successful and an example of a person who has come to a different country and managed to achieve his personal goals.  I believe he has much to offer us as his experience in media is valuable and could show us the true impact of technological innovations in the football industry.”

Kristiyan also went on to say about MSc Sports Business, “This is the first year of the programme and if a student can successfully invite one of the leading sports journalists in the world, then this shows future generations that there are no boundaries.”