Hayley McQueen has pretty much seen it all during a presenting career on Sky Sports that has spanned over a decade - but she admits she got more than she bargained for earlier this year.
Viewers were left concerned after the 42-year-old became visibly upset while presenting live on Sky Sports News back in February amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Following a segment on the conflict, McQueen struggled to introduce a recorded interview with John Stones before an advert break.
She took to Instagram to explain how the ongoing issues in Ukraine had affected her - and she admits that dealing with deeply sensitive issues like the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is something that she didn't necessarily expect. It's something you can't really prepare yourself for.
"You have to be really strong. Imagine if I was presenting for Sky News; you couldn't have gotten away with that!" she tells Mirror Football . "They're probably made of stronger stuff, which is why most of us work in sport because we're there to entertain. Unfortunately, over the last few years we've dealt with doping, corruption; Pablo Mari was stabbed the other day. It's heavy, heavy stuff that I never thought I'd have to deal with when I first entered Sports Journalism."
Recalling the incident in question, McQueen reveals that one of her senior directors, Katherine, and her family are Ukrainian. Ahead of going on set, McQueen herself had been keeping abreast of the latest developments by watching Sky News rather than Sky Sports News.
"I just remember seeing all these little children whose fathers were waving them off to head into the unknown. I remember seeing these tiny little kids, and my little girl was two at the time, and there was this little girl with a little snowsuit on with a bunny rabbit under here arm, which is exactly the same as my little one. And I just thought, 'Can you even imagine having to pack up and not knowing whether you were going to see your home again?'. I just thought about it too much."
McQueen, who was wearing yellow and blue to show support in the wake of the Russia's devastating invasion, reveals that one of Sky's production team was wary over donning the colours.
"I was actually wearing blue and yellow to show support and it became okay to do that after that. One of our production team said, 'I'm not really too sure if you should be wearing blue and yellow', and I said, 'Well I absolutely am, I want to let people know that we stand with them and we support them'.
"Bradford, where my producer and her family are from, have a big Ukrainian following and were playing that day. I knew they were all watching and waiting for news on their family waiting, to hear if they were safe or not. I just thought if there was a way you can show that you actually care, then why not? That's why football can be so wonderful sometimes - it unites people in such a unique way."
When McQueen broke into the industry prior to joining Sky, she was breaking ground in a male-dominated industry. And while she has welcomed just how significantly the landscape in sports journalism has changed over the years, she believes more needs to be done.
"The industry is more competitive. I was one of very few, now I am one of very many. I see a lot more females getting a lot further with a lot less experience than I had, because people are now open to giving females a chance. Females now aren't just there to ask the questions - we have females with incredible podcasts, a lot of great YouTubers and influencers as well. It's nice that we are being given the opportunity to voice our own opinions rather than just asking questions."
Visibility has been a key factor behind changes in the industry. Having women like Laura Woods, Kelly Cates and Seema Jaswal in high-profile roles has been a seismic step forward and England's Euros success in the summer has also had a "positive and powerful effect". But McQueen believes there is still a dearth of women in senior management roles.
"I'm not where I'd like to be in my career because I have a child," she adds. "I'm not saying you can't have it all, but I think sometimes things definitely have to give a little bit.
"How can you possible be 100 per cent committed to a senior role and also be committed to family life? I do think that's really hard. If you've got a partner who completely backs you and family around you, then great. I think it's beneficial to have somebody in a senior role who has a family so they can understand the people who work for them who are in that position. If women are to be seen and to be valued, then I do feel there needs to be more females higher up."
The landscape has changed significantly at Sky over the past 18 months. A number of high-profile names were let go by the company, and although McQueen stresses that it was a case of roles becoming redundant rather than offloading specific people, she reveals everyone was affected.
"Sky have had to make changes to adapt," she explains. "There were definitely redundancies that affected lots of us; that was really hard. But we're lucky because we're all really close. Each pair of presenters work with the production team, so we all work really closely together. I don't think people realise how many people realise how strong the rapport and friendship is with the people in the gallery, which was really important during Covid when we had to do things differently."
McQueen admits she understands why Sky have had to adapt, even if some decisions taken have not proved to be universally popular.
"It was hard for people. For a lot of them, it wasn't their choice to leave. It's not like Sky were getting rid of deadwood, it was a case of having to streamline. It was not a very nice time - we've had bosses who have had to make people redundant and then they themselves have been made redundant a little bit further down the line. They tried really hard to keep people and move them around."
Arguably, the biggest change of all was teased at Sky last year. Jeff Stelling, the popular host of the channel's results programme, said he would be standing down at the end of the 2021/22 campaign before U-turning later in the year.
McQueen was one of the names listed in the betting odds - but would she fancy the top job when Stelling does blow the full-time whistle on his illustrious stint in the Soccer Saturday hotseat?
"Hell yeah! I absolutely would love to do it - sometimes think when I'm on in the morning, if Jeff went down ill, would I get the call to go in and have a bit of fun? But there is no way I could do what Jeff does. You just cannot understand the amount of information you have to keep in your head.
"I'd love to do it for the hell of it, but there are people at Sky who are much better suited for that job - for me, I think it would be Jules Warren. I know we've got Mark Chapman doing some League Cup stuff at the moment, so maybe he'd quite fancy doing it as well, but I think Julian Warren deserves it. He's a funny, brilliant, dry guy.
"If somebody new comes in completely from outside, how do you ever step into those shoes? You'd be under constant criticism, whereas I think Jules could just seamlessly step into the role. I would just be there for the novelty factor!"
As well as Warren, McQueen earmarks Pete Graves as one of Sky Sports' biggest personalities.
"If you watch him in the morning, what you see on the screen is what you get: he goes off-script, he throws in jokes, he's just a law unto himself. He's a dad of three, so I think coming into work is kind of like his release so he just sort of goes a bit wild! He's really good fun and loves a bit of a night out. He's one of my best friends at Sky."
McQueen reveals that the make-up room is often the hub of laughter. Former Sky Sports stalwart Jim White was often the longest in the chair as he'd gossip with people for "hours and hours and hours".
David Prutton and Adam Smith are two other colleagues who she often has good fun with. "He's [Adam Smith] had a little kid as well recently, so we're normally both in there, sleep deprived, talking absolute nonsense."
More recently though, McQueen feels like she's spent most of her time discussing VAR controversies. Like many others, she feels that the cons of VAR far outweigh the pros right now.
The heavily disputed conclusion to Tottenham's meeting with Sporting Lisbon is fresh in the memory. Harry Kane's last-gasp leveller ruled out following a lengthy stoppage; as McQueen points out, just minutes later, two sets of agitated fans are released from the stadium with emotions running high.
"We thought VAR would clear up a bit of mess...at the moment I'm not sure [if it has]. There have been some really good decisions given, but my biggest issue with it is the time that's taken to come to a decision. It's the excitement that's taken out of celebrating; in some ways thats taken away from you.
"Tottenham the other night was a prime example: it was nearly four minutes to make a decision. Perhaps it was because it was in the 90th minute and it was a decisive point at the game. If it was in the ninth minute, I don't think they'd have spent as long on it. I feel right now like there needs to be a 30 second window or a sort of time limit."
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