Arsenal and Soccer Saturday icon Paul Merson sat down with UCFB to discuss his sports industry career since retiring as a player.

During his professional career, Paul made more than 700 appearances, scoring more than 150 goals in the process and earning 21 caps for England.

Since then, he has gone into coaching, managing Walsall in the Football League, before going to the media, where he has been a regular on Soccer Saturday for nearly 20 years.

Paul spoke about how he ended up with his current role at Sky after retiring as a professional player.

“Walsall was a great opportunity,” Paul said, “as I always wanted to be a manager. But I couldn’t spread myself away from the lads. I was one of the lads. It’s probably my biggest regret in football.

“Then Sky rang me asking to do a midweek Soccer Special. I went in and I found it really awkward. I rang the producer of the show and asked if I should go on a journalism course, and he told me to just come in and be myself. It was the best bit of advice I’ve ever been given.

“Now, when I’m on there, I’m just me. And if I’m honest, I think that’s the most important thing.”

He then went on to describe a day working as a pundit for Soccer Saturday.

“I get in at around 10.30am. I have a bit of porridge and a cup of coffee, and we all just have a chat. At 11am, we’ll have a production meeting where our boss will go over what we’re talking about, and Mike Dean will go over the yellow or red cards which have happened. Then we’ll go down and have makeup, put our microphones on and then we start.

“The six hours goes like that. I love it. I had the best job in the world playing football. I honestly think I have the second-best job in the world now. I really do. It’s one of those jobs that everybody wants. If you get a job on Soccer Saturday, that’s a result.”

Paul finished by offering advice to UCFB students wanting a career in sports media.

“Be honest and be confident,” he said. “Being honest is the one. Don’t worry about who you upset. If you’ve upset people because you’ve told the truth, that’s not your problem. But don’t go the other way, either. Give credit where credit is due.”

To learn more about the sports media-related degree courses available at UCFB, click here.

You can also click here and view a UCFB prospectus to kick off your own career in the sports industry.