“I do remember having a recurring dream in the build-up to starting at United,”
chuckles MUTV presenter Mark Sullivan, one of the main faces across the club’s media platforms.
“I always dreamt it was post-match, I was in the tunnel and I had to do a player interview. I was nervous. And, every time, it was Roy Carroll...”
It’s not the start we are expecting, when we ask Sullivan about beginning a role that has now endured for 20 years, making him arguably the most recognisable face across the club’s media channels.
But like Sulli’s career, it’s certainly memorable.
“Like many of us fans, I was a frustrated footballer who always wished he was good enough to play for United,”he smiles. “But when I was younger and realised: ‘OK, you’re not good enough, you’re not a footballer’, I always had it in my mind: ‘Alright, what can I do to get to work for the club in another capacity? What’s my route to United?’ It was definitely always the goal.”
His on-screen journey began at Taunton TV after leaving university, but it wasn’t long until a colleague suggested he apply for a junior reporter position at his beloved United. Within months, he was interviewing, not Roy Carroll, but Sir Alex Ferguson.
“The first time I ever had to interview Sir Alex is probably the most nervous I’ve ever been,” he recalls. “The guy’s got an aura, hasn’t he? I remember chatting with an experienced journalist, Bill Thornton of the Daily Star, and saying: ‘Look, I’m really nervous.’ He was 60 at the time and said: ‘Listen, don’t worry – we all still get the PFTs, even now. The pre-Fergie tension!’ So I thought: ‘I’m in good company, if a journalist of 30 years-plus still gets the PFTs!”
Sullivan is pleased to have developed close relationships with many players and managers that have passed through Carrington, past and present. But he’s careful never to lose touch with the fan inside.
“I’m still as gutted when we lose now as I ever was. It means just as much. The only difference is that when I’m presenting Matchday Live after a defeat, I’ve got to
just rein it in a little bit and not let the fan side of me do all the talking.
“Anybody who is a United fan, we all discuss the game after with friends, family, whatever, and sometimes your opinion is a little bit stronger when the emotion is still there. But I hope that my passion for United still comes through in what I do.”
Nevertheless, surreal, pinch-me moments do occur. Like sharing a beer with Irwin, Robson and Solskjaer eight miles high above the Atlantic on a pre-season jaunt. Or heading to the 2008 Champions League final on the same bus as the (sleeping) teenage Da Silva twins, before either had even made their United debuts.
But Sulli is keen to point out that the best bits of his job are often the routine interactions with fellow Reds and the many media colleagues he is determined to praise.
But Sulli is keen to point out that the best bits of his job are often the routine interactions with fellow Reds and the many media colleagues he is determined to praise.
“I always find it very cool when you bump into random United fans around the world,”he explains. “They might come over and introduce themselves and say ‘Hi’ and we’ll have a little chat about United. I’m a fan, I’ll talk about United all day. Afterwards, Niamh [daughter] will go: ‘Oh, so do you know that guy or girl then?’ I just say: ‘Niamh, we’ve got a very big family!’
“We’ve got an unbelievable group of staff too, so that makes every day fun to go to work. A lot of United fans who come through our club media staff go on to work for organisations like BBC or Sky, and they always say the same thing: they miss the connection with the club and the people.”
Sullivan is happy to concede that, sometimes, his role
“doesn’t feel like a job”. But despite the fun and his evident zeal for United, he takes what he does seriously, and is seriously grateful for the opportunities that have come his way.
“To get paid to watch the team you’ve supported since you were three, four, five years old is an absolute privilege,” he admits.
“And if I wasn’t getting paid to watch United, I would pay to watch. All my research, all my knowledge of football, doing my preparation for a matchday... I’d be doing that whether I needed to or not, because I’m just a football fan. I’m a Man United fan.”
“And if I wasn’t getting paid to watch United, I would pay to watch. All my research, all my knowledge of football, doing my preparation for a matchday... I’d be doing that whether I needed to or not, because I’m just a football fan. I’m a Man United fan.”