Melissa Reddy (born 24 August 1986) is a South African football journalist and author. Reddy left her role as the Senior Football Correspondent at ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' in March 2022, to become a senior reporter for ''

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

'' and ''

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and lat ...

''. Her speciality is the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Career

Whilst studying at university, Reddy did an internship at Summit TV, a business channel in South Africa. After moving to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and joining TEAMtalk Media in 2007, and working across many sports, Reddy was Head of Football by 2011, before becoming Deputy Editor of ''Kick Off'' which is Africa's largest sport publication. On both occasions, she was the first woman to hold such a post, and was also the first to feature as a football analyst on SuperSport’s marquee shows ''Backpages'' and ''Monday Night Football''. Reddy became the Liverpool correspondent of Goal's 38 editions worldwide in November 2015. Reddy was then football correspondent at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, wrote for ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

'', and became the senior football correspondent at

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

, before joining ''The Independent'' as senior football correspondent in November 2019. Reddy's television appearances include

' ''Tackling Racism'', ''

Sunday Supplement ''Sunday Supplement'' (formerly ''Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement'') is a Sunday morning television programme in the United Kingdom about football which was broadcast between 1999 and 2020. The programme aired on Sunday mornings on Sky Sports P ...

'', Red Men TV and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

’s ''Premier League Show''. Reddy has also guested on

Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

. Reddy has written for, guested and presented shows on

The Anfield Wrap ''The Anfield Wrap'' (TAW Player) is a collective of podcasts, radio shows, videocasts, live shows, magazine and website articles predominantly about Liverpool F.C. as well as the culture and music in the city of Liverpool. Content Described b ...

. Reddy has also presented shows on

The Football Ramble ''The Football Ramble'' is a podcast, book and website about association football, produced in London by The Football Ramble Ltd. Originally provided fortnightly, this was increased to a weekly show at the beginning of the 09/10 football season ...

, and guested on

Second Captains Second Captains is an Irish media company established in March 2013 by Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Mark Horgan, Ciarán Murphy and Simon Hick. Best-known for their podcast ''The Second Captains World Service'', the company specialises in televisi ...

, and

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...

’s ''Football Writers Podcast''. In 2020, Reddy started her own podcast interview series entitled ''Between The Lines with Melissa Reddy''. Guests have included

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (; born 2 March 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino played as a central defender and be ...

and

Daniel Sturridge Daniel Andre Sturridge (; born 1 September 1989) is an English professional footballer who last played as a striker. As well as representing England, he has played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool ...

. In 2020, Reddy released her first book, entitled ''Believe Us: How Jürgen Klopp Transformed Liverpool Into Title Winners''. The book was referenced by

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasion ...

head coach Eddie Jones as an insight into the thinking and practises of the elite team produced by

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Klopp spent most of his playing c ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Reddy has spoken prominently about the racism and sexism she has endured in forging her career, and the barriers women face. Reddy was shortlisted in the Best Writer category in the 2021

Football Supporters' Association The Football Supporters' Association (The FSA) is the national, democratic, representative body for football supporters in England and Wales. They are the leading advocates for supporter ownership, better fan engagement, cheaper ticket prices, t ...

awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Melissa 1986 births Living people Women association football journalists