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Sports reporter marks 30 years with regional daily

Steve NicholsonA sports reporter has marked 30 years covering football for a regional daily.

Steve Nicholson celebrated the milestone at the Derby Telegraph, where he currently works as chief football writer covering Derby County FC.

Since joining the paper in 1985, Steve has seen 900 County games and witnessed 13 managers come and go at the club.

Reflecting on his time there, he recalled the morning he was interviewed for a job and first met the Telegraph’s legendary former sports editor, Gerald Mortimer.

Steve, 54, said: “It was around 11am and I was about to be interviewed for the job and Gerald took me to the Smithfield pub for a drink. I wasn’t sure what I was doing was right but he assured me I would be ok.

“He said to me ‘I know the questions you’re going to get asked so I’m going to give you the answers the editor wants to hear’.

“A couple of halves later I was interviewed and got the job and that was it, I was moving to Derby.

“Gerald said to me years later that he did that because he saw something in me when I walked though the door so I will always be grateful to him. He was a great friend and a fantastic writer.”

Gerald, who died last year, retired in 2002 and Steve succeeded him in the chief football writer role.

He named John Gregory, Nigel Clough and George Burley as three of the managers he had good relationships while, while player Robbie Savage also “stood out”.

Added Steve: “I remember walking across the car park at Moor Farm (training ground) on the day Sav signed and a national journalist said to me ‘your life will never be the same again’ – and he wasn’t wrong.

“I remember being on the runway at the airport in Amsterdam, the rain was lashing down and the wind was howling and Sav wasn’t a great flyer.

“He was sat in the seat in front of me and without turning round he said to me ‘Nico, if this plane crashes, how many column inches do you think the Derby Telegraph will give you?’

“I replied ‘a couple of paragraphs mate, why how much do you think they’ll give you?’. He said to me ‘it will be a big front page headline that says ‘Robbie Savage dies in air crash’ on the front and then there will be a smaller headline under it that says ‘rest of team dies too’.”

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  • November 11, 2015 at 10:24 am
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    Ged Mortimer was a sports reporter legend and it looks like Steve is on his way to becoming one in Derby too.
    Great milestone Steve, good luck for the next 10 years.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 3:51 pm
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    Congratulations. I just missed out on the 30 years, having decided I’d had enough after a ‘mere’ 29 years and 23 days!
    I certainly can’t see many people now achieving this milestone.

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