Media Career
McManaman first got a taste for media work in 2005 after he became active as a freelance media commentator and pundit, providing analysis to ITV for the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, in which he provided the analysis as his old club Liverpool won the trophy. McManaman then went on to take up opportunities for Asia's largest football broadcasters, ESPN Star, in Singapore in 2006, where he worked alongside commentator John Dykes and ex-players such as fellow ex-Liverpool star Steve McMahon.
By 2007, also McManaman became a full-time media pundit, having joined Setanta Sports as a football analyst and, for the 2007/08 season, he was given his own television show -Macca's Monday Night- reflecting on life in the Barclays Premier League. On the show, he played host and was joined by Neil Warnock, the former Sheffield United manager, James Richardson, Emmanuel Petit, Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand. The show was finally axed in favour of "Football Matters", a live late Monday-night discussion show hosted by James Richardson and Rebecca Lowe. Renowned for his direct comments, in one of McManaman's broadcasts in February 2008, McManaman found himself criticised in the Liverpool press and by former Liverpool fans when his comments for Setanta after a Merseyside derby, on the ownership issue concerning debt involving Tom Hicks and George N. Gillett, Jr. at Anfield went down poorly with the supporters.
Since July 2010, having joined commentator Ian Darke and former Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann as well as Dutch International Ruud Gullit on the ESPN coverage team as a commentary analyst for the 2010 World Cup, McManaman has since signed on with the network to be an in-game analyst for the Major League Soccer, Premier League, and even 2013 Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup 2014, and has become a permanent co-commentator alongside Ian Darke. In late November 2010 and in May 2011, McManaman was the halftime in-studio analyst alongside Gary Lineker and Trevor Francis for La Liga's El Clásico broadcast on Al Jazeera Sports +3. McManaman and Darke were the main ESPN commentary team for Euro 2012, while McManaman can also be seen occasionally giving Spanish interviews on ESPN Deportes to Jorge Ramos, as well as a guest on daily panel show, ESPN PressPass, alongside Steve Nicol, Robbie Mustoe, Shaka Hislop, Robbie Earle and Gabriele Marcotti.
Read more about this topic: Steve Mc Manaman, Post Playing Career
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