Tell us about the project. Football banter is big business. With 1.2 million fantasy football players, Dream Team FC has always had huge potential to step into content. And, last year, we went for it.
I pitched a number of viral ideas to launch the new site – some good, some not so good. I’m still waiting for someone to sign off my idea to get pigs, chickens and cows to take penalties to decide, once and for all, which farmyard animal is the true dead-ball specialist.
Our team of top talent from News UK’s editorial and marketing floors, headed by Harry Haydon, eventually settled on the idea of a manager mash-up to relaunch Dreamteamfc.com.
We first went to the masters of mash-ups, Cassetteboy, who have amassed more than 36 million views on YouTube. But, after some initial interest, the deal fizzled out.
Luckily, I had an incredibly talented friend up my sleeve, Christopher Poole, who had worked with the BBC and Britain’s Next Top Model on mash-ups among many other comedy sketches. So we got down to it.
How long did it take to create the videos? We spent a day sourcing clips for Christopher, then he spent a week going through all the press conferences, logging what had been said. He suggested a few narratives and we went with the one we were most passionate about. It all came together in a few (long) days of editing after that.
Did you get any feedback from Wenger or Mourinho? We’ve never heard from either of them – I think their silence speaks volumes. Lord Sugar found it organically and Tweeted that he loved it. We’ve been told Piers Morgan and Ian Wright are both fans too.
What inspires you? Social media comedians and presenters. In the 80s, alternative comedy became meteoric in underground comedy clubs while TV and other traditional media were blind to it and took years to catch up.
The same happened on the internet and, again, we’re behind. Working on shoots with the likes of KSI, Spencer FC and F2 makes me feel a bit queasy from how focused, talented and hard-working these guys are at such a young age.