‘I must be having an effect because he’s not had so many yellow cards on the touchline this season.’
Thirteen-year-old Frankie Ferry is in a cafe in the East End of Glasgow, sitting across the table from his dad and podcast pioneer Si who he’s followed into the wacky world of Scottish football media.
Father and son are discussing their unique relationship at League Two title-chasing East Kilbride where Si is assistant manager and Frankie has become a teenage sensation as their club television commentator.
‘I think Frankie’s right about how I’m behaving,’ says Si. ‘It’s funny because he sits on the commentary gantry at East Kilbride and it’s on the other side of the pitch when you come out of the dressing room, so I walk across to the dugout and he’s the last face I see before the game starts. I look up to the gantry and we give each other a thumbs-up.
‘And seeing my boy up there is also a realisation that it’s only football, which is a good thing for me and I think I’ve been a lot calmer on the side of the pitch since he’s been behind me. Just knowing that he’s up there.
‘And, as he told you before you even asked, I’ve not been in trouble with the ref so much. No doubt, he’s been a positive and calming influence.
Ferry has been left proud and impressed by the work of his 13-year-old son
‘There’s that feeling of pride that he’s doing what he’s doing at the age of 13. It’s been great for me, to be honest, although I remember one time we were looking back on clips from a game at the team meeting and Frankie was being a bit critical when one of the guys missed a great chance to score. That got a good laugh.
‘Those are the funnier moments but I’m just proud that he’s sitting up there as the commentator.’
Frankie’s voice was on the club’s social media clips last season but he’s giving it the full commentary treatment in the current campaign which, for East Kilbride, is coming to an exciting climax. And there’s no doubting his commitment to the role when you see the mountain of notes he scribbles out ahead of every match.
Frankie explains how his big chance came about. ‘I’d already been doing bits and bobs for the East Kilbride media team and they were getting the match highlights back up and running. They asked me if I wanted to do the commentary and obviously I accepted it right away.
‘It was something I’d thought about even before EK made me the offer. There’s been a lot of good reaction, I’m feeling confident about it and it’s definitely something I want to do in the future.’
Scottish football media has been life-changing for Frankie’s father, who’s been hosting the ground-breaking Open Goal podcast for the last nine years. Has it all rubbed off on Ferry junior?
‘As long as he’s been playing football,’ says Si, ‘he’s always been interested in a lot more than just his own individual performance. He’s a thinker on the pitch, a bit like a coach in the middle of the game.
‘He sees things other young guys don’t see but I don’t think players like that, especially at his age, get noticed. He’s not the biggest, not the tallest, not the fastest.
‘Frankie would go into detail about how everyone else had played. I genuinely thought if he didn’t progress as a player he’d go into coaching.
‘Even when you watch a game with him, he critiques it and he explains what he’s seen so now, when I look back on that, this seems like a natural path for him to take. He’s so passionate about football. He studies it and loves nothing better than a conversation about football.
‘He’s been that way since he was 11, which I think is quite unique. He comes to training two nights a week, listens to the instructions the players are getting and takes it all in.
‘He’s got an amazing understanding of the game and that helps, big time, with his commentating. He asks loads of questions and he’s a good talker. He probably articulates it better than me, to be honest.’
Frankie chips in: ‘I think he’s maybe hyped me up a bit too much as a player. I prefer commentating to playing. I enjoy it more. You can probably see that from the amount of homework I do before a game. I think I’m more comfortable with the media stuff. I’m really enthusiastic about it.
Frankie is already putting in the hours as commentator for East Kilbride, where his father is assistant manager
‘I like my dad’s confidence on Open Goal, how controversial he is and how fluently he speaks about football. I think that’s influenced me on how I want to come across as a commentator. I’m doing other stuff like interviews and match reports as well and he’s a really good role model for me.’
A live on-stage version of Open Goal will next month play to a capacity crowd at the Glasgow Hydro for a fourth time. Si is blown away by its enduring popularity.
‘I remember doing the first interview with Kevin Thomson at Easter Road in 2017 and really needing a job at the time. I was thinking even if it lasted for a year, and I’m getting paid to do it, that would be amazing. So, for it still to be going after nine years, and for it still to feel quite fresh, it’s incredible.
‘I’ve seen so many podcasts come and go since I’ve been doing this. Big names who’ve tried it and it hasn’t lasted, so we’ve obviously done something right.
‘I think we were the first Scottish football podcast. I don’t think it had ever been done before. I didn’t know what a podcast was. It had to be explained to me — that tells you everything. I’d never listened to one before in my life.
‘Now you see people like Sky Sports main man Gary Neville doing a podcast. And the fact that we’ve sold out four Hydro shows is pretty unique, taking a podcast to that size of audience and then doing it again.
‘It’s scary. It’s the closest you get to being a footballer again, that feeling of being back in front of a big crowd, the pressure to perform. It’s a bit like preparing for a Scottish Cup final. Everyone has to hit their cue at the right time. And, when it only comes round every couple of years and you’re not doing it regularly, it’s nerve wracking.’
Nerves don’t seem to be a big issue for Frankie as he eyes a career, eventually, in the broadcast business. And he’s not afraid of the hard work he reckons is needed to keep developing as a commentator.
‘I think the main thing is doing your homework before game day,’ says Frankie. ‘Obviously I see East Kilbride all the time but you need to know all about the other teams in League Two. You need your stats and facts ready to go.’
I ask Frankie if he’s allowed to criticise the assistant manager? Or would that be a threat to pocket money?
He smiles: ‘I don’t need to be critical of the assistant manager because he’s not really an important part of the operation.’ Si laughs as he listens to his own sense of humour coming back at him..
‘I think the harshest I’ve been,’ continues Frankie, ‘was the 6-0 defeat at home by Spartans in January. They put me through a pretty dreadful Tuesday night.’
Si says: ‘He was doing the after-match interviews as well that night. He had four questions for Mick (Kennedy, the manager) that were really going to give it to him but the main media guy read the room, saw the look on Mick’s face and stopped him from asking them. But Frankie was ready to ask some difficult questions and I think that’s important if this is the job he wants to do.’
Frankie Ferry gets the best seat in the house in his position as club commentator for East Kilbride
Commentators get criticised, as I well know. It’s one of those jobs that lots of football fans reckon they could do better. How does Frankie cope with getting a bit of stick?
‘Sometimes the reaction’s positive, sometimes negative,’ he tells me. ‘I got some really good comments when a video clip went out on BBC Scotland but they’re not all that nice. I think you just have to take it all on board and keep going.
‘My main goal is to get away from East Kilbride as soon as possible. Only joking, dad. But seriously, I’d like, when I’m a little bit older, to work as a commentator for one of the bigger TV companies, although that’s a long way off. Right now, I’ve got my school work to think about and then I’d like to go down the university route and find my feet there.’
Frankie’s old man gives a quiet nod of approval to his boy’s wise words and says there’s no chance of any complacency creeping in.
‘He’s thrown himself into it which, again, is something that makes me really proud,’ says Si.
‘It would be easy for him to settle for what he has. He’s the East Kilbride commentator which is quite a big thing for someone of his age. But he’s written to Youth Football Scotland asking if he could write match reports or commentate on some of their games, so he wants to do more, wants to get better.
‘I think in any walk of life you need to stay hungry, you need to keep moving forward. If you rest on your laurels someone will go past you. He’s got that hunger which I really like.
‘The best thing for a young person is to do as much as you can of the things you love. He’s still playing football and he’s got a good balance between doing that and commentating, writing, interviewing, so he’s adding a lot of strings to his bow. And he’s well ahead of the game.’