The outpouring of emotion and the stream of tributes that greeted the passing of Shebby Singh this week inform you simply how a lot the man meant to football followers and TV audiences throughout Asia and past.
In the cruellest accident, a man who had extra life and vitality than nearly anybody I’ve ever identified, was taken from us far too quickly. With his passing, his household has misplaced a father who took fixed, glowing delight in his son and daughter, his nation has misplaced a former worldwide footballer and a world-renowned analyst of the beautiful game. Those of us who labored with Shebby, first at ESPN STAR Sports then throughout the Fox Sports period, have misplaced a pricey pal.
Shebby might by no means be simply a colleague. He was at all times greater than that to anybody whose path he crossed at our studios and workplaces. That was apparent from the first time we spoke, over the telephone, in the early 2000s when ESPN STAR was about to amass the rights to point out Premier League football round Asia and Shebby rang me to supply his companies. Introducing himself as Serbegeth (“but everyone calls me Shebby”), he modestly talked about he had performed a bit (truly, 60-plus occasions for Malaysia) and that he had achieved some punditry.
But he couldn’t wait to inform me he was additionally an avid pupil of the game’s techniques and nuances, having performed below his mentor Dr Jozef Venglos, a globe-trotting Slovakian who labored with Australia, the Czech Republic, Aston Villa and Celtic amongst different sides, together with Shebby’s Kuala Lumpur City and the Malaysian nationwide workforce. I informed my producer we merely needed to meet with this man whose voice bubbled with enthusiasm and who was apparently already carving out a identify for himself on TV in Malaysia.
Audiences in nearly 30 territories throughout Asia quickly received to know ESS’s first Asian pundit, as Shebby took his place on Matchday Live studio panels, sitting at excellent ease alongside the likes of visiting legends resembling Ian Rush and Bryan Robson. Yet Shebby actually got here into his personal when he was given a little bit of time to get his tooth into a subject, to develop a concept or argue a level on a chat present. And that chat present was referred to as Football Focus.
The man who formed ESS’s Premier League protection was an government producer referred to as Andy Tait. Some three years into our Premier League protection, Andy had the impressed concept of turning Football Focus into a panel present, a discussion board for viewer suggestions, a debating floor that includes 4 distinctly-different pundits who had been all given a license to argue a level as convincingly as they may for so long as they wanted.
We had a big range of punditry expertise to name upon for Football Focus however the quartet of consultants I mostly hosted had been former Liverpool and England star Steve McMahon, Shebby, Singapore-based English ex-pro Paul Masefield and a former semi-pro participant and full-time economics lecturer referred to as Jamie Reeves. All had been fabulous pundits in their very own proper however when put collectively, or set towards each other in the Football Focus studio, these 4 contrasting voices and characters produced a few of the finest televised football debate I’ve ever seen. You might maybe take into account the present to have been a forerunner to as we speak’s ubiquitous football podcasts.
Viewers round Asia, in addition to sponsors, couldn’t get sufficient of it. Our digital mailbox bulged, sure debates (maybe most famously the one when Shebby insisted to an apoplectic Macca that Steven Gerrard’s finest place was right-back) are nonetheless talked about to at the present time. We even took the present on the street, recording it on stage in entrance of audiences in varied cities round Asia. And whether or not we had been in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Hong Kong, it was clear that many in the viewers had come to see and hear the man with the opinions, the catchphrases, the mannerisms, the Shebbyisms. I’ll let Andy Tait choose up on this level now. He had this to say once I spoke to him earlier this week:
“‘Shebby Singh’, there’s a name that conjures up many emotions! I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who has been so successful at dividing opinions. He should have been the face of Marmite.
“To me Shebby was the most important member of the team of pundits that worked for ESPN STAR Sport’ football coverage as he was our link to the legions of football crazy fans in the region. He was “their” voice and he never let them down. It’s fair to say he was a man of strong opinions on football and how it should be played and never shy of expressing them, however strange and outlandish they might have sounded at times.
“He would also take every opportunity to expand his knowledge of the game, whether it be by having deep discussions on tactics with Sir Bobby Robson or forcing his opinion on ‘overlapping centre-halves’ on Sam Allardyce.
“In short, he was a complete one-off and I mourn his departure but will remember him for being a true gentleman and a friend. The football world is down to 10 men today. See you at the Far Post Shebby.”
Shebby definitely practised what he preached. One of the enjoyable spin-offs of that period was our “office” football workforce referred to as the ESPN All-Stars. We would play a game each time we had a visiting legend on the town and we might name up our common pundits together with varied different colleagues and pals then prepare a pleasant game towards a native membership. During considered one of these video games, once I had the privilege of taking part in alongside my childhood hero Bryan Robson in midfield, our centre-half Shebby went screaming up-field previous us for the umpteenth time, determined to get entangled, a bundle of vitality. Bryan turned to me and dryly noticed, “well, that’s a first for me – never thought I’d see an overlapping centre-half.”
But that was simply Shebby doing Shebby issues. The man additionally had time for anybody and everybody who cherished football: he would cease and speak with anybody in the workplace or the avenue who wished to debate the game; he would put his boots on and play a game with nearly anybody who requested, regardless of how low our commonplace of play; regardless of being a teetotaller, he would be a part of us for nights out and inevitably would find yourself being the life and soul of the social gathering.
If you had been booked to work on a present and you knew that Shebby was going to be considered one of the pundits, you’d journey to the studios realizing you had been in for a memorable shift. Here’s considered one of his former Football Focus teammates, Jamie Reeves, with a few phrases:
Like everybody else I used to be deeply shocked to listen to that Shebby had handed away; we labored collectively for thus a few years. Some of his views had been very perceptive, some had been very educated and some had been plain whacko, however he was unfailingly good firm each on and off display screen. An night with Shebby was by no means going to be boring and I’ll miss him dearly.”
We all will, Jamie. For years, folks round the world have requested me about Shebby. Very typically, these have been main questions from folks with preconceived concepts – generally unfavourable – about the man on the telly. I at all times say, whether or not you agreed with Shebby’s theories or not, one factor you possibly can by no means accuse him of is missing the braveness of his personal convictions.
In a enterprise the place a lot is alleged for impact, Shebby was genuine: he formulated and argued his case with ardour, persistence and charisma. For me and for hundreds of thousands of TV viewers, that was sufficient to make him a hugely-important a part of the football narrative. His status and visibility even landed him a function as a international football advisor to the firm who owned former Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers. Forget the membership’s issues at the moment and subsequently – simply suppose a bit about what Shebby will need to have achieved as a TV pundit to even be thought of for a function like that!
As hundreds have mentioned this week when paying tribute to Shebby Singh, the world has misplaced a one-off, a maverick and a TV icon.
For these of us who had been privileged to name him a colleague, teammate and pal, it’s heart-breaking to understand he has gone. I might give something to have the ability to look throughout a desk at Shebby yet one more time, to ask a query, watch him pause a for a second with the studio lights flashing off his glasses, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, earlier than replying, “Well, John…”
May you relaxation in everlasting peace, Shebby.
TV host/football presenter John Dykes labored with Shebby Singh for 20 years on ESPN STAR Sports and Fox Sports. He now hosts ‘The John Dykes Show’, accessible on Disney+ Hotstar in Malaysia.
