Liam McLeod

There’s a certain excitement in the brisk Scottish air at the moment; and whether you like football or not, there’s no denying the buzz for Scotland’s matches at this year’s Euros.

Presenter, broadcast journalist and Glasgow Caledonian graduate Liam McLeod is right in the middle of the action – he’s flown out to Germany to keep us fans back home in the loop as he commentates on BBC Scotland.

If you didn’t catch Liam’s radio coverage of Scotland’s opening match against the hosts on Friday, then keep an eye out for him on the telly where he’ll be reporting live for our team’s next two games.

We caught up with him just a few hours before Friday’s kick-off, as he sat in the Allianz Arena and reminisced on his studies at GCU and the career path which led him to Germany this week.

“It was quite a rapid progression as my first season of doing radio commentary for the BBC came mid-way through my university course, so I had a good, early grounding and it was a brilliant experience,” he said.

“Fortunately, we now have a Scotland team that qualifies for major tournaments which, obviously, opens the door to covering these brilliant events.”

Liam graduated from the BA Journalism (now known as Multimedia Journalism) course at GCU in 2006.

He has worked as a broadcast journalist and commentator at BBC Scotland since 2005 and has been the lead football commentator since 2010.

The role has taken Liam across the world, allowing him to work at football events both at home in Scotland and abroad; from Scottish Cup finals to the FIFA World Cup and now the Euros.

“The atmosphere is phenomenal. I met a few friends in the centre of Munich the night before the first game and the Scots had taken over. In fact, the bars were running out of refreshments,” he said.

“This has been eight months in the making since Scotland qualified.”

Having always had a keen interest in football, Liam took the leap and came to study at GCU in 2004 to combine his passion for the sport with his interest in broadcasting.

“The course itself was crucial to me having the opportunity to work in journalism and broadcasting,” Liam said.

“We had professional broadcasters come into uni and pass on their expertise and experience whilst also marking and critiquing our work.

“It was extremely hands-on and allowed me to feel more comfortable in my writing and broadcasting, and the best bit was actually being able to work in a mock newsroom and put radio and TV packages together.”

Now a seasoned professional, Liam shared some words of advice to any aspiring sports journalists hoping to one day report at an international tournament like the Euros.

“Be yourself, be confident and be persistent. You will receive knock-backs and set-backs so it’s important to recover from those,” he said.