Melissa Reddy: Former Sky Sports Reporter, Football Journalist and Believe Us Author

Melissa Reddy is one of the most recognisable football reporters in British broadcasting, even though her best-known television job has now ended. For three years she was a senior reporter for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News, becoming the face of its Manchester United coverage and a regular voice on Liverpool, while her earlier career in print and online journalism had already made her one of the most widely read football writers covering the Premier League.

That is the first fact most competitor pages now get wrong. Pages written before summer 2025 still describe her as a current Sky Sports reporter. She is not. She left Sky Sports in summer 2025, after three years there, and said she was returning to writing, including new books. This article follows that updated position, and explains the career that came before it.

Quick Bio

A South African start, and the move to England

Reddy built her reputation first as a writer. Before she joined Sky Sports in 2022, she contributed to major outlets including The Independent, ESPN and Goal, and she was already known for her coverage in South Africa and for long-form Premier League reporting. That print and online background matters, because it explains a style that competitor pages often miss: she reports with the detail of a writer who has followed a club over seasons, not only with the speed of a television newsdesk.

By the time she arrived at Sky Sports News, she had already completed eleven seasons covering the Premier League, a figure she herself marked when she announced her departure. The television job therefore did not make her career; it gave a much larger audience to a reporter who had already spent years building contacts, knowledge and a distinctive voice on the biggest clubs in English football.

Sky Sports, 2022–2025: Manchester United and Liverpool

At Sky Sports, Reddy was a senior reporter for three years, and she became the principal reporter covering Manchester United, while also reporting extensively on Liverpool. Those two clubs dominate the Premier League news cycle, and her job put her at the centre of it: live reporting from Old Trafford and Anfield, transfer reporting, manager press conferences, and the daily churn of injury news, dressing-room politics and ownership debate.

Her reporting on Manchester United in particular became a talking point in its own right. She was prepared to be direct about the club’s ownership, and later spoke publicly about the pressure that kind of criticism can bring. In one social-media video after leaving Sky, she said she had once been prevented from mentioning the Glazer family for ten days after calling them “parasites” in her criticism of their running of the club. The claim, and who enforced any such restriction, was not confirmed by Sky in the reporting of it, and this article records it only as her own account, not as an established fact about the broadcaster.

What is not in doubt is the visibility of the role. She was a familiar face on Sky Sports News, a regular presence on social media, and a reporter whose updates were quoted across the football press. For supporters of the two clubs she covered most, she became part of the weekly rhythm of the season.

Believe Us and the writer underneath the reporter

Reddy’s best-known work away from television is Believe Us, her book on Jürgen Klopp’s transformation of Liverpool into title winners. The book is built on interviews and close reporting of the Klopp years, and it is the clearest example of the gap between her work and the standard television biography: most short profiles mention the book in a single line, if at all, and then return to television clips.

The book matters for another reason. When Reddy announced she was leaving Sky Sports, she said she was excited to focus on her strengths and passions, and that new books would be part of that next chapter. She also said she would still do occasional work for Sky Sports. In other words, the departure was framed by her not as an exit from journalism, but as a return to the form in which she first made her name: long-form writing, features and books, rather than daily television reporting.

That framing also fits the second half of her public profile. Reddy has spoken candidly, including on leaving Sky, about the abuse she has faced as a foreign woman of colour in football media, and about race and sexism in the industry. She has said that the abuse never ceased, even after years at the top of the profession. Competitor pages that treat that only as a footnote miss something central to her story: her prominence was achieved in a part of the media where she has repeatedly said she had to fight to be heard.

What competitors get wrong or leave out

Most competing pages share four weaknesses, and this article deliberately avoids them. First, they are out of date: they still present her as a current Sky Sports reporter, three years into a job that ended in summer 2025.

Second, they stop at television. They rarely explain the Independent, ESPN and Goal years, or the eleven seasons of Premier League coverage that preceded Sky, so the reader is left thinking her career began in 2022.

Third, they treat Believe Us as a title in a list, rather than as the book that explains her next chapter. Her own announcement on leaving Sky made the link explicit: writing, and new books, were the reason she was stepping back from full-time television.

Fourth, they lead with gossip. Headlines promising personal details, relationships or earnings figures are common on low-quality biography sites, and the figures they publish are unsourced and contradictory. None of that is published here, because no reliable source confirms it.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Melissa Reddy?

A South African football journalist and author, best known in the UK as a former senior reporter for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News, covering Manchester United and Liverpool.

Is Melissa Reddy still at Sky Sports?

No. She left Sky Sports in summer 2025 after three years, as part of a wider Sky Sports News restructuring, and said she was returning to writing, including new books, with occasional work for Sky.

What is Believe Us?

Her book on Jürgen Klopp’s transformation of Liverpool into title winners, based on interviews and close reporting of the Klopp years.

Which clubs did she cover at Sky Sports?

Manchester United above all, as the principal reporter on the club, and Liverpool extensively, alongside wider Premier League coverage.

Where did she work before Sky Sports?

She contributed to The Independent, ESPN and Goal, and built her reputation through football writing in South Africa and long-form Premier League reporting.

What has she said about abuse in football media?

She has spoken candidly about facing abuse as a foreign woman of colour in football journalism, and about race and sexism in the industry, saying the abuse continued throughout her career.

More on Presslix

• Natalie Pirks: Former BBC Sports Correspondent, Career and Leaving BBC Explained
• Presslix Journalists & Media

Sources and Further Reading

• Wikipedia: Melissa Reddy — career summary, Sky Sports 2022–2025, Believe Us
• Football London, May 2025: Sky Sports News restructuring and Reddy’s departure as senior reporter
• FourFourTwo: Reddy’s post-Sky career announcement, return to writing and new books
• The Mirror, via syndication, May 2025: Reddy’s own Instagram announcement on eleven seasons of Premier League coverage
• The Independent, ESPN and Goal: Reddy’s pre-Sky football writing
• Sky Sports News coverage, 2022–2025: Manchester United and Liverpool reporting

Note: career, broadcasting and book details are from the sources listed. Date of birth, age, height, partner, salary and net worth are intentionally not claimed — competitor pages publish them without a reliable source, and they are not needed to explain her career.