WHEN new owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks spoke about their plans to raise the club’s profile in Asia, their words struck a cord with one Reds legend. Steve McMahon knows better than most what vast business potential there is across a continent which boasts the biggest Premier League television audience on the planet. The 45-year-old now lives in Singapore and for the past year has been the full-time football pundit for sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports. They broadcast to over 20 countries, including the Indian sub continent, South East Asia and the Far East, including China. And McMahon has seen first hand the fanatical interest in the English game. “It really is crazy,” he admitted. “We came over to do the FA Cup final on site in Cardiff last year and our box was next to the BBC’s. Our producer and myself were chatting to Alan Hansen and his producer and out of interest I asked them what kind of viewing figures the BBC would get. “He said it was pretty good and they were looking at between 15 and 16 million. “I asked our producer what ratings we would get and he said about 600 million – that just highlights the scale of what we’re talking about. “The viewing figures in Asia are on a different planet and there’s a huge market. “People I speak to in England just can’t get their head around how many people are watching.” The former tough-tackling midfielder, who won three league titles and two FA Cups during a magical six-year spell at Anfield between 1985 and 1991, never planned to make the switch to being a pundit. But after spells in management at Swindon, Blackpool and Perth Glory, the opportunity came up last year and he hasn’t looked back. “For different reasons things didn’t work out for me in Australia,” he said. “There were financial issues at Perth so the chairman and I came to a mutual agreement to go our separate ways. “On the way back I was already booked in to do a 10-day stint as a guest pundit and during that period they offered me a permanent contract. “I hadn’t really thought about going into it full-time and it came out of the blue. It was a major step for the company and for me but it has worked well for both parties. “I guess I’m the equivalent of Andy Gray or Alan Hansen. I’m the only full-time pundit and then we have other stars in as guests. “They’ve recently offered me a new three year contract and I’m in process of signing that.” | 
HAVE your say on our Reds Messageboard - click 
RSS News Feed