SA's Melissa Reddy among seven reporters laid off in Sky Sports News shake-up

South African reporter Melissa Reddy is reportedly among seven reporters who have been axed by Sky Sports News in a major shake up by the broadcaster.

According to UK tabloid The Sun, Reddy and six others learned of the decision from an internal memo sent out on Tuesday.

Reddy has been a senior football reporter at Sky Sports since 2022, and covered the biggest news in the Premier League in that time. She was also heavily involved in reporting news about Liverpool – a club she supports – and both Manchester clubs.

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, and ex-Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag are among the many football personalities she interviewed during her time with the broadcaster.

Prior to moving to the UK, the Johannesburg-born Reddy previously worked at Kick Off magazine, where she served as their deputy editor.

While in England, she often spoke about the challenges she faced being a woman in a male-dominated industry.

 “Trying to enter that realm as a young, foreign, female of colour was challenging for a variety of reasons, not least because it is not what people are used to. I had to work so much harder, take so many more losses, show the most persistence and focus possible. I had to prove myself over every day, but every day also felt like a new opportunity," she previously told Gsport.com.

Apart from working on television, Reddy also appeared regularly on The Redmen channel on YouTube discussing all news related to Liverpool. After joining Sky Sports, she was said to be in a relation with Sadio Mane, the former Liverpool forward who at the time had completed a move to Bayern Munich in Germany's Bundesliga.

IOL Sport