Words by Jeffrey Arthur
Josh Denzel’s fast becoming the nation’s favourite presenter – so what’s next for one of media’s brightest talents?
For fans of the beautiful game, The Overlap is as good a show as any. It stands out in the tech-heavy world of media shows, and it shirks the modern-day obsession with gadget-led analysis. The format is simple – a group of fans and ex-players chat about all things football – making it both effective and entertaining. There’s emotion, rants, and good ol’ fashion arguments. Staunch gunner Ty takes on Carragher, Neville’s views on Pogba get challenged, and Roy Keane remains consistently puzzled when someone offers a different opinion.
Point is, it works – and not just because it has all that good stuff, either. The show’s success has a lot to do with the guy hosting it. Of late, Josh Denzel has been a very busy man. So much so, that he finds himself jetting across the world, attending and commenting on just about every major sports and entertainment event. There was the Monaco GP, Arsenal’s All or Nothing launch, and Anthony Joshua’s recent fight. He’s previously played hoops with Steph Curry, shot the breeze with Jared Leto, and linked up with Will Smith.
“Honestly, I’m so blessed,” is how he describes life at the moment. From where he’s standing, things are looking good – especially when you account for his upcoming gigs: World Cup 2022, The Hundred, Formula 1, etc. And no, he didn’t ‘burst’ onto the scene. He’s been working at it for a long, long time. He was born a stone’s throw away from Highbury, which somewhat gives away his loyalty to Arsenal: “you can’t live 100 metres from Highbury and not support [Arsenal].” It was the genesis of his obsession with sports. Denzel’s story might read quite well, but there was a time when presenting wasn’t even on the cards. That was back at Liverpool University, where he preferred to dig his head into all things history. “I was like, that’s quite interesting stuff,” is how explains his degree choice, and he’s no sooner done explaining that before returning to the topic of sport.
“You cannot live 100 metres away from Highbury and not support [Arsenal]”
Long before his appearance on reality TV, Josh Denzel was busy grafting. It started with LadBible, the ubiquitous media giant loved by every 20-something: “I started moonlighting with LadBible and that’s kind of where a little bit of that notoriety started to come.” The perks of the job were pretty sweet. It meant, for example, he could attend the big sporting events: “I was going to, like, football games or cricket games or a boxing match with LadBible.” It kickstarted his fame. Did he like it? Yeah – wouldn’t you? “I was like, it’s quite nice, you know. I was getting a little bit of respect.”
He’s intent on making the most of every opportunity, a real glass half-full kinda guy. And as well he may be. There’s a lot going for him right now: “I’d be going to a shoot in the cab and I’m just grinning… it’s a blessing.” He recalls days spent watching the people he now works with on TV, explaining how it “seemed like a different world.” Talking football with the likes of Neville and Carragher was once “so far away” from his reality. Imagine how he feels now, then, covering the big stuff with just about every major name in sports. It’s proper exciting stuff, the sort of thing that could send a man’s ego soaring. If such an ego exists in Josh Denzel, he does a damn good job of hiding it from view.
Ain’t no such thing as faking genuine charm. And charm he has in abundance. It’s the sort that leaves an impression long after he’s gone. On set for this shoot, that easy-going, no-fuss persona was on full, uninterrupted show. He’s not riven with self-consciousness, seems perfectly at ease with himself, and plays the whole good-looking class clown role with magnificent ease. It makes him – as far as I can tell – a nice guy. It also makes him especially good at the day job. You see, times have changed – and with it, the job of the presenter. The days of the no-personality-having, just-reading-from-the-script presenter are long gone. For one, there’s a lot more interaction with audiences; and as is especially true in the world of sport, social media plays an increasingly important role. We’d all frankly rather watch a show where the presenter looks, sounds and acts like your average Joe – and we’d be quick to turn the channel at any hint of rehearsed lines. The beautiful game has long been an emotional one. Presenters that thrive know it to be true.
Denzel is one such presenter. For starters, he’s pretty slick at the whole social media thing (his following stands at more than 1.2 million), and he’s managed to lead the charge of young, ambitious people entering the somewhat traditional world of presenting. To date, he boasts an impressive CV which includes stints working with the FA and the England football team, shows with the likes of Amazon and Sky, and whole lotta huge talent interviews.
On one of his latest big projects, The Overlap, he remains somewhat stunned at how it all came about. It happened, he says, fairly quickly: “I was at England camp, right, I’ve been locked down inside St George’s Park during the Euros and Stef, my agent, calls me saying there’s something massive going on.” That something massive was an offer to host a new football show, The Overlap, featuring Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville. So great is the show’s success, that he (and the crew) are coming to a city, town, or hall near you.
At this point, hanging out with some of the world’s biggest names is second nature to Denzel. He’s proper good pals with just about every England player, making him better placed to share the players’ perspectives on issues than any other media outlet. So, when it came to the topic of England’s recent tournament success, he had a lot to say: “I think a big reason [for England’s success] is that they’ve known each other since they were, like, knee-high.” There’s none of that “you-can’t-sit-with-us” attitude, he says, that plagued the golden generation: “they’re all super young, they have similar interests, and there’s less of this egotistical ‘I’m the guy’… mentality.”
As good as the vibe amongst the squad was, things quickly turned sour when a trio of Black English players – Rashford, Sancho and Saka – missed penalties in the Euro 2020 finals. A loud minority of fans hurled racist abuse at the players, prompting a strong response from the England squad. Denzel’s reaction? Disgust, but not surprise. “There was almost like a sense from me … my friends – especially, my Black friends – that I’ve got in football that this wasn’t a surprise.”
The abuse extended to Denzel himself:”I was getting it under my posts, and I’m not even part of the squad.” He admits it’s a problem far bigger than football – and he argues passionately for stronger punishment along with public embarrassment as the solution: “It’s a disgrace, it’s disgusting… you [those convicted of being racists] need to be banned… I think you should be labelled as a racist.” He’s especially referring to social media and platforms that have become playgrounds for racists. They’ve found refuge behind anonymous accounts, hurling abuse at players, pundits and just about anyone else they don’t like. “Why else would they be hiding behind this egg emoji, you know … no profile picture, no nothing … they’re not doing this off their own accounts … so publicly shame them and publicly embarrass them in front of their friends and work colleagues.”
The modern game birthed the modern player – and they come a lot more well-rounded, now. Being badly dressed is no longer the norm, players take an active interest in societal affairs, and some even manage to balance their entrepreneurial ventures with their footballing careers. In a way, they’re more cultural influencers than athletes. Take Everton’s Dominic Calvert Lewin, for example. The man’s dress sense is the stuff of dreams, and we make no apologies for calling him the best-dressed man in football – and one of the world’s best-dressed men. There’s Marcus Rashford, a young footballer who may as well have a go at running the country (he can’t do any worse, can he?). Don’t exclude the likes of Raheem Sterling, either, players with a talent for entrepreneurial success. A decade ago, such interests outside of the game would’ve been dismissed as ‘distractions.’
Some – mainly ex-players – argue players have no business with anything other than football. They’re supposed to eat, train, play and repeat. Such sentiments contain some jealousy, me thinks – and Denzel agrees: “there’s a little bit of jealousy there, it’s before the big money … it’s a different world now.”
“Why else would they [racists] be hiding behind this egg emoji, you know … no profile picture, no nothing … they’re not doing this off their own accounts … so publicly shame them and publicly embarrass them in front of their friends and work colleagues.”
He’s got no time for arguments that suggest players should do little else: “What do you think footballers do during the day?” They get up, they train, they do a bit of recovery, then they go home. What do you want them to do for the last 8-10 hours of the day?” With big bucks to spend and an army of stylists, players now regularly step out in looks expected of the biggest names in Hollywood. I love it, fashion enthusiasts love it, and Denzel does, too. But it’s not just fashion the modern player has become well versed in. They’re as clued up on societal issues as your favourite political commentator, and they can be regularly found advocating for key societal and political changes. For Denzel, that’s a good thing, he says, pointing to the example set by Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford: “Just look at what Rashford’s done.”
Josh Denzel’s humble, cheeky chappy approach to life might not immediately give it away, but he’s achieved a lot. At 31, he ranks high on the list of the country’s best sports presenters. He’s worked with the NBA in Abu Dhabi, the NFL with the Superbowl in London, and has a series of live talk shows lined up. He also finds himself regularly working on projects involving the world’s biggest, most attention-grabbing names: “When I look back, I’m like Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Bieber?” It’s all the more impressive when you consider how he got there.
Spare a thought for the aspiring presenter, as Denzel was. It’s a long journey of endless door knocking and not much opening. You’ll probably need a decent online presence, a mastery of the introduction email, and a bucket load of resilience before landing your first gig. Advising on exactly how to do it is something Denzel finds himself frequently doing. To save time – and to help more people – he’s put together a few resources, the first being his The Social Stage platform, designed in partnership with LadBible.
‘I want to be what Reggie Yates was to me – even just sparking the idea and opening the thought pattern of maybe I can do this? Maybe I can just pick up a camera and start going to places? That’s why I started [The Social Stage].’ It’s a neatly stitched together step-by-step plan. It lays the foundation, he says, for building the skills and knowledge needed to build a successful media career. Making it in media takes a lot of hard work. That much is true. With The Social Stage, Denzel plans to make that journey a little bit easier.
To round off, we return to the topic of style, who he’d love to interview and everything in between. “Fluid” is how he described his personal style, admitting that his girlfriend is “very blessed” that he’s managed to escape his ripped jeans and t-shirt era. If he had the chance to interview anyone – dead or alive – it’d be Mohammed Ali: “the political [issues] that he stood for, the era that he grew up in, the fights that had, the legendary status that he has.” Calvert-Lewin ranks numero uno on his list of best-dressed players (“Dom’s doing his own thing. I love his energy”), although the likes of Newcastle’s Joe Willock and Chelsea’s Mason Mount come in close behind.
“I want to be what Reggie Yates was to me – even just sparking the idea and opening the thought pattern of maybe I can do this.”
It’s a good time to be Josh Denzel. It’s perfectly sunny on his side of the street. Better yet, there’s a lot more to come. He’s a man with talent, energy and a lot of charisma. ‘Infectious charm’ is a lofty title, something – you might say – only a seasoned great could possess. I’d disagree. My reason? Josh Denzel.
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