SKY HIGH

Today I received some really good news.

It was a phone call from one of my former students who graduated from our Sports Journalism course last summer. He rang to tell me he has got his dream job - football statistician for Sky Sports.

At university Andy Dalton was such a legend for his knowledge of sporting trivia that he quickly acquired the nickname "Statto." Well, it's not so trivial now. It's his passport to a successful career, one which will see him travelling to Sky's outside broadcasts as well as working at their HQ, digging out juicy facts for the commentators.

What also pleased me is that Andy has kept up his cheerful dispositon and his confidence despite the inevitable knock-backs in his search for the right opening. His reward arrived this week.

This is a tricky time for students as they move from university into the wider world. A number of our graduates this summer are fixed up with jobs already, heading for national and local papers, Granada TV and Talkback Thames and elsewhere. Those who don't find the door opening right away can be encouraged by Andy's story. Just because the chance doesn't come at once doesn't mean it won't come at all. And that's a fact.