Martin Lipton is The Sun’s Deputy Head of Sport. Here Martin discusses how he got started in the industry, where British sport is at the moment and his top three for the Premier League this season.

How did you get started as a sports journalist?

I always wanted to be a sports journalist although my grounding was in news. As a reporter with the West Riding News Service in Huddersfield, I was covering news, court and council during the week, and then football and rugby league (Huddersfield and Halifax) every weekend for four years. After a while, the appeal of the “death knock” started to wane somewhat. Dealing with genuine tragedies was not exactly a bundle of laughs. So I thought it would be more fun to deal with something that was essentially frivolous and pretend it meant something. And 25 years, six World Cups, two Olympic Games and 85 countries later, I’m still doing it….

Where do you see British sport at the moment and where is it headed in future?

When I covered the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Britain won one gold medal. At Rio we averaged nearly three per day. Women’s sport has become a major success, our national teams are huge properties and the Premier League is the most astonishing sporting market in the world. There have been bumps along the way – witnessed by the doping and bullying probes of the past year or so – while there is always room for improvement (and an England football team that might actually win something). But the advent of Lottery funding has allowed British sport to punch above its weight, after decades of barely making an imprint. It is imperative the growth and success continue but there is no reason why it should not do so.

Who will be in the top three in the Premier League this season?

Jose Mourinho always wins the title in his second year. If he does not do so with United this season his mystique will have gone. Pep Guardiola has no excuses, either, after spending another £200m this summer alone. Chelsea are champions and should not repeat the Mourinho melt-down of 2015-16. But as a Spurs fan, I’m rather keen all three of them flop and let London’s premier team win the crown for the first time since 1961.

What are your top tips for aspiring sports writers?

There is no magic recipe. You need to have a store of knowledge and if you don’t have one, put in the groundwork to build it up. Sport is pretty much always about context as much as achievement and if you cannot contextualise, you will never be able to put events into perspective. It’s also imperative that you read widely – look at how the best story-getters and writers, across all types of publications, do their job and see what you can take from them. There’s nothing wrong with being as professional magpie.

In short: Ask questions. Work hard. Be lucky. Don’t be scared of making mistakes. Ask questions. Work even harder. Be even luckier. And when the break comes, grab it with both hands. Oh, and work hard. And be lucky.

What are your five desk essentials?

That’s changed since I came “off the road”. But now it’s iPhone, notebook, spare pens, mouse mat and access to the net. Once upon a time it would have been my research books and tape recorder. But the net has overtaken the former. And I send out reporters with the latter!