GARY LINEKER’S replacement has big boots to fill – so it is probably a good job that Match Of The Day has THREE new hosts.
Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman make up the new presenting team who will take over from Saturday.
But they insist that aside from fresh faces, not much is changing on BBC One’s flagship football show.
It helps that we’re all different from Gary, in that he goes in with a profile of his own as an England legend. An ex-player taking over would be a more direct comparison
Kelly
And they hope to avoid being compared to TV legend and former Spurs and England striker Gary, 64, who quit the Beeb in May over an antisemitism row
“It helps that we’re all really different from Gary, in that he goes in with a profile of his own as an England legend,” Kelly, an established sports broadcaster, says.
“It’s a very different career path. An ex-player taking over would be a more direct comparison.”
Gabby, 52, adds: “The focus is only on us because Gary’s leaving and he’s such a huge name.
“We’re nowhere near the most important people on the show.
Titan of broadcasting
“The most important thing is the football, then it’s the pundits and what they think about it.
“What people will notice is that there isn’t much change.”
Dad-of-four Gary announced last November that he would be stepping down from the BBC’s beloved football highlights show after 26 years at the helm.
He bowed out with an emotional final episode three months ago, and anchoring next year’s World Cup coverage was supposed to be his Beeb swansong.
But he fully cut ties with the Corporation in May after being accused of antisemitism — having shared a video online saying “Zionism explained in two minutes”, which contained a rat emoji.
He denied knowing that it was an anti-Jewish slur and said it was a “genuine mistake”.
In the two-and-a-half decades before that sorry ending, Gary had firmly established himself as a titan of British sports broadcasting.
He endeared himself to millions of viewers with his natural charm, wit and knowledge of the beautiful game.
No pressure, then, on whoever was to be chosen as his successor.
BBC veteran “Chappers”, as presenter Mark is affectionately known, quickly emerged as a frontrunner — having hosted Match Of The Day 2 on Sunday nights since 2013, while also occasionally covering for Gary.
Another favourite was Gabby, who has sporadically hosted MOTD as well as covering major sporting events, including the Olympics, since joining the Beeb in 2007.
BBC chiefs instead chose to make them two thirds of a new rotating team of presenters, along with well-respected Sky Sports footie and Radio 5 Live host Kelly.
They were announced as the new hosts in January, but until the big reveal they had been forced to keep schtum.
So much so that mum-of-two Kelly, 49, even kept it a secret from her Liverpool legend dad Sir Kenny Dalglish, 74, as he has loose lips.
We set up a WhatsApp group called The Match Of The Day Three, which sounded like a vigilante group, or like we’ve been wrongly incarcerated for something
Gabby
The trio risked being rumbled, though, after they were spotted out for dinner together.
Kelly revealed: “We thought, ‘Should we do that? Does it just draw attention to ourselves?’. I got a text from a friend of my sister’s saying, ‘Somebody has seen you and Gabby Logan out together!’. Chappers was there, with his hoodie up and bobble hat.”
The three of them had soon set up a WhatsApp group to keep in contact.
Gabby said: “I called it The Match Of The Day Three, which we quickly realised sounded like some kind of vigilante group, or like we’ve been wrongly incarcerated for something.”
As well as the presenting shake-up, bosses have also decided to make a slight change to the Sunday show — dropping “2” from the title and simply calling it Match Of The Day.
And the European footie highlights version will be called Match Of The Day: Champions League.
Married mum-of-two Gabby says: “In many weeks, Match Of The Day 2 has been a stronger line-up.
Why is the Saturday Match Of The Day seen as the top job? I’m intrigued, really, because I’ve never viewed Saturdays and Sundays as any different
Mark
“Match Of The Day is Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays [for Champions League highlights]. It’s not Match Of The Day 1, Match Of The Day 2, it’s just Match Of The Day.
‘Want people to care’
“That will be the most noticeable change, apart from not having Gary involved.”
Dad-of-three Mark, 51, will host this Saturday’s show — but does not think it is more important than the Sunday edition, which typically has fewer games to analyse.
He says: “Why is it the top job? I’m intrigued, really, because I’ve never viewed Saturdays and Sundays as any different.”
The presenting trio lifted the lid on getting the gig for the first time in a chat with Radio Times, before the new Premier League season starts on Friday night.
Kelly reveals she was first told about the possibility of being the host over a lunch — unlike Gabby, who was sounded out by text.
Some 33million footie fans tune into the MOTD over the season — and in 2015, it won a Guinness World Record for being the longest-running football TV show, on air since 1964.
But Kelly was taken aback by the huge level of interest in the role.
She says: “I didn’t think there would be as much focus as there has been. I thought, probably very naively, that Gary would take it all as the outgoing person. I didn’t realise people would be as interested as they are.
“Neighbours, friends, kids’ parents, people who wouldn’t normally have been interested in anything I did — suddenly they are.”
Kelly was quizzed over BBC Chairman Samir Shah’s remarks in an interview earlier this year, that MOTD “should be built around analysis” rather than highlights.
She said: “I don’t think he has a say in how it’s made.
“He’s just giving an opinion as a football fan — which is fine, that’s what you want people to do.
“You want people to care about Match Of The Day and how it’s made. What people like about the show is the fact that it’s about the football — it’s about the highlights. That’s the most important thing.”
Inevitably, the question of social-media conduct was raised, following numerous run-ins between Gary and the BBC when he aired his views on topics such as migrants and Palestine.
‘In best of hands’
Kelly says: “I don’t think I’ve ever really weighed in that much on anything that isn’t either about football or something quite silly. That’s not how I’ve ever used social media.”
For eight years, Gary was the Beeb’s top earner — raking in £1.35million in 2024/25.
But Gabby remained tight-lipped on whether the trio would be shooting up the BBC wage list — saying people must wait until the figures drop next July to find out.
Asked if Gary had contacted his successors since they landed the roles, Mark said: “I saw him not long ago and he said he had been asked in an interview whether he’d given us tips.
“And he said, ‘Why? What? What on earth would I be doing phoning you three up to offer you tips? Why would I be deemed to be that arrogant to do that?’.
“Experience-wise, we’ve all been doing it for a long time.
“I feel a bit sorry for Gary being asked that question because he’s on a hiding to nothing. When I started doing stuff for Sky, the first person I spoke to was Kelly, to get a lay of the land, not how to do the job.”
Gary spoke fondly of his successors during his final broadcast, telling viewers: “The programme is in the best of hands.”
It is then, perhaps, no surprise that he has not felt the need to offer any pearls of wisdom.
Gabby said: “I’m sure if Gary had something very practical he wanted to pass on, we’d all receive it gratefully.
“But as Mark says, he doesn’t feel he needs to. I know where the biscuits are kept.”
Let’s hope Kelly, Gabby and Mark can continue serving up treats like their predecessor as the new season kicks off this weekend.
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