Who is Kelly Cates, future co-host of Match of the Day?
Share:
The presenter of Premier League games for Sky since 2017 will join Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan from next season. Kelly Cates always gets asked the same questions. What was it like having a footballing legend for a father? And how does it feel being a woman in a man’s world?.
The response of the veteran football presenter – who has been propelled into the public consciousness after being named as one-third of the new lineup replacing Gary Lineker on Match of the Day – reveals a lot about the BBC’s new star. “I think people overestimate the impact of your parents’ job on your life,” she said in a 2020 conversation with Gabby Logan, one of her co-presenters on the corporation’s football highlights show. “I think who they are as people has much more of a lasting impact than what they did as a job.”.
But reflecting on growing up as Kenny Dalglish’s daughter on Logan’s The MidPoint podcast, she acknowledged that her childhood – she was just two when the former player and manager signed for Liverpool – had given her a sort of superpower in the male-dominated world of football.
“Because I always felt part of that world, it never occurred to me to question my place in it,” she said. “I think maybe starting from the inside gave me a sense of belonging.”. The BBC confirmed this week that Cates, who has presented Premier League games for Sky since 2017 and will continue to do so, will present Match of the Day alongside BBC stalwarts Mark Chapman and Logan from next season – the first time presenting duties have been shared in the show’s 60-year history. The trio will replace the former England striker-turned-podcast mogul Lineker, who stepped down in November – with speculation rife about the impact of the change on the show.
