Becoming Match of the Day host was like finding out I was PREGNANT, says Kelly Cates as she reveals how she landed job
WHEN Kelly Cates was told she and Gabby Logan would become the first female Match Of The Day hosts in the show’s 60-year history, she wanted to shout it from the rooftops.
But unfortunately for the new presenter, she was ordered by BBC bosses to keep quiet about her new role — a scenario which felt familiar to the mum of two.
Because, for Kelly, sitting on the enormous secret felt just like hiding a pregnancy.
Speaking in depth for the first time about taking over from Gary Lineker next season, Kelly, 49, said: “I’m not good at secrets — it killed me! Genuinely, once the news was announced I could have slept for two days.
“I found the stress of keeping it a secret so hard and even though it is a nice secret, it was a little bit like the early stages of pregnancy where you feel terrible that you can’t tell anybody.
“It was awful lying to genuinely good friends. I hated it.”
Kelly will be part of a new three-strong presenting team, alongside Gabby and Mark Chapman, both 51.
And she is thrilled she can now share how she managed to land the biggest job in British sports broadcasting.
An industry veteran of nearly 30 years, Kelly had been working for the BBC as part of 5 Live’s football coverage, as well as anchoring live games for Sky Sports, when she was called into a meeting by Beeb executives.
‘Ego-filled world’
It had been rumoured for some time that new BBC Director of Sport boss Alex Kay-Jelski wanted to shake up Match Of The Day, the world’s longest-running football highlights show.
But Kelly had not bargained for being a part of his plans.
Speaking on the White Wine Question Time podcast, she explains: “I had the conversation early on but in very vague terms.
“I was already doing radio for the BBC, already working on 5 Live so it was natural for me to have meetings when a new boss came in, and everything was being changed so that was quite natural.
“But in the course of one of those meetings it was, ‘Well, we’re rethinking how we’re going to do Match Of The Day and would you be interested to be in the mix?’
Inside I couldn’t wait for the meeting to end so I could shout ‘Oh my God! This is incredible’
Kelly Cates
“And I was trying really hard to keep a ‘not bothered’ face, saying, ‘Yeah, that would be great’.
“But inside I couldn’t wait for the meeting to end so I could shout ‘Oh my God! This is incredible’.”
Kelly added: “And they were brilliant around the whole thing — trying to balance the two and the fact I can keep doing live football, which I think is really important because if you don’t do that you forget why you’re covering it, you forget about those big moments and what it is like.”
It was only when Kelly’s new gig was officially unveiled in January that the enormity began to sink in.
She added: “Suddenly friends of mine who don’t even like football were phoning me saying, ‘Oh my God, this is so exciting — congratulations’. I didn’t even think it would be on their radar.
“They’re not in that sports world and then you realise something like Match Of The Day goes past all of that. It’s in people’s lives — it’s in the background.”
The appointment of Kelly, who is the daughter of Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland great Kenny Dalglish, along with Gabby and Mark — aka Chappers — was widely welcomed by the football world.
All three are hugely respected figures within the industry and there was a general consensus they had done their time, working up the ranks and honing their craft over several decades.
Kelly believes landing the gig came at the perfect time for all of the new line-up.
She explains: “That was the big draw for the three of us.
“To be in the mix with Chappers and Gabby, who I really like as people, first of all, but really admire as broadcasters as well . . . it’s just a really lovely group to be in.
“People have this perception that it is a massive ego-filled world, and it is at times and you need a certain sort of ego to feel like you can do the job because you need a certain amount of confidence.
“But you don’t want to be in a position where we’re all trying to scramble over each other.
“The fact we’re all the same age, we’re at the same stage of our careers, we’ve all got other things outside of Match Of The Day that we’re all passionate about and really invested in, it means none of us are treading on each other and preying on each other’s insecurities.
“We’re all really comfortable about who we are and where we are in our careers, so it really works for all of us.
“We’re all at a stage in our lives as well where we want to spend time with our families.
“We have kids of different ages and different things going on in our home lives as well.
“It’s really nice to be able to keep all that in the mix.”
Kelly’s grounding in sports broadcasting came in the early days of Sky Sports News, a rolling news channel launched in 2010.
‘Kicked up a fuss’
The female-heavy list of anchors, including Kirsty Gallacher, who is godmother to one of Kelly’s daughters, became synonymous with the channel.
However, the presenters were often sexualised by viewers and when that attitude seeped into the brand marketing, Kelly was the one who put a stop to it.
Don’t start undermining us from inside the organisation because we can take it from other people — we’re used to that — but we thought you had our backs here, that’s the way it should be
Kelly on sexualisation of female sports presenters
The star has always taken her position as a role model for women in sport seriously.
She explained: “It was seen as ‘fruit on the barrow’, where you would put your juiciest fruit on the barrow — there was that attitude to it.
“But we didn’t feel like that from the inside. That was very much an external thing.
“Then I remember there was an ad put out with four female Sky Sports News presenters on, saying ‘There’s always something worth watching on Sky Sports News’.
“I remember it happened on the Sunday and I think by the Tuesday or Wednesday I’d gone into the office and said, ‘No. I get that this comes from the outside but don’t do that to us from the inside’.
“Don’t start undermining us from inside the organisation because we can take it from other people — we’re used to that — but we thought you had our backs here, that’s the way it should be’.”
She added: “The reaction was they didn’t think I would be the person who came in and kicked up a fuss.
“I was like, ‘That says something. If you think I’m easy-going and it upset me then you should probably read something into that’.”
Kelly took an extended break from sports broadcasting to concentrate on bringing up her children.
She returned to work in 2013 at Radio 5 Live where she hosted the station’s famous 606 football phone-in on Sundays alongside ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright.
She later returned to Sky Sports to anchor live games and previously made history as the first female presenter on talkSPORT.
Glasgow-born Kelly, whose brother Paul was a professional footballer for Newcastle, is now separated from Tom Cates, the father of her two daughters.
Like most working mums, Kelly admits taking care of her career and their teenage daughters can be challenging.
She added: “It’s juggling lots of diaries, and I’ve got a really good relationship with my ex-husband.
“He’s great with the girls in terms of being flexible because we have to be around my job.
“You just make it work. I’m really lucky — I have a great job.
“People do this and work three jobs and are stressed about putting food on the table and heating the house.
“Although it’s tricky to do everything and all problems are relative, it’s manageable.”
Saturday nights are about to get a whole lot busier for Kelly.
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