Kelly Cates ‘doesn’t want to be new Gary Lineker’ and hasn’t spoken to him about MOTD role

Presenter Kelly Cates is set to join up with Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan to replace Gary Lineker on Match of the Day for the coming Premier League season but has not spoken to her predecessor

Kelly Cates has not spoken to the “adored” Gary Lineker before joining Match of the Day this season because “I don’t want to be Gary”. And the Sky Sports presenter vowed not to use her platform to promote political and social causes like her BBC predecessor.

Kenny Dalglish’s daughter will have a hectic season sharing coverage of 215 live Premier League games on Sky Sports and being part of new MOTD team along with Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan. But Cates has not sought advice from the former England striker about her new role.

Speaking before the launch of the new Sky Sports Premier League season, she said: “No he hasn’t got in touch and I haven’t got in touch with him, but not because we’re not avoiding each other. We just don’t know each other. I know Gary to say hello to.. We just don’t know each other that well. And I think Chappers was saying that Gary said: ‘Well, why would I tell three broadcasters how to do their job?’ which is very lovely of him because he was brilliant at the job and adored. And as much as he was a controversial character at times, any focus group that was researching will tell you how much he was adored in that role.

“So I think from my point of view, the reason not to do it would be, I don’t want to be Gary. I think there’s a temptation to try and be someone else, and I think that you get a job because of yourself. And if then you try to be someone else, it can all just get a bit confused. I don’t need another thing to think about. I don’t need to be sitting there thinking: ‘What would Gary do? It’s not a decision not to. It’s just we don’t have that relationship.”

Lineker, 64, left the BBC flagship show after 26 years in May after sharing a post on social media from the Palestine Lobby group illustrated with a rat – a historic anti-semetic insult. Lineker “apologised unreservedly” and was last week announced as the presenter of a new ITV game show The Box.

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Cates added: “I haven’t ever really used my social media for that. So it isn’t something that I’m going to have to change because it’s not ever what I’ve used it for. I think that in a lot of cases, I’m not the best placed person to talk about some of those issues. And I think there’s a tendency to believe that if somebody isn’t talking about something they don’t care about it, and I think it’s perfectly possible to care about something and keep quiet and let experts talk about it, which I think is a lot of the time better.

“I always feel like if I couldn’t cope well with being challenged heavily on it, then I shouldn’t be putting my opinion out publicly. Whereas I think there are people they don’t necessarily need to be particularly qualified in the area, but are people who are much better informed who can do that.”

She said the number of matches she will front this season is “a bit of a moveable feast”. Cates, who has two teenage children, explained: “I can’t do both of them on same day, but I could do Match of the Day on Saturday and Sky on the Sunday. Yeah, that would work, or vice versa. These were all my questions at the beginning. But it’s not as complicated as you think. There’s a very fast train to Manchester. It should be like roughly a fairly even mix to them, I think.

“Because I’ve just got busy weekends, but I work in sports so I expect to have busy weekends. And it’s actually my midweeks are a bit clearer than they were, so it’s just changing where I work, really. It’s just changing the timetable.”

Sky Sports will introduce technological innovation this season with a Supersized Super Sunday showing up to four matches simultaneously on the Multiview programme. Over 30 extra matches will be shown on Sundays from team competing in Europe on Thursday.

“Our job is still the same,” said Cates. It’s just to talk to the guests and get the best out of the pundits. So in terms of what we actually do, it doesn’t really make that much difference. It’s just how it’s all treated and goes through the process afterwards, and things like how it’s all clipped up and how it’s streamed. And I sit, listen to that and go, that sounds amazing. I have no idea how to do it.

“I think that the tone generally has changed to become more conversational on air, and I think that’s probably because that’s come from digital. So I think because there was a huge increase in the amount of digital media that people were consuming, and that was a lot of that was fan lead and a lot of it was, you know, just people starting up on their own at the beginning. But I think you can have a conversational tone without having a conversation, you can still interview somebody while having a conversational tone.

Sky Sports and NOW will broadcast over 215 Premier League matches exclusively live this season

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