Kelly Cates shares plans for summer after 'whistle-stop' first Match of the Day season

A few weeks ago, Kelly Cates was worried her first season as part of the Match of the Day presenting team might have a quieter finish than anticipated. Arsenal looked to be running away with the title and the relegation picture looked done and dusted.

That just tells you how quickly football - and Premier League football in particular - can change. Cates and her fellow hosts Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan will present highlights of some huge games at both ends of the table to round off a whirlwind start to life on the show since they took over from Gary Lineker at the beginning of the campaign.

“I think there was definitely a point this season where we thought this might be over by March,” Cates told Mirror Football at the Sport Industry Awards. “[Now] we've got a title race, we've got a relegation battle, we've got battles for European places, we've got everything. So we're so glad it's going down to the wire.”

All eyes were on the new presenting team when they took over at the start of the season. Previous host Lineker had been such a long-standing presence on the show that a like-for-like change was impossible but the new team are so experienced in broadcasting that it can feel as though they have been there for far longer than just under a year.

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It has been a time of significant change at the BBC , with news breaking in April that Football Focus would be leaving our screens after more than half a century. Given that development, the familiarity offered by Match of the Day - even if the faces in front of the camera have changed - can feel soothing.

As Cates recognises, there’s a benefit to working with familiar colleagues even if it’s in a different environment. However, she also recognises the efforts put in by those we don’t see up close.

“Match of the Day is bigger than the presenters,” she said. “I think that's what I've learned, that all the people who work behind the scenes to kind of keep everything on it, they're the people who make the programme what it is.

“Viewers really watch for the football. They're not watching for anything else.

“I've worked with [the Match of the Day pundits] before. There's nobody who's been brand new to me, that was really nice, but that helps me and it just helps to have some continuity.”

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Cates, Chapman and Logan won’t be able to rest all that much when the current season ends. All three have responsibilities for the World Cup over the summer, with the BBC and ITV sharing matches across the expanded tournament.

The World Cup final is on July 19, with the next Premier League season beginning barely a month later. So, what does that mean when it comes to opportunities to rest and recharge over the summer?

“It's such a quick turnaround and then even after the World Cup, although they pushed the start of the season back, it's a really short space then as well,” Cates added. “So it’s going to be a whistle-stop tour of football, but that's how I like it.

“I've got a couple of weeks away with my daughters, then they've got school and they've got exams and all these kinds of things. So between them and me, we've kind of found two weeks to just go on holiday somewhere.

“The good thing about summer is you don't need to go anywhere exciting. You can just go somewhere that you get to chill, somewhere that's got a beach and a pool, that's about it.”

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