Kelly Cates is heavily rumoured to be leaving SkySports to join BBC Match of the Day as one of Gary Lineker's successors. Cates, who is the daughter of Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish, is mooted to be one of three rotating Match of the Day presenters next season.
Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan complete the trio, with an official announcement expected to follow in the new year. Lineker confirmed he would be standing down as host of Match of the Day at the end of the season, having performed the role for 25 years.
The 2026 World Cup will mark the end of his contract. It's a huge opportunity for Cates who earned her break in TV as one of the original SkySports News presenters in 1998.
FourFourTwo sat down with her to discuss her relationship with football, from growing up watching her dad play to presenting at World Cup Finals.
'I never really saw footballers as heroes'
What was the first game that you ever saw live?
Kelly Cates: "I have no recollection at all. When I was a baby, mum used to take me to Celtic, but women and kids weren’t allowed in because it was the ’70s – we used to wait outside with the fans for my dad to come out, so we could go home with him. When we moved to England, my mum didn’t know anybody, she had a two-year-old and a six-month-old, so we would go to the Liverpool games with her."
Apart from the very obvious answer, who were your childhood heroes?
KC: "I never really saw footballers as heroes, maybe until I got quite a lot older and dad moved away from it, so I got some distance from it. I always loved to watch Robbie Fowler. I don’t think I’d ever say Robbie was a hero, because that would be awkward if I bumped into him now! But for me, I needed that distance from it, otherwise they’re just people."
What was it like growing up as the daughter of a football legend?
KC: "It’s weird being asked about it still when you’re nearly 50! [Smiles] My life, apart from my dad’s job, was normal. Being
a footballer’s daughter then wasn’t like being a footballer’s kid now – there just wasn’t the attention in the same way. My life was genuinely not that unusual and football wasn’t a big part of my life – only once every two weeks."
Do you have any special memories of that time, being around football?
KC: "When you’re really small, you don’t care too much about the football. My main memories are of going into the players’ lounge, a big room with a bar at one end, and people would bring round sandwiches – it felt like heaven to me, because we got to run wild after the game! Ronnie Whelan taught me to blow bubbles in my Coke to make it extra frothy. I do remember Liverpool winning trophies, going to Wembley, and dad’s last game when he came on as substitute, but they’re all just a blur."
What was your finest moment from playing football yourself?
KC: "I never played, other than occasionally in somebody’s back garden. I remember going on holiday when I was 11 or 12 – we were all having a kickabout on this gravel tennis court. I had this vision in my head when someone passed the ball to me that I was running down the wing, but I skidded and tripped, scraped all my elbow, all up my leg and knocked myself out. If I ever needed a sign that it wasn’t for me, that was it..."
Your brother Paul was a footballer.
KC: "His way of dealing with being dad’s son was to be extra loud and to be funny. Because of that he probably wasn’t dealing with it properly, so when he moved to the States, that was brilliant for him and gave him a chance to grow in his own way. Dad went over when he won the MLS Cup and told him, “This is better than anything I’ve ever won.” He genuinely felt the emotion of that more than anything else – when it’s your kid, it’s like, ‘This is incredible’."
Why did you go into broadcasting?
KC: "I was doing a maths degree and didn’t want anything to do with it. Then Sky Sports News was starting, and they just hired a load of 20-somethings and graduates. They went, ‘We’ve got this new 24-hour sports TV channel to fill, we need s**tloads of people and we don’t really care if you know what you’re doing, as long as you like your sport and know a bit about football’. We all turned up, there were a couple of grown-ups keeping us in check, then it was chaos for the first two years. We had a ball – you don’t realise how much you’re learning together. It was lucky timing."
Where’s the best place that you’ve ever watched a game?
KC: "When we went to Qatar, there was so much controversy beforehand – and there should have been because of what happened with the construction around the tournament. It was really difficult to cover and get the balance right. We had a night off and went to Argentina against Mexico at the Lusail Stadium – everything there felt quite sterile, quite forced, then the Argentina and Mexico fans appeared and it was like, ‘Oh my god, this fixture feels like a World Cup’. It felt like watching old ’70s footage on YouTube, it was just so intense. I hadn’t been to a match when both teams were from the Americas, and suddenly that performative side
of it – the rolling around, the playing to the crowd and arms in the air – all made sense. I absolutely loved it."
Do you have a favourite football book?
KC: "Unsuitable For Females by Carrie Dunn, about the rise of the Lionesses. Carrie always writes very well about women’s football, she’s really knowledgeable and has the ear of lots of women across the game. I love her writing."
Who’s your favourite player who has never played for Liverpool?
KC: "I always loved watching Wayne Rooney. I liked the fact he was sometimes a bit angry. He could do the flash stuff, but he wasn’t flash, if that makes any sense."
Was it different for you when your dad went back to manage Liverpool, compared to his first spell in charge?
KC: "When he went back as manager, I was working and thought, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got to cover this’. It was tricky. I think management is stressful, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. Sometimes when you get pundits in who are trying to get into management or trying to get back into it, I think, ‘Why?’ I get that it pays well, but they don’t need that stress – it’s not a nice job when everybody else in the world thinks they’re better at it than you. When dad managed Liverpool the second time, I think it worked well, though – they needed reminding who they were, and they won the League Cup. Jamie Carragher said they’d won trophies before, but the finals were at the Millennium Stadium, so they got their Wembley moment."
Which Liverpool player would have made the best TV presenter?
KC: "John Barnes did it with Channel Five, but I’d say better pundit than presenter – he’s the one who’d be the best. Carra could present easily, Jamie Redknapp as well. The rest were from an era where the trick was not to give too much away and not to be too helpful to the media."
