Kelly Cates: From Sky Sports News To Match Of The Day

What is it really like presenting Match of the Day?

In this episode, Romesh is joined by sports broadcaster Kelly Cates to talk about her remarkable career in football journalism, from becoming one of the original faces of Sky Sports News to stepping into the Match of the Day studio.

Kelly opens up about growing up surrounded by football, how sports broadcasting has changed over the last three decades and why she deliberately avoids reading comments (good and bad) about her work.

They discuss the modern pressures that face footballers today and what it's really like presenting one of the UK's most iconic sports programmes. Plus, there's a maths geek-out, a question from Shanthi, Misquoted and even a message from Jamie Redknapp.



A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Platform Media.



Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:31 A gift for Kelly

02:57 On Ready Steady Cook

05:35 Growing up in football

09:24 A question from Shanthi

10:25 Sport injuries

12:05 On Jamie Redknapp

14:08 A question from Jamie

16:00 Maths geek out

19:30 Sky Sports News

22:22 Broadcast journalism

26:50 Expectations of footballers

27:40 Media & journalism changing

31:13 “Unicorn” footballers

32:43 Match of the Day

37:57 Career progression

41:04 A sidenote on trains

41:48 The World Cup

45:22 Misquoted

55:53 An exclusive

56:18 Outro
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The world’s biggest stars join Romesh for candid conversations and loads of laughs. Every Monday, Romesh Ranganathan meets actors, musicians, comedians and icons who share stories you won’t hear anywhere else, combining humour, heart and genuine insight. Expect backstage anecdotes, untold tales from the spotlight, and extraordinary insight into what makes them tick. On Thursdays, Rom’s mum Shanthi joins the show to share family stories, answer audience questions, and offer her no-nonsense take on life, proving that the funniest and most relatable conversations often happen around the kitchen table. Leave a voice note for Romesh and Shanthi by messaging +447731623355, @theromeshshow on Instagram, or emailing [email protected]. A Ranga Bee Production in Partnership with Listen.

• No. of episodes: 88
• Latest episode: 2026-07-26
• Comedy Society & Culture

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