Kelly Cates says BBC is bigger than any one presenter as she settles into Match of the Day role

Kelly Cates, the new presenter on the BBC’s Match of the Day, said the corporation was "bigger than any one star" as she reflected on the departure of former host Gary Lineker and discussed the responsibilities that come with a high-profile role at a public broadcaster.

Cates, 49, who joins the MOTD presenting rotation with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman, said she did not "defend what he did" but that she did not believe one individual could damage an organisation the size of the BBC. Lineker left the corporation after resharing an Instagram post in May 2025 that featured a cartoon rat and was judged antisemitic; he apologised and deleted the post.

Speaking in a cafe by Hammersmith Bridge ahead of her first studio appearance, Cates described the role as one that requires a steady hand. Her debut on 23 August drew a broadly positive response, she said, and she joked about the running order of presenters after being third in the rotation. The show is filmed in Manchester while she lives in Chiswick, west London, with her two daughters, aged 14 and 16, a commute she expects will make her schedule busier.

Cates, who continues to work for Sky Sports, said the BBC's impartiality obligations meant presenters needed to be mindful of what they say in public. Asked about her previous defence of Marcus Rashford’s campaigning on free school meals, she said that while she considered it "perfectly valid" to debate the manner of his campaigning, the prominence of a BBC presenter required extra caution. "There is a different responsibility when you have a profile and you work for the BBC, because it has a constitutional obligation to be neutral," she said.

On the wider issue of Lineker’s exit, Cates said: "I'm not defending what he did. I just don't think one person can do that" to an organisation like the BBC. She added that she understood the impulse to use a public platform to make a difference but that had to be done "responsibly."

Cates has presented sports coverage for 27 years, largely for Sky Sports, and described her move to Match of the Day as a major moment in a long career. She said she felt "really nervous" before her first appearance but that her aim was not spectacle but steadiness: "It didn't need to be spectacular. It just needed to be steady and it was steady." The response on social media, she said, was quietly positive and she did not consult online feedback ahead of the show.

Her profile is tied closely to footballing heritage. Cates is the daughter of Kenny Dalglish, the former Liverpool striker and manager. She described growing up around the game and called herself a "plastic Scouser," having been raised in Southport. She was 13 when she attended the Hillsborough disaster on April 15, 1989, and said the event and its aftermath changed her family. "It leaves you with a sense of not feeling 100 percent safe, because you can't trust the institutions that are supposed to be there to protect you," she said, referring to the subsequent inquiries that found police failures were the main cause.

Cates discussed the gender dynamics of football broadcasting, saying she fretted about "the smaller aspects of sexism, the more subtle forms" and worried when it appeared things were moving backwards for women. She referenced comments by former player Joey Barton — who posted in 2023 that women "shouldn't be talking with any kind of authority" on the men's game — and said she had found him "really good to work with" and did not understand the reasoning behind such statements.

She described some of the everyday assumptions that continue to appear in the sport and television industries, such as female make-up artists being asked to perform non-technical tasks, and said there was a tendency for women to blame themselves rather than call out inequities. "It is a world that's been set up originally by men," she said. "If you are personable, you're seen as not being able to be tough."

Cates also reflected on the personal side of the job. She divorced television producer Tom Cates in 2021 after 14 years of marriage and said she keeps the Cates name so she shares a surname with her daughters. She praised co-parenting arrangements with her ex-husband and said she takes a day a week for herself to recharge, often by walking, seeing theatre or having a long lunch with friends.

Her relationship with footballers is shaped by long experience in the game. "I started out at 22 and now I'm old enough to be a mother to the vast majority of players," she said. She described small, human moments after matches — players in puffer coats and sliders, shivering on the touchline — that underline her affection for those she interviews.

Asked about the England women's team's European Championship success and the emotional highs of sport, Cates said she was drawn less to singular moments of triumph than to the arc of endurance: "It's those moments where you think, they’ve ridden this out. You came through the storm, and now blue skies are ahead." On coping with loss, she said, "Football will break your heart. It breaks your heart because you care. It's great to care about something."

Cates said she did not intend to be a long-term fixture until old age: "I'm not going to do MOTD when I'm 75, let's put it that way." She acknowledged the role will bring increased visibility and scrutiny but said she hoped to bring calm and joy to the presenting role while recognising the BBC’s particular public responsibilities.

Her appointment completes a presenting trio tasked with guiding Match of the Day through a busy domestic season and a shifting media landscape for sports broadcasting. Cates said she welcomed the challenge and emphasised the continuing need for broadcasters to balance their platforms with the impartiality expected of public service media.