Exiled former Sky Sports host warns Kelly Cates about Match of the Day – and ‘troublesome’ Gabby Logan

Exiled former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys has warned Kelly Cates over her impending role as the new Match of the Day host.

As exclusively revealed by Mail Sport on Sunday, Cates, daughter of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish, is to leave Sky Sports to become part of a three-person team of Match of the Day presenters.

It is expected that Cates will join fellow broadcasters Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan, with presenting duties for Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 split between the trio when Gary Lineker leaves at the end of the season.

That means the 49-year-old will leave her role at Sky, who are understood to be deeply saddened at the loss of her services.

Cates’ second run with Sky has been since 2016, with the presenter having previously worked with the broadcaster before departing around 10 years earlier. She has also worked for the likes of ESPN and Channel 4.

The move to the BBC appears to be the next step in an illustrious career, but Keys, who left Sky in 2011, has fired a warning towards his former colleague while taking aim at her father.

Kelly Cates has been warned over taking the job of Match of the Day host by Richard Keys

Cates (right) will leave Sky Sports at the end of the season to join the BBC as show’s host

Keys suggested that BBC’s Match of the Day may not ‘survive for very much longer’

Writing in his blog, he posted: ‘Congrats to Kelly Cates on her new job. I’m proud of her but not surprised. Success has many fathers and I’m sure there’ll be a few people lining up to take credit for her career, but Kelly, Kenny and me know the truth.

‘Kenny and I once fell out about her getting a job at Sky. “It meant she didn’t finish Uni” he said to me. “No” I replied. “But you asked me to get her a job”. Her dad is a man of many contradictions – but that one was a belter. I’m not holding my breath expecting he’ll call now to apologise.

‘Kelly is good. Very good. But I’m still surprised she’s making the move. There’s nothing like presenting live football. I would never have made that decision. Highlights shows are deadly dull.

‘MotD desperately needs fresh blood, but I’m not sure it will survive for very much longer. Eventually Grandstand died for similar reasons – the march of time.’

Keys and former colleague Andy Gray left their roles with Sky after a series of sexist conversations were picked up and leaked in January 2011 when they thought their microphones were off.

Both Keys and Gray left the UK and are now the face of Premier League coverage across the Middle East and North Africa with beIN Sports.

Keys, who was with Sky between 1992 and the inception of the Premier League and 2011, hasn’t been short of opinions on the broadcaster since, often feuding with Jamie Carragher.

He also took aim at Logan, who is a regular with the BBC having working briefly for Sky in the 1990s, upon the news she would be joining forces with Cates and Chapman from next season.

‘Gabby Logan is someone else I opened the door for,’ he wrote. ‘I did that because her dad [Terry Yorath] had played for Coventry and I was a big fan! She’s good – but a handful.

‘I’m told by people that work with her now nothing has changed. Oh well – one day maybe.’