Mark Chapman's Sky future clarified as he gears up for MOTD duties
Chapman, aged 51, has been brought into the presenting lineup alongside Cates and Dave Jones. The presenter will also helm the inaugural Match of the Day broadcast of the post-Gary Lineker period this Saturday evening, with Cates and Gabby Logan similarly contributing to the programme.
Currently anchoring Sky Sports' Carabao Cup output, Chapman is poised for increased screen time this term. Sky Sports football chief Gary Hughes commented: "We're delighted that Mark's joining us alongside Kelly and Dave. Clearly we have more games this season, we needed more presenters.
"Kelly and Dave can't do all of them. I'm not going to go into all the details of how many games Mark will do, but Mark will work across the Carabao Cup and our Premier League coverage.
"He will work weekends, yes he will, and we'll work with him and Kelly. We're delighted that Kelly is working on Match of the Day next season as well. We'll work with both of those to work through our schedule and we've got control of the calendar in terms of the picking of the matches.
"We're all adults and we'll see how it goes. It's clearly new territory, but we're looking forward to having everybody on board."
Sky Sports chief sports officer Jonathan Licht added: "Kelly's worked with us for a long time and Mark Chapman has done three seasons. Exceptional presenters think it's sort of better for everyone really. We will work with them and work through them with the BBC to make sure that that works." Sky Sports TV presenter Kelly Cates speaks next to the Premier League trophy (Image: AFP)
Roy Keane has also renewed his contract as a Sky pundit. The Irishman was assaulted during a heated row with an Ipswich fan at Portman Road last November
Hughes said: "We had conversations with all our team over the summer. Roy's a great guy. He's a brilliant team mate. You want him in your team. He's had a few incidents in the last couple of seasons and it does affect him.
"Ultimately, when it comes to him, he wants to be involved in the biggest games. He loves working with us. He wants to be at Old Trafford for Manchester United against Arsenal.
"Clearly not going to go into the detail of any deal or any conversations over the summer, but we ended up with Roy again with us next season. There'll be more Roy next season, there'll be more Micah (Richards) and there'll be more Daniel (Sturridge). More games, more of all of those guys as well."
Licht added: "It's our responsibility at Sky to make sure that we don't expose any of our team to those sorts of incidents. There were conversations that we had immediately, but I think he was back with us following the weekend. He loves being part of the big games."
Sky Sports also believe they will have no issues taking matches back to Nottingham Forest this season after Gary Neville was banned from the final Premier League game of the season for criticising owner Evangelos Marinakis.
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