Latest news with #MOTD
Scottish Sun
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
New MOTD presenter Mark Chapman's salary revealed as he becomes one of three hosts replacing Gary Lineker
The three hosts will even earn less than pundit Alan Shearer SALARY CHAP New MOTD presenter Mark Chapman's salary revealed as he becomes one of three hosts replacing Gary Lineker Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) GARY LINEKER earned a staggering FOUR TIMES more than his Match of the Day successor Mark Chapman last season. The BBC have published their annual salaries list, with Lineker, 64, far and away their top earner in 2023-24. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Mark Chapman's BBC wage for the 2023-24 season has been revealed Credit: Getty 6 Gary Lineker earned over four times as much as Chapman, raking in £1.35m Credit: Getty 6 Wayne Rooney will join MOTD on a two-year deal worth £800,000 Credit: Getty The former England striker spent 26 years as MOTD host and saw his pay reach a whopping £1.35MILLION per year. The Beeb's second highest earner is Zoe Ball - who has raked in £515,000 over the last 12 months for her work on BBC Radio 2. Alan Shearer completes the top three, with the Newcastle and England legend earning £440,000 in 2023-24 for his work as a Match of the Day and Euro 2024 pundit. SunSport exclusively revealed Wayne Rooney is also set to join the hit show as a pundit on a two-year deal worth £800,000. READ MORE SPORT STORIES BACK TO ROO IN THE STUDIO Wayne Rooney lands £800,000 deal to be Match of the Day pundit And that means they're both set to earn MORE than the shows new hosts - which include Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates. Chapman, 51, pocketed a cool £325,000 last year for his work with the BBC, which included 120 episodes of Radio 5 Live, the Olympics, Euro 2024 and, of course, Match of the Day 2. Despite his array of stellar work, 'Chappers' earned more than £1m LESS than his MOTD predecessor, Lineker - who officially quit the BBC in June - last year alone. Only three other BBC stars from the world of sport cracked their 'rich list'. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Final Score host Jason Mohammad - who also did some work for BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 2 - took home £230,000 over the past year. Football Focus host Alex Scott raked in £205,000 in 2023-24, having also worked on Euro 2024, Sports Personality of the Year and the Women's Super League. New Match of the Day hosts sign up for huge reality TV show together as they rival each other for Gary Lineker's job 6 Gabby Logan is one of three stars replacing Lineker as MOTD host Credit: Getty 6 Kelly Cates will team up with Chapman and Logan as one of the rotating hosts Credit: Getty Finally, ex-Chelsea striker Chris Sutton pocketed £200,000 last year having worked for BBC Radio 5 Live, the Monday Night Club podcast, the 606 podcast, Euro 2024, Football Focus and Final Score. Cates, 49, is daughter of Liverpool and Scotland legend Kenny Dalglish and has spent most of her career at Sky Sports, but also worked for talkSPORT and ESPN among others before her BBC move, with her Beeb wage yet to be announced. TV legend Logan, 52, has worked extensively for the BBC, ITV and even Channel 5 - covering all many of sports and lifestyle shows, from the Olympics, World Cup and Euros, to Loose Women and even game show Pointless. While her most recent BBC salaries are unknown, she did take home £240,000 in 2022-23. Logan, along with Cates and Chapman, will be tasked with leading a new era for Match of the Day after a 26-year Lineker monopoly. On his exit, Lineker told The Rest is Football podcast in November 2024: "It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC, but all things have to come to an end. "It came at a point where really the BBC and Match Of The Day, they've got the rights for another three years. "The cycle starts from next season so it felt like if I just do one more year it would be a bit weird. I feel this is now the right time. "I think the next contract they're looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently." 6 Alan Shearer is the BBC's third highest paid star and will be top MOTD earner Credit: Getty Lineker - who replaced Des Lynam in 1999, added: "So I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm." However, in April 2025, speaking to fellow BBC star Amol Rajan - who earned £315,000 in 2023-24, good for 17th on the list - Lineker revealed: "Well, perhaps [the BBC] want me to leave. "There was the sense of that. "I always wanted one more contract, and I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to do three years [more]. "In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme. "I think it was their preference that I didn't do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people." As for the future, Lineker told FourFourTwo he wouldn't move to any of the BBC's rivals. He claimed: "I don't think you'll see me doing much football, apart from the podcast. "I'll do the odd thing, but I don't think you'll see me appearing regularly on another channel."
The Irish Sun
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
New MOTD presenter Mark Chapman's salary revealed as he becomes one of three hosts replacing Gary Lineker
GARY LINEKER earned a staggering FOUR TIMES more than his Match of the Day successor Mark Chapman last season. The Advertisement 6 Mark Chapman's BBC wage for the 2023-24 season has been revealed Credit: Getty 6 Gary Lineker earned over four times as much as Chapman, raking in £1.35m Credit: Getty 6 Wayne Rooney will join MOTD on a two-year deal worth £800,000 Credit: Getty The former £1.35MILLION per year. The Beeb's second highest earner is Zoe Ball - who has raked in £515,000 over the last 12 months for her work on BBC Radio 2. Alan Shearer completes the top three, with the Newcastle and England legend earning £440,000 in 2023-24 for his work as a Match of the Day and Euro 2024 pundit. SunSport exclusively revealed Wayne Rooney is also set to join the hit show as a pundit on a two-year deal worth £800,000. Advertisement READ MORE SPORT STORIES And that means they're both set to earn MORE than the shows new hosts - which Despite his array of stellar work, 'Chappers' earned more than £1m LESS than his MOTD predecessor, Lineker - who officially Only three other BBC stars from the world of sport cracked their 'rich list'. Advertisement Most read in Football Exclusive CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Final Score host Jason Mohammad - who also did some work for BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 2 - took home £230,000 over the past year. Football Focus host New Match of the Day hosts sign up for huge reality TV show together as they rival each other for Gary Lineker's job 6 Gabby Logan is one of three stars replacing Lineker as MOTD host Credit: Getty Advertisement 6 Kelly Cates will team up with Chapman and Logan as one of the rotating hosts Credit: Getty Finally, ex-Chelsea striker Chris Sutton pocketed £200,000 last year having worked for BBC Radio 5 Live, the Monday Night Club podcast, the 606 podcast, Euro 2024, Football Focus and Final Score. TV legend Advertisement While her most recent BBC salaries are unknown, she did take home £240,000 in 2022-23. Logan, along with Cates and Chapman, will be tasked with leading a new era for Match of the Day after a 26-year Lineker monopoly. On his exit, "It came at a point where really the BBC and Match Of The Day, they've got the rights for another three years. Advertisement "The cycle starts from next season so it felt like if I just do one more year it would be a bit weird. I feel this is now the right time. "I think the next contract they're looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently." 6 Alan Shearer is the BBC's third highest paid star and will be top MOTD earner Credit: Getty Lineker - who replaced Des Lynam in 1999, added: "So I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm." Advertisement However, in April 2025, "There was the sense of that. "I always wanted one more contract, and I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to do three years [more]. "In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme. Advertisement "I think it was their preference that I didn't do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people." As for the future, Lineker told He claimed: "I don't think you'll see me doing much football, apart from the podcast. "I'll do the odd thing, but I don't think you'll see me appearing regularly on another channel." Advertisement
Metro
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Wayne Rooney 'lands £800,000 Match of the Day deal' after Gary Lineker's exit
Match of the Day is said to be welcoming a very famous face to its presenting roster following Gary Lineker's exit. Wayne Rooney has reportedly signed a big-money deal with the BBC in a bid to start a new chapter away from football management. It's said the former England player, 39, has secured £800,000 for the gig, which will see him appear on MOTD for two years with the possibility of an extension. What's more, Rooney should be involved in the show's 2026 World Cup coverage, jetting to the US, Canada, and Mexico to bring viewers the highlights. A source told The Sun about the rumoured punditry deal: 'Wayne is a natural broadcaster; he is warm, witty, and forensically knowledgeable about all aspects of the game. 'He still has a deep love for football and also gets on well with everyone on both sides of the camera.' They added: 'He is eminently likeable and has impressed on his outings to date—viewers have also really taken to him, which has been clear from social media commentary. 'Wayne will be a key part of next year's World Cup coverage, which is a massive coup, and will provide some much-needed expertise on Match of the Day in the wake of Gary's departure.' It's believed that 'everyone', including the Beeb's Director of Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, is 'incredibly excited to get him on board', with the insider declaring it a 'great signing'. Rooney's new MOTD role will reportedly be unveiled officially later this month. Whispers actually began at the start of the year, with the same publication claiming Rooney was in talks for a MOTD slot as early as January. At the time, he was freshly sacked from his fourth management job, having secured just one win with Plymouth Argyle in 14 games. It was later reported that Rooney was looking to venture further into punditry, and it was said the role could've earned him up to £200,000 a year, depending on how many appearances he were to make. But now, that figure looks to have increased drastically. Having already proven he can talk the talk in various guest appearances previously, Rooney's next role is likely a natural progression. It also takes him and wife Coleen one step closer to a total TV takeover, given how she reportedly signed a £10million deal with Disney in March to star in a documentary with Wayne and their four sons: Kai, 15, Klay, 11, Kit, eight, and Cass, six. Rooney is widely considered one of Britain's greatest-ever footballers. Not only was he Manchester United's best goalscorer with 253 goals, but he was also England's record goalscorer from 2015 to 2023. He retired from professional footie in 2021 after being appointed permanent manager of Derby, and now frequently dabbles in punditry. By joining MOTD this year, he is part of a huge shake-up at the long-running programme, which was hosted by Lineker, 64, for 26 years. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The broadcaster fronted his final show on May 26, visibly tearful as he reflected on his career and thanked those with whom he had worked. Lineker confirmed he would be leaving the BBC completely after catching backlash for sharing an Instagram Story about Zionism. More Trending His since-deleted post featured a rat emoji, which has been historically used as an antisemitic trope. The host later issued an unreserved apology for the 'hurt and upset caused' by the video, stating it was a 'genuine mistake' and that he was unaware of the meaning behind it. In his place, Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates, and Mark Chapman will share the presenting role on Match of the Day from the next Premier League season. View More » Meanwhile, Leicester-born Lineker is already making new moves in his career, having moved his hugely popular The Rest is Football podcast, which he hosts with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, to DAZN. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: It's been 16 years since the most 'disturbing' Doctor Who story ever MORE: 'I lost my daughter in the London 7/7 bombings, this is her story' MORE: BBC quietly adds second season of TV series fans hailed 'bizarrely dark'
Scottish Sun
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Gary Lineker slams BBC for ‘losing their way' and ‘tying themselves up in knots' in first interview after MOTD axe
Lineker was ousted from his position on the football show following criticism when he shared a social media post about Zionism GARY HAS HIS SAY Gary Lineker slams BBC for 'losing their way' and 'tying themselves up in knots' in first interview after MOTD axe Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) GARY Lineker says the BBC has 'lost their way' when it comes to impartiality in his first interview since he left Match Of The Day following an anti-semitism row. And in a talk at Glastonbury festival, he revealed that the Corporation had announced his exit before even making him aware of their decision. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up Lineker was ousted from his position on the football show following criticism when he shared a social media post about Zionism, for which he later apologised. Gary, 64, said: 'The impartiality issue has become a massive problem that I think they've probably created themselves by the rules that have been set within the business. 'I understand in your news and current affairs they have to be generally impartial but, I mean, it is hot today right? I think we can all say that we don't need someone to come in to tell us it's actually not hot. 'We just need to know the truth. 'I think they've lost their way a little bit with that and there's a degree of impartiality at the very top of the BBC. 'There are thousands of amazing people at the BBC but it's not reflected at the top. 'They've tried themselves up in knots with it.' Gary had intended to leave the flagship show after this summer's World Cup but instead hosted his last Match of the Day on June 26. Admitting his upset at his ill-judged post, which Gary says 'gave people ammunition to shoot me,' he added: 'I had a little group chat back then, particularly with Ian Wright and Alan Shearer. 'I said, I've got a feeling they're going to take me off air on Saturday and Ian Wright immediately said 'if they do that I'm going to go'. Gary Lineker apologises for antisemitic post and confirms he's quitting BBC next week 'So the next day they announced I wasn't doing the show. 'They actually announced it without telling me first. 'I just thought what's the point of having a big platform if you don't use it to kind of push beliefs that you believe to be right.' But he later shared: 'I love the BBC. I always will and I'm not bitter or twisted about anything that happened.' He also showed his support for political hip hop trio Kneecap and said at the end of his talk at Glastonbury: 'Free Palestine.'
Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Gabby Logan: ‘I was told I was too competitive for a woman'
Gabby Logan is posing in a pair of form-hugging PVC trousers and killer heels, with her shoulders adorned in fur. And as her last photo is taken she delivers a diva punchline to bring the house down: 'Well, that's my Match of the Day outfit sorted then.' If only. Logan takes the helm of the BBC's TV institution in August (along with Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman) following the recent departure of Gary Lineker. I dare you to wear that outfit, I say. 'The BBC don't say anything much about clothes, but they might say something about an outfit like that. So I don't think I'm going to rattle the cage,' she muses as we sit down to talk. MOTD is the longest-running football show in the world. To paraphrase Labour campaign watchers, she is about to walk across a highly polished floor holding a Ming vase. Is she nervous? 'Before any broadcast, I get just nervous enough to give a good performance. Before I had children I was quite superstitious. I'd wear the same coloured pants or walk the same route through the corridor to the studio for luck. But kids take you out of yourself. Now it's about being totally prepared so you feel adrenalised, excited.' Did Gary leave her a note, maybe some crisps? 'No. But our initials are the same so the door sign is the same.' When Logan was recruited by Sky TV back in the Nineties, her new bosses sent her out on the town with a fashion stylist. They drank champagne and then spent £5,000 on Prada, Armani and Kenzo clothes. Does MOTD do the same? 'Would it surprise you to hear the answer is no?' OK, one more, this time more serious: Lineker was the highest-paid BBC presenter, on £1.35 million a year. Has Logan demanded equal pay? 'That's all sorted,' she says. What does that mean? 'It's sorted.' A bumper summer of women's sport Her response is a swift reminder that we are not here to discuss MOTD but something possibly even bigger. Logan is about to front an unprecedented summer of women's sport coverage on the BBC. Women's football (the Euros begin in July), rugby (the World Cup is in August), not to mention cricket, tennis, athletics (the World Championships are in September) and netball. 'No sidelines, no second billing,' says the official Beeb announcement. There will be a grassroots campaign to get more girls and women participating too. 'Names will be made,' they predict. 'Think back to the women's Euros in 2022,' Logan enthuses. 'Lots of people didn't know who Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly, Ella Toone or Ellen White were and it was such a joy to see them emerge as household names. Heroes, basically. And there are so many more to come.' Who might be the new stars? Look out for Aggie Beever-Jones (the England international and Chelsea star who recently scored a hat-trick against Portugal in the women's Nations League) and Ellie Kildunne (the England rugby union star and 2024 World Rugby's women's player of the year). 'A lot of these women are already very well known within sporting circles, but they really deserve wider recognition. And that means both women and men watching. With football particularly, I think sometimes the narrative can be: 'No men's Euros or World Cup this summer — it's going to be a quiet one.' It's really not. Across all these sports, there is amazing female talent waiting to be discovered.' Logan is of course a former international athlete herself — she was a gymnast for Wales at the 1990 Commonwealth Games but retired due to injury aged 17. Her father is the former Leeds United and Wales international footballer Terry Yorath and, as a young girl, she loved that game too. Could she have made it as a player with the right encouragement? It's easy to forget the FA actually banned women from using its facilities between 1921 and 1971. 'I was thinking about this recently,' she muses. 'Could I have made it? I would love to have played alongside England's all-time greatest, Kelly Smith. [The former England international was so determined to play football as a girl, she joined a boys' club in Watford aged seven. She became the top scorer, but was then kicked out after the parents of opposing teams complained.] But the determination you needed to succeed without facilities or media interest was incredible.' I spoke to Logan two years ago when she commentated on the women's World Cup final in Australia. At the time Neymar, the Brazilian star of the men's game, had just signed a deal worth £129 million a year playing for the Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal; Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, earns more than £170 million a year at another Saudi Arabian club. Logan remarked that the men's game seemed 'a bit broken'. Can the women's game avoid that? 'This is the balancing act the women's game has got. They want the same brand deals as the men's game to bring more money in and grow the sport but without losing the connectivity with fans. I don't think anyone would disagree that the men's game has lost a little bit of that. You always see the women go to talk to the fans after a match. There are some amazing men too but it feels as though the stakes are so much higher — there's the whole 'talking behind the hand' thing because of lip-reading which is everywhere now. It feels harder to connect. But I would add: the fans in the men's game still care passionately. I have spoken to Sunderland, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest fans recently: the passion is still incredible.' Is any player worth £170 million a year? 'You're worth what someone decides to pay you. There's a lot of debate about players taking the money to play in Saudi Arabia but you can't walk in their shoes. You don't know if they're giving that money to the town they came from or building schools. So many players do that but it doesn't get the coverage because it's not exciting. And in terms of entertainment, would you apply that to the music industry and say Elton John isn't worth that money? Or that movie star isn't worth it for a film?' 'I want as many people to participate in sport in a safe and fair way' OK, women's sport can feel refreshingly wholesome — except perhaps in one area. It's been two months since the Supreme Court ruled that under equalities law, a woman is defined by biological sex, not gender identity. What is Logan's view on the ruling and what effect will it have on women's sport this summer? 'I'm not going to talk about that,' she says firmly. I am surprised. Logan has previously supported the former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies's stand on trans women in women's sport. 'I think we need to protect women's sport. That's why I think it's good what Sharron Davies is doing at the moment, in terms of talking about it,' she told a newspaper in 2019. 'We're dealing with science here. This is not about attacking a community; it's about saying: how can we make this a fair place for women to compete?' Is it fair to quote that as your rough position? 'I think that pertains to a conversation as much as anything,' Logan says. 'People having a forum to debate and have a conversation about something. I want as many people to participate in sport in a safe and fair way, whatever that looks like.' It feels like the Supreme Court ruling should make this issue easier to discuss. Why is it still so political and polarising? 'You tell me. Maybe there's a vacuum somewhere that's allowed it to become so polarising, which is disappointing.' We are sitting in a quiet corner of a photo studio. These exchanges feel like a half-hearted game of ping-pong in a very rundown youth centre. I get it. Logan is here representing the BBC and broadcasters are incredibly nervous about the gender debate. Days after we speak, the tennis legend and TV pundit Martina Navratilova is censored on ITV's X channel after posting comments about the controversial Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. But it's a shame because on social media and in her 2022 memoir, The First Half, Logan is often both funny and bolshy. On X she has variously questioned Brexit, trolled Melania Trump's fashion choices, denounced Donald Trump and come out in support of Marcus Rashford's campaign for free school meals during the Covid pandemic. 'I found the people opposing Marcus Rashford totally baffling,' she says, rallying. 'This is a kid who knows what it's like [Rashford was brought up by a single mother] trying to use his position in a positive way. I grew up when football players were constantly being bashed for their lavish lifestyles, so the 'stick to football' attitude was very disappointing.' 'After my brother died, I promised him to live my life for two people' The 'wild west' of social media is where you find no-nonsense Logan. In fact, swagger into Gabby's Bar with a bad attitude and you are probably leaving through the window. In her memoir she calls the BBC broadcasting legend Des Lynam 'the master', but is more than ready to put him straight now. Last year Lynam said he had 'no gripe' with female presenters but that, 'When you're a pundit and you're offering opinions about the game, you have to have played it at the level you are talking about — ie, the men's game.' 'It's really strange for Des Lynam to be coming at it from that angle when he's never played the game at that level, has he?' she says. Elsewhere the billionaire former Spurs chairman Lord Sugar expressed concern that, while women pundits often comment on the men's game, there were no men covering the women's 2022 Euros tournament. 'Given the viewing figures for the women's Euros and the excitement around the whole tournament, I think perhaps Sir Alan misjudged that one,' she says. That's Logan all over. She is diligent and head-girlish, but then she's had to be. Her early life was happy, exciting even. With her mum, Christine, and siblings — sister Louise and brothers Daniel and Jordan — she moved around while her dad played in Leeds, London, even Canada. But the day 15-year-old Daniel died suddenly while playing football in the back garden (he had an undiagnosed heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), things changed overnight. Daniel and his father were very close and, heartbroken, Terry Yorath's life spun out of control; he became depressed and drank to excess. The marriage eventually fell apart. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Logan pulled herself together. In the funeral parlour, seeing her brother for the last time, she made him a promise: 'I am going to do everything I can to make your life count.' 'Yes, to live my life for two people,' she says today. The tragedy and her sporting instincts drove her to achieve and yet Logan has learnt that competitive women ruffle feathers. The moment of truth, she says, came while appearing with her husband, the former Scotland rugby international Kenny Logan, on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007. While Kenny was lauded as the game bruiser twirling through the pasa doble in a kilt, she was seen as trying too hard. Kenny came 5th, Gabby Logan was eliminated early in 11th place. It really hurt her. In The First Half she says the day she left she cried, 'People really don't like me,' into her sofa. Why did it hurt so much? 'Because I was kicked out! And it was a harsh lesson, learning that sometimes not everyone likes you. You realise the parts of your personality that you thought were attributes as a sportswoman are not valued. I was told I was being too competitive, whereas I was thinking, 'I thought that was good. That's what I did in sport — and it worked — and that's what my husband is doing.' I actually reckon there was a societal shift between that show in 2007 and 2012. At the 2012 Olympics we started to appreciate tough, competitive women. We made heroes of them. But in 2007 I wasn't playing the game expected of a woman.' What would a woman 'playing the game' look like? 'Oh, it would have served me to say,' — she bats her eyelids and smiles — ' 'Oh gosh, whatever, that's fine! I'm just happy to be here!' rather than trying hard. But you have to decide if that's you, and that's something I'm not compromising on.' There was another significant fallout from Daniel's death: the disrupted relationship with her father led her into an unhealthy pattern when choosing men. 'For a few years I sought the company of not very appropriate, older men,' she writes in her book. Most notable was Gary Staines, a long-distance runner who took a shine to her at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. She was 16. Staines was 26 and engaged. A year later his marriage ended and Logan moved into his London flat. Logan ended the relationship once she was at Durham University, where she read law. But by her early twenties, despite having cut her teeth on local radio and making a name for herself as a presenter at Sky Sports, Logan was feeling lost. With her husband and Prince Charles at a reception for the Prince's Trust, 2013 PA 'I didn't like myself very much,' she says. 'I was probably wanting to mend something because our family was quite broken, because of my brother dying. I felt I could create something like a family, a happy place. Those were the relationships I was pursuing. But a bit of guidance from a therapist helped me recognise those patterns were not healthy. That was a good time for it to happen, because in my early twenties I realised I wasn't enjoying relationships I was in. It didn't seem like a good way to be.' 'Thank God I am married to a normal bloke' Early in 1999 Logan was on her way home from dinner with a girlfriend who suggested a late drink in a bar. Logan didn't want to go; she was still queasy from an uncomfortable New Year's Eve dalliance: 'a cigar-smoking wide boy' she'd snogged and who wanted her to do cocaine in the lavatories at a London cabaret (she didn't). Nevertheless, she and the friend slipped into London's K Bar and she was introduced to Kenny Logan. Early portents weren't great. He was drunk and thought he was talking to the former Big Breakfast presenter Gaby Roslin. Nevertheless they hit it off. 'Thank God I am married to a normal bloke who isn't an addict,' she says in her book, and is very funny about Kenny bouncing her off the water bed in her London townhouse during their early years together. 'He's still my number one,' she says. In recent years her marriage to Kenny has become something of a minor sporting spectacle in itself. Logan has been disarmingly honest about how the menopause affected her sex drive ('Is this going to become a duty?') until she took HRT. And it was a 2021 edition of podcast The that prompted Kenny to get himself checked out for prostate cancer; he tested positive. He has made a full recovery but both have been refreshingly open about the impact of the disease on their relationship: Kenny talked us through his testicles growing to 'the size of tennis balls' and the month it took post-surgery to get any erectile 'movement'. 'We decided: we have a platform — let's use it for good,' Logan says. 'We get a lot of great feedback from people who say they took action [about their health]. I'm sure our kids have been teased about it more than we know, but they also feel grateful that their dad's life was, if not saved, at least spared from something more serious.' As a teenager herself she says she was too tall and flat-chested to be fancied by boys. She didn't drink and was dedicated to her sport. No wonder, as a 16-year-old at the Commonwealth Games, she was baffled as to why male competitors wanted to hang out with her and her sister Louise — who went on to become a model — or why the Sultan of Brunei's brother, Prince Jefri, sent her a Brunei team tracksuit as a gift along with his phone number. 'I just thought, 'Oh, nice tracksuit,' ' Logan recalls now. 'I only really read about him afterwards.' Prince Jefri reportedly owned more than 2,000 cars and enjoyed entertaining on a superyacht called Tits. Why did it take her so long to realise that, in her own words, many sports people at major tournaments are 'on heat'? 'I was very young, but when you step back it's obvious, isn't it? All these very fit, healthy people who train so hard — and, if my experience is anything to go by, miss out on so many social events because they are trying to get their gymnastics right — are suddenly ready to mingle. You're done training and there are lots of other fit, lovely people around who also want to let off a bit of steam. It's no great surprise that there are romantic liaisons. I believe the French handed out more condoms than ever at the Paris Olympics. It's the swimmers you have to watch out for — their events always finish first. And if you get up at 5am to train for your whole life and you are superfit and you finish your competition, you deserve to party, right? Just don't live next to the swimmers in the village if you want a good night's sleep.' Back then a young athlete could make mistakes — she is clear the relationship with Gary Staines 'should never have happened' — but we now live in a world of social media. As a leading broadcaster, the scrutiny and abuse are intense. Logan has been told to 'get back in the kitchen' on X; and in the last year alone she has been taken to task for wishing viewers a 'happy festive season' instead of saying 'Christmas' and for using the term 'cock-up' while commentating on last year's Olympics. 'You have to decide how much it's going to invade your sanity,' she says. 'The people that matter to me, I will always listen to their opinion. I am just glad I stopped my kids having phones till they were 16 so they could at least have a taste of what I had: the chance to be in the moment, even to make mistakes.' Dress, Shoes, Earrings, ROBERT WILSON FOR THE TIMES MAGAZINE Lois is at university and Reuben a rugby player for Northampton Saints (he joins Sale Sharks next season). They are relaxed about their mum's achievements, although there was a flurry of texts when she got the MOTD job. 'It's an institution, so of course it was huge for them too,' she says, smiling. But first, this summer of women's sport will be the fruition of years of determined, unrecognised effort. There are parallels with Logan's TV career. Aged 11, she watched a VHS tape of the 1984 Olympics over and over again, noting even then that only men seemed to be presenters. In her twenties, at Sky TV, her boss told her that her career would be over when she was 28, and in her early thirties she very nearly gave up after being sidelined at ITV. She took a 66 per cent pay cut to join the BBC. She had just had children when ITV let her go. Wasn't she suspicious? 'No. That's TV. I had a real crisis of confidence. I wondered, 'Am I any good at this job?' But the truth is, sometimes people just aren't into you.' No wonder her X profile simply says, 'Still here.' 'I owe my opportunities to some quite strident women in TV before me who said, 'It's not right that we get chucked off air just because we hit 40,' ' she asserts. 'Women like Kirsty Wark, presenting Newsnight into her sixties. Like the sportswomen we will hopefully celebrate this summer, I feel I am very much standing on the shoulders of giants.'
