BBC delay naming 'new Motson' until next year

By CHARLES SALE FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated: 19:05 EST, 3 April 2009

A season-long beauty parade to select the next BBC Sport lead football commentator is now likely to be extended until the Carling Cup final next season.

The choice from the three in-house contenders, Jonathan Pearce, Guy Mowbray and Steve Wilson, to succeed John Motson had been expected by the start of the 2009-10 campaign.

John Motson was for many years the BBC's lead football commentator

But the switch of channels by BBC head of football Niall Sloane to become new head of sport at ITV has led to the delay which will allow his Beeb successor, Phil Bernie, extra time to consider his options during the long wait for the next showcase match the Beeb will be covering live.

Sloane has shared out the important Match of the Day highlights commentaries between the trio on an equal basis this season, but none of them has stood out as a front-runner.

However, postponing the No 1 pick until the climax of the Carling Cup at the start of March 2010 means the chosen one will have less than four months to prepare for the World Cup - and the possibility of calling England in a World Cup final for the Beeb, with all the pressure that might bring to emulate Kenneth Wolstenholme’s fabled ‘They Think It’s All Over’ 1966 commentary.

Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire cricket chairman who is deliberating whether to take legal action over the disparaging comments made about him by England Cricket Board boss Giles Clarke, will have less of his millionaire fortune for a court battle following a double whammy.

Both Southampton - in which he had a small shareholding - and the Entertainment Rights business, which he founded and whose portfolio included Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine, ended up in administration in the same week.

David Beckham will be back at LA Galaxy in July

David Beckham may have upset his American fan base by opting to stay on loan with AC Milan rather than returning to LA Galaxy for the start of the new MLS season, but the Beckham factor has seen 23,000 tickets sold already for the Galaxy friendly against Milan in July.

By which time Becks will be back playing for his LA team, who also have a friendly arranged against Barcelona.

Phil Beard, boss of the 02 who has made such a success in turning the former Millennium Dome into a premier music and sports arena, is stepping down to concentrate on sport.

Beard, who last August withdrew his candidature to be the next CEO of Wembley to stay at the O2, will remain in charge for the world tour tennis final at the O2 next November.

He is the only remaining architect of the tournament’s switch to London still involved. The other two were ex-ATP president Etienne de Villiers and Andy Anson, former head of the ATP in Europe.

Britain's teenage star Laura Robson

Octagon, the agents for 15-year-old tennis prodigy Laura Robson, have effectively pointed the blame at the LTA for the injury scare surrounding Britain’s great hope.

Robson’s representative, Abi Tordoff, claimed the star had been ‘wrongly diagnosed’ with a stress fracture of the shins.

Although Tordoff declined to name who was responsible, it is the LTA who look after Laura’s tennis health on a daily basis.

To add to the farce, the LTA’s Australian head of sports science, Dr Ann Quinn, who would have overall responsibility for Robson’s fitness, has not been seen at Roehampton since Christmas because of visa problems with the British Consulate in Canberra.

There are yet more tensions at the LTA after finance director Kevan Taylor quit. A spokesperson said Taylor wanted to return north, but it is believed - like his predecessor Paul Clipson - he has had differences with chief executive Roger Draper.

It hasn’t taken long for Sports Direct boss and Newcastle owner Mike Ashley, who was in the Umbro box at Wembley last Saturday for the launch of their new all-white England kit, to slash the price of the shirt in his shops.

Umbro had wanted to preserve the £50 price on the shirt but Sports Direct have it on sale for £40, less than a week after the unveiling.