Match of the Day 2

With an increased number of Premier League games now played on a Sunday, the BBC will bring all of the weekend’s football action to its audiences via the nation’s favourite channel.

Match Of The Day 2 will air on BBC One at 10.25pm on Sundays from the start of the 2012/13 season while Match Of The Day will continue to air in its regular Saturday night slot.

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC One, says: “As a huge fan of Match Of The Day I’m thrilled that MOTD2 is moving to a regular home on BBC One. The audience response to the BBC’s coverage of Euro 2012 has been fantastic, meaning that this is the perfect moment to make this move.”

Match Of The Day 2

Colin Murray takes the helm as the new presenter of Match Of The Day 2, which returns to BBC Two every Sunday night throughout the 2010/2011 Premiership season.

Colin will be joined by a range of pundits from the world of football for comprehensive analysis of the highlights from Sunday’s matches as well as wrapping up all the action and talking points from the Saturday games.

“It’s an absolute honour to become part of what Match Of The Day stands for,” says Colin of his new role. “I will do my best to bring everything I have to the table and the hallowed sofa. I can’t imagine how nervous I will be sitting there and hearing that theme tune. I like a laugh but I am also serious about football and the impartiality required to respect all football fans.”

Gordon Brown. You know him don’t you? Aye. Runs this plot of land we all moan on.

Well, he’s a footy nut. Yep, he’s a big fan of Raith Rovers, which is nice to hear. If he was a ManUrinal fan, I’d probably seethe about him (like everyone else seems to do constantly regardless of football team).

Anyway, as he’s a football fan, he fancied appearing on Match of the Day 2. He probably likes the 2 Good 2 Bad bit at the end. Sadly for Gordo, the BBC has barred our prime minister from the show because it’s too close to an election to be mucking about having politicians on.

If it’s saved us David Cameron talking about his fave ‘soccer team’, or indeed, someone like Nick Clegg blankly staring into space, then it’s probably a good thing.

Downing Street asked if Brown could appear in the MOTD2 studio towards the end of 2009. He wanted to natter about England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup. However, Auntie said no. A BBC spokeswoman said: “We made the judgment it wouldn’t be appropriate in the run-up to the election”.

They also probably thought: ‘And besides, he’s hardly oozing charisma.’

Of course, the Beeb must be seen to be impartial and there’s very strict guidelines about it all, giving equal airtime to representatives of the main political parties (making Carol Vorderman’s appearance as a Tory/Sarah Palin on Question Time all the more confusing seeing as Boris Johnson was also on the panel, but I digress).

Naturally, you assume that an appearance Football Loving Gordy Brown would be an attempt to slop some Vaseline on the lens to make our PM seem a bit softer and nicer. He’s not the first politician to want to appear on TV outside the political circle of shit. Tony Blair was a guest on Football Focus some time ago and of course, there’s a whole host of chat-shows that are willing to pinch the cheek of a passing politician.

It’s probably a good thing that MOTD scuppered a move by any politician really. We don’t want those flippant gits sullying the very serious business of the Premier League table.