Simon Brotherton is a sports commentator for the BBC, appearing on Match of the Day and BBC Radio Five Live.

Brotherton was still at school when he began his career with BBC local radio and developed further while he was studying at Birmingham University where he joined Birmingham’s local BBC radio station WM.

In 1990 Brotherton joined the BBC network, where, as well as commentating on the Premier League, he has commentated on a variety of football tournaments including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1996, UEFA Euro 2000, UEFA Euro 2004, the African Cup of Nations, the UEFA Champions League Final and the UEFA Cup Final.

He has also reported from the Tour de France races, Formula One coverage, World Championship Boxing, Athletics and Major League Baseball’s World Series.

In 2013 he became the lead BBC commentator for the World Track Cycling Championships, following Hugh Porter’s retirement.

The post Simon Brotherton appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Garth has spent his entire adult life immersed in football and the politics of sport. He was introduced to the media in 1981 while preparing for the FA Cup Final. Having been left out of England’s World Cup squad bound for Spain in 1982 he joined the BBC sports team as a television pundit. During those early years Garth consistently made contributions to numerous radio and television programmes.

Born in the Potteries he developed a love for the game and went on to play for his local team Stoke City in 1978. Garth moved to Tottenham Hotspur for a record fee in 1980 and

soon established himself in what is still regarded as one of Tottenham’s most attractive teams. During his time at White Hart Lane he won the FA Cup in ’81 and ’82 followed by the UEFA cup in ‘84. He went on to play for Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic.

In 1990 he retired from the game through injury having scored over 200 goals and in ’93 became a full time contributor to the BBC sports department working as a presenter, analyst, and reporter for its flagship programmes Match of the Day, Football Focus and Grandstand.

Garth is currently one of the regular panellists on the BBC’s live interactive football result service ‘Final Score’. He has covered two Olympic Games (Atlanta ‘96 and Sydney 2000) four World Cup Finals and European Championships and the FIFA World Club Championships. He presented the BBC Two coverage of the African Nations Cup in 2000 and 2004 followed by eight years as the BBC’s England National Team Football reporter.

The post Garth Crooks appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Jacqui Oatley is a member of the BBC football team, commentating for BBC Television and Radio 5 live. Jacqui also presents sports news on the BBC News Channel and in April 2007, became the first female commentator on Match of the Day.

Jacqui joined BBC Radio 5 live in 2003, having previously worked in local radio for BBC Radio Leeds and BBC London as a sports reporter. She also worked on BBC West Midlands in Birmingham as a news reporter.

Jacqui changed career from intellectual property management to journalism after a serious knee injury whilst playing football in 2000. She had been a keen footballer for many years prior to the injury and is an FA qualified football coach. She has reported many times for the BBC’s Football Focus and the Football League Show. She commentated for Radio 5 Live on several matches at the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

She was the Austria-based reporter for BBC Television at Euro 2008. Later that year, she commentated live on Beijing Olympics football matches for television. Jacqui also commentated and reported on Women’s Euro 2005 in England and the Women’s World Cup in China in 2007. She presented the children’s television show “Level Up” at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Jacqui also presents the FAWSL highlights show for ESPN and reports on the Premier League’s worldwide television channel (IMG).

Away from football, Jacqui follows a wide range of other sports. As well as having covered tennis, rugby league and MotoGP, she has also reported from the World Snooker Championship and the Open Golf Championship.

The post Jacqui Oatley appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Jonathan Pearce became a commentator on Match of the Day during the 2004/5 season following three years at BBC Radio 5 live. He started his career at BBC Radio Bristol in 1979.

His first match commentary was Bristol Rovers against Exeter City in the League Cup and he became sports editor at the age of 23 at Radio West. In 1987 he moved to London and Capital Radio where he launched Capital Gold Sport a year later.

Jonathan has won several awards for his work including three Sony awards and the Variety Club Radio Person of the Year. He has commentated on England internationals, World Cups, European Championships and Cup Finals.

Born in Plymouth, Jonathan moved to Bristol at the age of seven. He is still a Bristol City FC fan but his wife and three small children are Arsenal, Brighton and Crystal Palace fans. Jonathan studied English at Birmingham University and at the National Broadcasting School. He now lives in West Sussex.

The post Jonathan Pearce appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Born in Lancashire Mark began his career at his home town club, Preston North End and also played for Brighton and Hove Albion before Bob Paisley paid £900,000 to bring him to Liverpool in 1981.

Mark won a host of major honours with Liverpool before an Achilles injury brought his playing career to a premature end at the age of 30. His partnership with Alan Hansen is still regarded by Liverpool fans as the club’s best-ever central defence pairing and he was capped 39 times by the Republic of Ireland.

At the end of his playing career ‘Lawro’ managed Oxford United and worked alongside Kevin Keegan as a defensive coach at Newcastle.

He has been a BBC football pundit since 1997 and is a now regular on Match of the Day alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen whilst also fulfilling the role of summariser for Radio 5 live.

The post Mark Lawrenson appeared first on TV Newsroom.

In February 2004 Manish joined BBC’s “Football Focus” team, a weekly magazine style show that previews the weekend’s top football action.

Manish had previously been at ITV’s Central News, where he presented in-depth coverage of the region’s essential sport, including a comprehensive analysis of the financial crisis at Leicester City, and during his successful tenure Manish was nominated for “Regional Sports Presenter or Commentator of the Year” at the Royal Television Society Sport Awards and would later present “Soccer Sunday”.

Soccer Sunday” was nominated as best “Regional Sports Actuality Programme” as Manish hosted Football League highlights of the best action from the region’s teams in a regular magazine format.

Previously Manish had spent 5 years at BBC Radio Leicester as Sports presenter/commentator including the drive time “Drive at 5” programme presenting the latest news and sport.

During this period Manish’s highlights include reporting from Leicester Tigers’ last minute victory in the 2001 Rugby European Cup final (Leicester Tigers v. Stade Francais) and again the following year at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium (Leicester Tigers v. Munster).

Manish has BA (Hons) in Communication Studies with English Literature at Anglia Poly University plus a Post Grad Diploma in Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University.

The post Manish Bhasin appeared first on TV Newsroom.

In 2010 Guy was promoted to Chief Commentator on retirement of John Motson from International Football.

Over the past decade Guy has established himself as one of the leading football commentators on British television. Recruited by the BBC in 2004, he has become a permanent fixture on Match of the Day, calling the action to millions of viewers every weekend.

Guy’s career begun in his home city of York, working on a part-time basis for BBC local radio as a football and rugby league commentator. From there a move to the independent sector and full-time radio work beckoned, with Guy eventually moving up to the North East of England to become the Sports Editor for Metro Radio.

Here he was responsible for exclusive 90-minute commentary on all Sunderland AFC games, which Guy produced, presented and commentated as a full 4-hour show every match day. In 1999, his work was recognised with top honours in both the prestigious Sony & EMAP radio awards. During this time, Guy’s television career had begun with work for Eurosport, commentating on all of the channel’s major football events. The highlight of this time was being chosen as principal commentator for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

On July 12th of that year Guy became (we think!) at 26 the youngest ever television commentator of the World Cup final, an achievement recognised by the Royal Television Society the following year, who named him Best Newcomer in TV sport. ITV then secured Guy’s services for his first exposure on national network television, beginning a 5 year spell that took him to 3 major football tournaments and to every corner of Europe covering the UEFA Champions League.

With the BBC regaining the rights to screen Premiership highlights from 2004, another move was in the offing, and Guy crossed channels to become an integral and well-known member of the Match of the Day team. In addition to his television and radio work, Guy has put his voice to many commercials, video and DVD productions, and computer / console sports games.

Away from commentating, he is a keen cricketer and golfer – currently attempting to hack a few shots off a handicap of 17.

The post Guy Mowbray appeared first on TV Newsroom.

The post John Motson appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Steve has been an integral part of the Match of the Day team since joining BBC TV in 2002 and, after John Motson, is the programme’s longest-serving commentator. During this time he has also commentated on the World Cups of 2002, 2006 and 2010, the European Championships of 2004 and 2008, the African Cup of Nations of 2002, 2004and 2010 and the World Club Championship in 2005. He will be part of BBC TV’s team covering the London Olympics in 2012 and the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

Steve started his career when he joined Capital Radio in 1990. Whilst there he covered the 1994 World Cup in the USA and the European Championships and Atlanta Olympics in 1996. He was a major part of the Capital team which won the Sony Radio Gold Award and the New York Radio Awards gold medal for best sports programming. From 1997 to 1998 Steve worked as a freelance for Sky Sports on Goals on Sunday and as the host voice for ESPN’s Sportscentre International. In 1998 he was recruited by BBC Sport to become a regular football commentator on Radio Five Live where he worked on the European Championships of 2000 as well as Champions League and FA Cup Finals.

Steve has also commentated on Cup Winners Cup Finals, League Cup Finals, the Scottish FA Cup Final and dozens of England internationals. He has covered four World Cups, four European Championships and three African Nations Cups. He rates his TV commentaries on the World Cup semi-finals of 2002 and 2006 as career highlights together with the quarter-final between Argentina and Germany during South Africa 2010.

Steve is a regular contributor to the BBC’s website, writing a weekly blog during the football season. The 2011/12 season is his 22nd as a commentator on radio and television.

The post Steve Wilson appeared first on TV Newsroom.

A key member of the BBC’s presentation team for the London 2012 Olympics, Gabby also presents Final Score, Inside Sport, the Six Nations and the Autumn Rugby Internationals for BBC One. She hosted a live daily show on Channel 5, LIVE with Gabby Logan and also the FIFA 2011 Women’s World Cup for BBC Three, Match of the Day, the One Show and was in South Africa in 2010 reporting on the England team for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

A former international gymnast, Gabby began her broadcasting career in radio in 1992 and joined Sky Sports in 1996, where she quickly established herself as a football presenter. First joining ITV in 1998 to front On The Ball, during her nine years at the channel Gabby’s repertoire expanded and her presenting credits include the World Cup, Champions League and the Premiership, as well as the Boat Race and sports news reporting. In 2004 she co-hosted Sport Relief with Gary Lineker for the BBC, before joining the corporation in 2007.

Following various stints on the station, Gabby began presenting a regular weekly Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 5 Live in February 2008. From January 2010 to April 2011 she presented The Gabby Logan Show weekdays from 12pm – 2pm, which covered news and sport from across the UK as well as comprehensive analysis of Prime Minister’s Questions every Wednesday.

She is a columnist for The Times and has previously written for the Sunday Mirror, Independent and Yorkshire Post.

The post Gabby Logan appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Alan made his football debut in 1988 with a hat-trick for Southampton against Arsenal. His success continued and in 1992, at the start of the inaugural Premier League season, he moved to Blackburn Rovers for a then record British transfer fee of £3.6 million. Blackburn won the Premier League in the 1994/1995 season, with Alan contributing 34 league goals at the beginning of a sequence in which he became the only player in English football history to score 30 or more goals in three consecutive seasons.

Following a successful Euro 96 campaign, Alan fulfilled his childhood dream as he joined his beloved Newcastle United for a world record fee of £15.6 million.

English PFA Player of the Year in 1995 and 1997, he scored 30 goals in 63 games for England before his retirement from international football at the end of Euro 2000.

In 2006 Alan equalled Jackie Milburn’s 50-year record of 200 goals and finally on 11th May that year he made an emotional farewell to Newcastle United in front of 52,000 fans. He returned to the club for a brief spell as manager during the 2008-09 season.

In his playing days Alan was a goal scoring machine. In a total of 701 club games he scored 379 goals. He is still the English Premier League’s all-time highest goal scorer and was the first player to 100 and 200 goals in the division.

Alan was awarded the OBE in 2001. In 2006 he formed part of the BBC’s World Cup team and is now a regular pundit on Match of the Day.

The post Alan Shearer appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Alan is one of the most successful British football players of all time. Having won all of the honours available at club level at least twice, he also captained his Liverpool side to a historic double in 1986. His playing career was ended in 1991 by a knee injury and since then his keen tactical understanding of the game have helped to make him a key part of the Match of the Day presenting team.

Alan has fronted a number of BBC football themed documentaries and also writes a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph. Outside football Alan’s main interests are golf, tennis and the theatre.

Before embarking on his professional playing career, Alan was awarded a place at Aberdeen University to read History.

Born in June 1955, Alan began his career at Partick Thistle in 1973 making 108 appearances before his move to Merseyside in 1977. He made 621 appearances for Liverpool, captaining the team between 1985 and 1990.

During his 14 years at Anfield, Alan made 621 appearances, won eight Championships, three European Cups, two FA Cups and four League Cups. He

The post Alan Hansen appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Colin Murray will be part of the Euro 2012 presentation team from Poland and the Ukraine.

In a busy summer he will also be a key part of Radio 5 live’s broadcast team at the London 2012 Olympics, presenting daily from 2-6.30pm every day with Peter Allen.

His show Colin Murray’s Gold Run, in which Colin attempts to track down and interview every living British Gold Medal winner, starts on 5 live on Sunday May 27th at 11am, carrying on every Sunday up to the Olympics.

Three time SONY Gold award winner Colin Murray is a familiar voice on radio and face on TV. He hosts Fighting Talk on Saturday mornings and Kicking Off with Colin Murray on Friday nights on 5 live during the football season.

Colin’s career started in radio in his native Northern Ireland before he joined forces on Radio 1 with Edith Bowman, he latterly hosted his own evening music show on the station. He currently presents Match of the Day 2 on BBC Two throughout the football season.

The post Colin Murray appeared first on TV Newsroom.

Now Match of the Day’s stalwart presenter, Gary began his broadcasting career in 1992 with Radio 5 show Gary Lineker’s Football Night.

Following the end of his playing career he took over as host on Sunday Sport in 1995 on the re-launched Radio 5 live.

His first stint as a TV pundit on the BBC was during the 1986 World Cup Finals, which he combined with playing duties in Mexico.

He worked as a roving reporter during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Gary joined the BBC Sport TV team in 1995, appearing on Sportsnight, Football Focus and Match of the Day.

1996 saw him become the regular presenter of Football Focus within Grandstand.

He also presented highlights programmes during Euro 96 and hosted both live and highlights coverage of the 1998 World Cup finals in France. He became the main presenter of Match of the Day in 1999 and was also a team captain on the hugely successful sports quiz They Think It’s All Over.

He also makes up one third of the presenting line up for Sports Personality of the Year. He is also a keen supporter of Sport Relief and this year visited one of the projects supported by the charity with wife, Danielle.

2012 will see Gary take a lead role in the presenting team for the London Olympics.

During his playing career Gary Lineker was one of the best known and widely admired football players in the world. He played for Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur and Japanese team Nagoya Grampus Eight.

In 80 appearances for England his total of 48 goals for his country places him second on the highest scorer list behind Sir Bobby Charlton. During his spells in both Spain and Japan he became fluent in both languages.

Gary is also an accomplished cricketer (MCC), golfer and snooker player.

The post Gary Lineker appeared first on TV Newsroom.

‘Brighty’ has been a BBC football pundit for many years now.

He made his name as part of the famous Wright (Ian) and Bright strike partnership at Crystal Palace.

The two forwards helped fire the Eagles to the top flight in the late 1980s and to the 1990 FA Cup final, which Palace lost to Manchester United.

He was subsequently sold to Sheffield Wednesday and played for the Owls in both the FA Cup and League Cup finals in 1993, but on both occasions they were beaten by Arsenal.

The post Mark Bright appeared first on TV Newsroom.