BT to rival Sky Sports’ Saturday shoutfest as Mark Pougatch signs up as frontman – Daily Mail

Sky Sports, whose debut live Open coverage starts with Colin Montgomerie hitting the first drive at 6.35 on Thursday morning, will be facing new opposition for their established cult programme Soccer Saturday next season.

BT Sport are launching their own version of the show with a panel commentating off TV feeds and busy all-rounder Mark Pougatch acting as BT’s answer to Jeff Stelling. 

BT are confident that the fast-talking Pougatch, who fronts ITV Sport’s football as well as working for BBC 5 Live, will prove a viable alternative to Stelling — who has made Soccer Saturday his own, with catchphrases such as Chris Kamara’s ‘Unbelievable Jeff!’

Fast-talking presenter Mark Pougatch is set to front BT’s studio-based football coverage next season

Jeff Stelling (right with Harry Redknapp) will have competition on a Saturday afternoon from rival BT Sport

The new show will kick off at 2.30pm and is also expected to feature Dave Todd — an expert football statistician who has worked with Stelling in the past — to give Pougatch some additional ammunition.

After Donald Trump’s unacceptable comments about Mexican immigrants and Muslims, America’s PGA Tour made great play of moving two of their competitions from Trump-owned courses in Miami and Los Angeles. 

But which Scottish course did the PGA hire for an exclusive corporate day on Wednesday after a £200million revamp? Turnberry, owned by the controversial US presidential candidate. 

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has made a series of controversial comments about immigration

Both are major winners with genuine chances of winning The Open this week. But while Masters champion Danny Willett stayed for the whole of the Association of Golf Writers annual dinner at Troon on Tuesday night, Rory Mcllroy picked up his trophy before the start of the meal and left immediately to have a spaghetti bolognese elsewhere. The AGW were relieved Mcllroy even turned up.

Willett’s father Stephen, a retired vicar, recalled how his chances of promotion were dashed when his diocesan bishop came for a meal and was asked to say grace, only for nine-year-old Danny to pipe up that they didn’t usually do this.

The writers’ union award a trophy for helping them with their media coverage, which went to the deserving Colin Montgomerie. Imagine the football writers having to make such a choice from England’s useless Euro 2016 squad, who went out of their way to be unhelpful. 

Danny Willett plays a shot during a practice round ahead of The Open at Royal Troon this week

The R&A, who run The Open and the amateur game, have a lot more responsibility than tennis’s All England Club. 

Yet in marked contrast to chairman Philip Brook at Wimbledon — who whether greeting David Cameron at the door, sitting next to the Duchess of Cambridge in the royal box or speaking first to Andy Murray after his victory, likes to be stage centre — golf’s chairman Peter Unsworth keeps the lowest of profiles. 

Murray joins exodus

Radio station talkSPORT have lost heavyweight performers Stan Collymore and Colin Murray after Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation paid £220m for the Wireless Group. Football pundit Collymore was always going to have an uncertain future, having once crassly tweeted: ‘I guarantee when Murdoch dies, Britain will change for the better.’

But it’s understood chief operating officer Scott Taunton withdrew an unsigned three-year contract for Collymore after the takeover was announced and following a string of incidents of Collymore behaving badly at Euro 2016, culminating in a massive shouting match with colleagues at the quarter-final stage.

Colin Murray has resigned from his role at talkSPORT following News Corporation’s recent takeover 

Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has also left the company after Wireless Group’s buyout

As a Liverpool supporter, arch irritant Murray saw working for the owner of the Sun as untenable. 

The paper is still abhorred on Merseyside for their report on the Hillsborough disaster blaming Liverpool fans for the tragedy. Collymore wants to set up his own football media venture.

Barry Hearn, who owns golf’s third-tier Europro tour, was an angry man at a Newmarket charity auction evening in aid of a new racing museum. Hearn had donated a couple of VIP prizes to attend his World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace. 

However, auctioneer Harry Dalmeny caused offence by describing the darts experience as mixing with Essex man at a boozefest. 

Hearn later had a face-to-face confrontation with Dalmeny. Hearn said: ‘I don’t want to comment, the horses are my wife’s domain.’

Barry Hearn (centre, right) poses for photographs with Gary Anderson at Alexandra Palace