Fight! Fight! Fight!
They were the best of enemies – on the field at least – during their playing days, but former Manchester United and Liverpool defenders Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher will have to set all rivalries aside next season as the two of them will be pairing up on Monday Night Football, a programme which has become a must-watch for footy fans thanks to Neville’s razor-sharp analysis over the past couple of seasons.
Or they could go at each other's throats and it would make for even better television, either way works.
Sky confirmed today that Carragher will join Neville as part of the MNF line-up next season and though many will be keen to hype up the Liverpool v United rivalry between the pair, in reality the show has the potential to become even better than it is already considering that Carragher is renowned for being something of a football obsessive and should be able to bring even more to the party.
Sky also revealed that they will be broadcasting their first ever free-to-air Premier League game on the opening day of next season, when Sky Sports will switch to Sky 2 for the day and fans who don’t currently subscribe to the service will be able to avail of the 5.30pm kick-off on the opening day, Jeff Stelling and the Soccer Saturday lads beforehand and the first episode of a new series called Saturday Night Football show, which will feature Dave Jones and Jamie Redknapp.
The revelations by Sky are part of their attempt to ward off the threat of BT, who will also begin to show live Premier League matches from next season on, with Jake Humphrey signed on for presenting duties and Michael Owen set to provide co-commentary that will hopefully be a step-up from his somewhat bland offerings on the Match of the Day couch in the past.
"It's our biggest ever season of Premier League football and we're inviting every home in Britain to enjoy the opening day," Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis, said in a press release today.
"All fans can join the action as we launch our new Saturday schedule for the most eagerly awaited Premier League season in years."
According to
a report in The Guardian, not only have Sky been coming up with ways of their own to fend off BT’s challenge, it is believed that they have had a special projects team, dubbed "Project Purple", working for months on ways to undermine BT's launch plans. Meow.
Still, the prospect of Neville and Carragher was perhaps the most interesting thing to take from Sky showing their cards today, even though one member of the Twitterati had his doubts about whether or not they would be a success…
