Credit: The Sports Agents

Kelly Cates embarrassed herself in front of her new BBC bosses after being named as one of Match of the Day’s first ever presenting trio.

Speaking on co-hosts Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman’s podcast, The Sports Agents, Cates said she had been on a call with Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC director of sport, when Wednesday’s announcement was made.

Cates said: “I just kept saying to him, ‘I’m so excited! I’m so excited!’ And then I realised that he had me on loudspeaker and several really quite important people were listening to me sound like a 13-year-old – not that there’s anything wrong with sounding like a 13-year-old, I’ve got one of my own – but it didn’t feel like the most professional or kind of mature way to deal with it.”

Cates, who has been co-hosting The Sports Agents with Chapman this week after Logan went on holiday, also admitted struggling to keep secret her appointment, news of which first emerged last month.

“I have learned about myself that I could never have a second life,” said Cates, who will continue to present live Premier League football on Sky Sports alongside her new job-share.

“It was never on the cards for me but I could never be, for example, a spy. That was never going to be an option. I’ve just been barefaced lying to friends. It’s been horrendous.

“I only told my mum and that was because, for a lot of the time, I just didn’t want extra noise.”

Chapman, who had no problem keeping his own appointment a secret “because I don’t tend to talk to people”, said: “We have had to hide it for a little bit.

“It’s weird because, as I’ve said, it’s sort of the job that I’ve been doing for quite a while. I mean, look, on the one hand, it’s a TV football show and, therefore, there are much more important things in life…”

Cates then interjected, “And there are much more important things than who presents it”, to which Chapman replied: “Oh my God. Aren’t there? Aren’t there? But it has a part in people’s lives and, therefore, it is an honour to be doing it.”

Logan, meanwhile, sent a voice note to Chapman and Cates in which she said she was “absolutely thrilled” by her own appointment.

She added: “I couldn’t wish to share those duties with two more brilliant broadcasters and I’m very excited about a show that I’ve grown up watching, and knowing, and it’s been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I’m sure your lives as well. What a responsibility but what a joy as well. And I think our viewers can rest assured that we love it as much as they do.”