ITV lead race to sign up Ox for World Cup

LiVERPOOL’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is suffering the injury heartbreak of missing out on both the World Cup and Champions League final, could still have some involvement in Russia.

The midfielder has both the BBC and iTV interested in using him as a World Cup pundit who would be able to give a recent perspective from inside the England dressing room.

The Ox, 24, is one of the most eloquent players in English football and was chosen by the FA in 2013 aged just 20 to do the voiceover of their anniversary video celebrating 150 years of the FA.

iTV look to be in pole position to win the race for the Ox having already tabled an offer.

false sense of entitlement, especially around radio sports rights that possibly contributed to BBC losing their cricket ballby-ball coverage to talkSPORT for the winter tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies, was evident on BBC Breakfast at the weekend. The presenters, having interviewed pundit Steve Bunce ahead of the David Haye-Tony Bellew fight, just assumed the fight would be on 5 Live when talkSPORT had the rights.

LEGENDARY boxing announcer Michael Buffer was a William hill ambassador and guest at stamford Bridge yesterday, the day after the haye-Bellew fight. When he agreed to announce the Chelsea and Liverpool teams, he didn’t expect to get soaked by the pitch sprinklers. But the old pro (right) remained word perfect throughout.

RFU, who in their wisdom no longer directly employ their ground maintenance staff having hived them off to an outside agency, suffered serious operational problems during the Army v Navy match on Saturday attended by a full house of 82,000. A power cut knocked out the giant screens, scoreboards, countdown clocks and lifts during the second half, and a back-up generator failed to function. A spokeswoman for the RFU, who are also £30m over budget in their East Stand renovation, said: ‘We apologise to fans and hope it didn’t spoil their enjoyment.’