MORE WOMEN LINED UP FOR STELLING SHOW

SKY SPORTS’ much-loved Soccer

Saturday programme is under pressure to introduce a more diverse panel of pundits. Presenter Jeff Stelling and ‘the boys’, including regulars Paul Merson, Matt Le Tissier, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas, have changed the way fans who do not attend matches follow football on a Saturday afternoon and the obvious camaraderie between pundits is part of the show’s charm. But Sky insiders have told Sports Agenda they are conscious the programme needs to evolve to ensure the talent better reflects its audience. Female reporters such as Bianca Westwood (right) and Faye Carruthers provide updates from matches — and women are used more frequently in the studio in the midweek editions of the programme — but there is a drive to get more female pundits on the flagship show from next season. Sky Sports say no decisions have yet been reached. Barney Francis, meanwhile, left his role as Sky Sports’ managing director so suddenly earlier this month that there was no handover ahead of his ‘promotion to the new role of CEO Future Sport’. Francis, whom insiders regard as a casualty of the recent Comcast takeover, shed tears in an emotional farewell speech in which he detailed all the sacrifices he had made in his decade at the helm.