Monday, 17 October 2022

Daily Record: Graeme Souness 'set to leave' Sky Sports as Rangers legend at centre of broadcaster's latest shake up

Story from Daily Record:

Graeme Souness will step down from his Sky Sports punditry duties as the end of the 2022/23 season, according to reports.

The 69-year-old has been a regular for the broadcaster for over a decade after turning his attention to media work following his last managerial job at Newcastle in 2006. He has since became a familiar face on Sky, appearing alongside the likes of Roy Keane, Micah Richards and Jamie Redknapp throughout the years.

The former Liverpool player and manager has been known to put pen to paper in three-year contracts with Sky, which mirrored the broadcaster's contracts to show Premier League matches. But the player and manager turned pundit only signed a one year deal this time around, according to The Athletic, meaning he could well bow out at the end of the current campaign. Sky are set to show a huge 128 of England's top flight clashes within the next cycle of TV rights - which runs from 2022 to 2025 - after agreeing a deal in May last year. And it seems the broadcaster will use the new term to introduce some new faces to its punditry line-up.

Souness also works for talkSPORT, but there are no rumours surrounding his position there for now. If he departs, he will not be the first familiar face to leave the broadcaster. Sky have made headlines over the past year or so after phasing out the likes of Matt Le Tissier, Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson from its football programming.

Presenter Jeff Stelling was set to follow the departures at the end of the season, but he instead announced he was staying put to continue hosting Soccer Saturday for the 2022/23 campaign.

Chris Kamara also took a step back from Soccer Saturday, although his departure was down to health reasons.