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Up until last weekend, it seemed as though there had never been a Saturday night when Match of the Day was not being broadcast on BBC One.

However, before the Gary Lineker drama, there was a time when Match of the Day disappeared from the airwaves, being replaced by ITV's The Premiership between 2001 to 2004.

Hosted by Des Lynam, The Premiership ended up being an absolute disaster with ITV paying a whopping £183m for the rights to broadcast the Premier League highlights, only for the show to last just three years.

READ MORE:Gary Lineker's first-ever MOTD opening would be perfect ahead of BBC comeback

It was also controversially broadcast early on Saturday evening rather than the conventional late slot Match of the Day occupied, which as a result meant the show had to compete with the big hitters of weekend TV.

And the first broadcast of The Premiership garnered just 4.3m viewers, which for comparison, was 2.5m less than a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link shown on BBC One at the same time.

Thankfully for football fans, the ITV experiment ended in 2004, with Match of the Day returning. But just how have the stars fared since the end of The Premiership…

Presenters

Legendary broadcaster Des Lynam fronted The Premiership, with Gabby Logan fronting a Monday edition of the show which was later imaginatively titled The Premiership on Monday.

Having left the BBC in 1999 to join ITV, Lynam fronted their football coverage for five years, eventually opting to retire from live football presenting after Euro 2004.

Following his football presenting days, he also had a brief stint as the host of Channel 4's Countdown.

Logan meanwhile has gone on to become one of the best and biggest sports broadcasters in the UK. She regularly fronts the BBC's coverage of athletics, football and rugby and is a household name across the country.

Commentators

The Premiership had four main commentators supplemented with freelance reporters to cover the other games of the weekend.

Jon Champion, Peter Drury, Guy Mowbray and Clive Tyldesley were the pitch-side voice of The Premiership, with the quartet covering the four biggest games of the weekend. And since the end of The Premiership, all four have gone on to achieve monumental success.

Champion now commentates for Premier League Productions, with his voice being broadcast worldwide for the Premier League's global coverage.

What are your memories of The Premiership on ITV? Let us know in the comments section below.

He is also often partnered with Ally McCoist on the commentators gantry, much to the delight of all football fans with the two dovetailing together expertly.

Meanwhile, Drury, who also works for Premier League Productions, has gone on to achieve legendary commentary status, with his eloquent style of broadcasting having been widely praised for its passion.

Mowbray currently works for the BBC as one of their lead commentators on Match of the Day, as well as BT Sport on their Champions League coverage, while Tyldesley stayed with ITV for a successful spell as their lead commentator. The latter was later replaced in 2020 by Sam Matterface in a move which Tyldesley said left him "upset, baffled and annoyed."

Pundits

Andy Townsend, Ally McCoist and Barry Venison were the resident pundits for The Premiership.

Townsend's appearances on The Premiership were of course infamously remember by the introduction of Townsend's Tactics Truck, which saw the former Chelsea star breakdown the off-field tactics from a specific match inside a truck at the ground. Suffice to say, it didn't catch on.

However, he has since gone on to be involved in a host of football broadcasting jobs since and was part of ITV's 2022 World Cup team.

Similarly, McCoist has also achieved plenty of success following The Premiership. The Scotsman brings an impressive level of energy and insight to all his colour commentary duties, making him a fan favourite whenever he is behind the microphone.

Following the end of his playing days, Venison appeared as a pundit on The Premiership, before later moving out to live in America.

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• ITV
• Premier League

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