As reported over on Snooker Scene Blog, BBC veteran Ray Stubbs has decided to head off to pastures new and be the new face of ESPN’s Premier League Football coverage that will start next season following the collapse of Setanta Sports.
This also means that he will no longer be the face of the BBC’s snooker coverage, as he has been since taking over from the likes of David Vine and Dougie Donnelly back in 2001.
Presumably this will mean that Rishi Persad, who has become an increasing familiar presence on our screens in the absence of Hazel Irvine, will take up the lead role full-time.
If not, who else could it be? Gary Lineker has a keen interest in snooker as a close friend of Willie Thorne, but with his football and golf commitments it is unlikely that he will have the time to add another sport to his CV.
Good luck to Ray anyway, I am sure that he will prove to be a success in his new role.