28 April 2023 , 06:00
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Jermaine Jenas was once the bright young Premier League prospect picked out on Match of the Day - now he's in the chair presenting the show.
This past Sunday, the former England international, who won 21 caps for his country over six years, hosted Match of the Day 2 for the first time. After retiring in 2014, he's been on our screens for nearly a decade and having recently turned 40, Jenas has gone from punditry and commentary across the BBC, ITV and BT Sport to co-hosting The One Show and fronting FIFA World Cup draws.
In June, the ex-Tottenham and Newcastle midfielder will be on hosting duty again at Soccer Aid for Unicef, but he doesn't plan to be glued to the presenter chair for the rest of his TV career. "I think, initially, when I got into being a pundit, I just always found myself wanting to ask questions," Jenas tells Mirror Football in an exclusive interview.
"So I still really enjoy the punditry side of things and analysing games of football, just because of my love of the game. But I think as you evolve as an individual, you wanna keep challenging yourself and keep testing yourself. I always felt that presenting alongside my experience in the game was gonna be a nice blend, especially given what I saw when I was around Gary [Lineker] and other presenters who've crossed over from a sporting background to television."
The Nottingham-born star has previously admitted that he'd like to succeed Lineker on Match of the Day when the time comes for the legendary host to step away from the programme. Jenas likens the pressure of hosting to the kind he felt on the pitch, and like a match in front of 80,000 people at Wembley, you can only prepare for so much.
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Have your say! Who should succeed Gary Lineker on Match of the Day? Let us know your pick in the comments section.
Jermaine Jenas presented Match of the Day 2 for the first time on Sunday (BBC Sport)"You get the one-minute-to-air-type call, then the 30 seconds, then you hear the music kick in and you get those butterflies," the 40-year-old explains. "That's about the closest thing I can replicate to any type of nerves I felt when I was playing football. As regards to preparation, that's the beauty of live sport.
"It's hard to prepare for what you don't know is about to happen. There's no point, two or three days beforehand, preparing for a show and then, as we saw on Sunday, Newcastle go and smash up Spurs and I'm prepped for a different type of show. So, live sport and being able to react and adjust to everything that's happening is part of the job."
For better or worse, Jenas' overriding memory of his first outing as MOTD host will be Tottenham's 6-1 thrashing at St James' Park in a battle of his old teams. Eight days earlier, though, he was sat across the iconic studio as a pundit, slamming Spurs' last-gasp defeat to relegation-threatened Bournemouth. So, how is it handling his allegiances as a presenter?
Last year, Jermaine Jenas fronted the World Cup group-stage draw in Qatar (Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)"I can't hide that I played for Newcastle and Tottenham, everybody knows that already," Jenas adds. "I think actually there'll be some viewers and listeners that will want to hear my opinion on how I felt about Spurs or Newcastle's brilliant performance.
"From my point of view, I'm not trying to pigeon-hole myself with regards to, 'Right, I've crossed over this bridge now, I'm a presenter, so therefore I don't do this and I don't do that'. I look at myself as different to what other presenters bring to the table. A lot of presenters I work with are absolutely sensational and are brilliant at what they do, but obviously didn't play the game.
"So, it's a different set of skills that they bring to the table and with me, I suppose I'm able to cross over and have a little bit more of an understanding as to what's going in the dressing room at half-time and so forth."
Jermaine Jenas wants to remain versatile in his TV career (Julian Finney/Getty Images)That's the kind of insight he can offer when Soccer Aid comes to Old Trafford on Sunday, June 11, presenting a spin-off show for ITVX. "I'm really looking forward to it," Jenas went on to say. "I did a bit last year at West Ham's stadium and it was a great event.
"Soccer Aid is also something I've always watched and something I've always wanted to be involved in. So, it's nice that with ITVX we're gonna have our own little spin-off show which I'm gonna be presenting, and hopefully bring as much attention as possible to a great cause."
Tickets for Soccer Aid For UNICEF on Sunday 11th June 2023 at Old Trafford, are now on sale via www.socceraid.org.uk/tickets with a family of four able to attend for just £60 - two adults and two children.
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