John Hartson and Roy Keane will be part of ITV’s team at the World Cup Finals in Qatar.
Wales are playing in the finals for the first time in 62 years with Hartson caught up in the generations of players that watched those tournaments from the outside looking in.
Matches against the USA, Iran and England will test Rob Page’s squad which won’t include Tom Lawrence or Rabbi Matondo.
Hartson is a regular pundit at Celtic matches, on Saturday he was calling out Steven McLean and Nick Walsh from the Sky Sports studio at Tynecastle, on Tuesday night he switched to BT Sport for the Champions League tie with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Today, ITV announced:
Led by main presenters Mark Pougatch, Laura Woods and Seema Jaswal, ITV’s World Cup squad will offer incredible insight, expertise, opinion and analysis from Ian Wright, Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Karen Carney, Graeme Souness, Joe Cole, Eniola Aluko, Nigel De Jong, Nadia Nadim and Hal Robson-Kanu.
Commentary will come from Sam Matterface, Clive Tyldesley, Jon Champion, Seb Hutchinson, Joe Speight and Tom Gayle supported by co-commentators Lee Dixon, Ally McCoist, John Hartson and Andros Townsend. Reporting on the tournament will be Gabriel Clarke, Michelle Owen and Celina Hinchcliffe.
ITV’s coverage will be complemented with a referee analyst to break down and explain all of the key on-field decisions, with Peter Walton taking up that role.
Being in the middle of what is essentially an England cheer-leading campaign should be a test for Keane but it will make for great viewing when Gareth Southgate’s Lions exit the competition.
