Will James Richardson Leave Football Weekly?

In the UK, Setanta Sports has announced that it has acquired three more pundits to join their ever-growing team of professionals presenting the Premier League. Former Match of the Day and Grandstand announcer Des Lynam will be doing more than just Setanta TV commercials. He’ll be conducting football-related interviews with the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Martin O’Neill for a show entitled The Friday Football Show.

The two other pundits joining Setanta are former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock and James Richardson, best known to U.S. soccer fans as the host of The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast.

No word on whether Richardson, who will be hosting The Friday Football Show, will end his relationship with Football Weekly, but my educated guess is that he should be able to handle both. The Football Weekly podcast is taped on Monday afternoons. It’s unknown right now whether Setanta’s Friday Football Show will be recorded at Setanta’s studios in Dublin or taped in England. Lynam lives in West Sussex. Either way, Richardson will have plenty of time to return to London.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that Richardson’s contract with Setanta may preclude him from working for The Guardian. Or Richardson may have been offered enough money from Setanta whereby the former Football Italia host doesn’t need to work for The Guardian. Knowing the freelance nature of Richardson, I expect him to be the first voice I hear on The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast when it returns from its summer hiatus in the next 10 days.