Television footballing legend, Ray Stubbs, is leaving the BBC... and I feel quite gutted about it, even though he's a dirty Tranmere fan. Stubbsy is off to ESPN to host their coverage of Premier League football when it launches next month. Stubbs joined the BBC in 1983, and aside from no longer appearing on Final Score, we also won't have him on the darts coverage either. Stubbs will make his first appearance for the channel on August 15th covering ESPN's first live match which will see Arsenal taking on Everton.

Stubbs has worked on Match of the Day and the snooker coverage as well as the aforementioned shows and has been involved in some of my favourite TV moments ever. Who can forget him going toe-to-toe with The Fall's Mark E. Smith when the latter read out the final scores for the Beeb? Smith notoriously commented on Stubbsy's haircut, saying "Why've got a number one hair cut? It's like what murderers get in Strangeways."

Stubbs also made an appearance on Fantasy Football, which saw Frank Skinner and David Baddiel noting Stubbsy's pronunciation of Peter Ndlovu's name as 'Peter N-lurve' like he was Barry White or something, which segued into Ray appearing in a white suit, crooning Peter Ndlovu's name over and over. He's a good sport, if a little square. In recent years, he's not been as regular on our screens, with Manish taking his chair on Football Focus.

"Having been associated with the BBC for over 25 years this was always going to be a difficult decision," said Stubbs. "But the opportunity of joining one of the world's leading sports broadcasters on day one of the new ESPN channel in the UK was just too good to turn down. I would like to thank all my BBC colleagues for their support and friendship over the years."