Chris Sutton teases absent Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates on live BBC radio amid dating rumours

Chris Sutton used the simultaneous absence of Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates from BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club on Monday to publicly needle the pair, drawing laughs from stand-in host Alistair Bruce-Ball as rumours of a relationship between the two presenters continue to swirl.

With Chapman unavailable and Cates — who serves as an occasional stand-in host — also off air, Bruce-Ball stepped in to present. He barely had time to settle before Sutton made his move. “I just wondered where our leader is this evening, where’s Mark?” the former Chelsea striker asked, prompting Bruce-Ball to confirm Chapman was simply “not here this evening.”

Sutton pressed further: “So then normally second in charge is Kelly Cates… where’s Kelly Cates this evening?” Bruce-Ball replied that he was unsure, adding with a wry note: “Otherwise engaged, I think. If they are not listening to the show, whatever they are up to, it is available to listen by the podcast, if that is what they want to do.”

Cates was in fact attending the Legends of Football awards, an event at which Thierry Henry and Karen Carney received accolades. The reason for Chapman’s absence was not publicly confirmed.

Chapman, a long-standing BBC presenter and part of the rotating Match of the Day host rota alongside Cates and Gabby Logan, was widowed in 2020 when his wife Sara died aged 44 after a battle with cancer. The couple had been married for 19 years and have three children together. Reports in 2024 revealed he had begun dating again, entering a relationship with estate agent Clere Collier before the pair split in April this year.

Cates, the daughter of Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish, divorced TV producer Tom Cates in 2021 after 14 years of marriage and has spoken openly about her apprehension at returning to dating. Neither Cates nor Chapman has publicly commented on the reported romance.