KELLY SCORED BIG Becoming Match of the Day host was like finding out I was PREGNANT, says Kelly Cates as she reveals how she landed job

But unfortunately for the new presenter, she was ordered by BBC bosses to keep quiet about her new role — a scenario which felt ­familiar to the mum of two.

Kelly Cates wanted to shout with joy after making history as one of Match Of The Day's first female hosts - but the BBC told her she'd need to keep it quiet

The appointment of Kelly, who is the daughter of Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland great Kenny Dalglish, above, was widely welcomed by the football world

Because, for Kelly, sitting on the enormous secret felt just like ­hiding a pregnancy.

Speaking in depth for the first time about taking over from Gary Lineker next season, Kelly, 49, said: "I'm not good at secrets — it killed me! Genuinely, once the news was announced I could have slept for two days.

"I found the stress of ­keeping it a secret so hard and even though it is a nice secret, it was a little bit like the early stages of pregnancy where you feel terrible that you can't tell anybody.

"It was awful lying to genuinely good friends. I hated it."

Kelly will be part of a new three-strong presenting team, alongside Gabby and Mark Chapman, both 51.

And she is thrilled she can now share how she managed to land the biggest job in British sports broadcasting.

An industry veteran of nearly 30 years, Kelly had been working for the BBC as part of 5 Live's football coverage, as well as anchoring live games for Sky Sports, when she was called into a meeting by Beeb executives.

'Ego-filled world'

It had been rumoured for some time that new BBC Director of Sport boss Alex Kay-Jelski wanted to shake up Match Of The Day, the world's longest-running football highlights show.

But Kelly had not bargained for being a part of his plans.

Speaking on the White Wine Question Time podcast, she explains: "I had the conversation early on but in very vague terms.

"I was already doing radio for the BBC, already working on 5 Live so it was natural for me to have meetings when a new boss came in, and everything was being changed so that was quite natural.

"But in the course of one of those meetings it was, 'Well, we're rethinking how we're going to do Match Of The Day and would you be interested to be in the mix?'

"Inside I couldn't wait for the meeting to end so I could shout 'Oh my God! This is incredible'"

"And I was trying really hard to keep a 'not bothered' face, saying, 'Yeah, that would be great'.

"But inside I couldn't wait for the meeting to end so I could shout 'Oh my God! This is incredible'."

Kelly added: "And they were brilliant around the whole thing — trying to balance the two and the fact I can keep doing live football, which I think is really important because if you don't do that you forget why you're covering it, you forget about those big moments and what it is like."

It was only when Kelly's new gig was officially unveiled in January that the enormity began to sink in.

She added: "Suddenly friends of mine who don't even like football were phoning me saying, 'Oh my God, this is so exciting — congratulations'. I didn't even think it would be on their radar.

"They're not in that sports world and then you realise something like Match Of The Day goes past all of that. It's in people's lives — it's in the background."

The appointment of Kelly, who is the daughter of Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland great Kenny Dalglish, along with Gabby and Mark — aka Chappers — was widely welcomed by the football world.

All three are hugely respected figures within the industry and there was a general consensus they had done their time, working up the ranks and honing their craft over several decades.

Kelly believes landing the gig came at the perfect time for all of the new line-up.

She explains: "That was the big draw for the three of us.