Colin Murray eases himself on to the Match of the Day sofa with a slightly worried expression. "I hope I'm not jinxing myself here," says the 33-year-old, Match of the Day 2's newly appointed presenter. But he soon makes himself at home, larking about and letting rip on a series of funnies including one about the dent in the sofa made by Adrian Chiles's "huge arse". Murray pats the imagined furrows beside him and laughs uproariously.
Despite the cocky gags Murray – as he admits himself – is a "newbie" to football presenting. Having started out fronting music shows for Radio 1, he moved on to do bits and pieces in sport including Fighting Talk on BBC Radio 5 Live, then on television co-presenting American football on Five and anchoring that channel's Uefa Cup coverage. Getting the MOTD2 job was a dream come true but one he could not have imagined would happen so fast.
"It's blown my mind getting it because I only started in August in full-time sport [on 5 Live]. I've been doing music mostly. When I first started in sport I concede that I sat and thought, 'Where do I want to be in five years' time? Well, it would be nice to maybe do MOTD2.' But not eight months later. That didn't figure in my plans."
Taking over from Chiles, who developed a cult status among fans of the show, was never going to be easy and the Northern Irish presenter has been the subject of debate in the press. But Murray says the criticism will not faze him. "I'll absolutely shit myself when that theme tune comes on. I actually listen to it a lot when I'm alone, just to get used to it, you know, this is my theme tune, it's fine. But what's the worst that can happen? I'll give it a go and it doesn't work out? Wow, big deal."
He says criticism is cyclical, that Chiles too was once denigrated by the press. "One columnist described him as the 'abominable snowman' when he started. He got a lot of abuse – everyone does when they start a job. I look forward to five years' time when there's a new presenter after me, it will be the same old shit."
Still Murray's detractors seem fond of highlighting his accent, a slur that briefly steers him away from his joke-a-minute chat. "If my biggest problem's being Irish or my voice irritates a few people, there's nothing I can do about that, that's what I'm born with. It's weird, in sport there are these insular columns and they seem only to be read by people in the media and you get referred to once a week as an 'irritating Irish presenter', and I think: 'I wonder what would happen if I said that on the radio? If I described someone as an irritating Welsh footballer. Or an "irritating English commentator"?' I just wonder how long I would stay in my job. Would I be allowed to or straight away would there be a racism claim there? I would hate to go to bed and earn money that way."
A Northern Ireland fan – "that's why I've never been to a World Cup before" – he takes pride in his nation's identity. "I know how hard it was for presenters – better than I – from Northern Ireland who worked in the UK during the Troubles, there was a connotation with the accent, a connection … I'm very proud to be the first Celtic pre-senter on MOTD [Des Lynam excepted]."
Born in 1977, the year of Liverpool's first European Cup victory, Murray says he was always destined to be a Red. "Literally everyone in the area we grew up supported Liverpool." With Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson prominent among Match of the Day's summarisers, Murray is aware of the "Liverpool mafia" conspiracy theory concerning sports presenters' loyalties but he denies that his fanatical stance affects his professionalism. "I've never, ever, in a serious moment shown bias towards my team on TV or radio. It's weird, I can present a Liverpool game and we lose and I don't feel anything because I'm concentrating on the job. Then the red light goes off and I turn my phone on and get all the texts from my mates and it's like, fuck."
So what will Murray bring to the show? "It's football highlights. No two shows are the same. I don't necessarily want to come in and change anything," he says. "I just want to present the football. Y'know, 'Hello, here's the football.'" But if his personality is anything to go by, it is difficult to imagine he will be anything as conventional as that.
This summer Murray will break himself into the role by presenting highlights shows from the World Cup. Asked if he has any safety concerns, he chortles. "I think that growing up during the Troubles is enough preparation for going to Cape Town to stay in a really nice hotel." It is probably enough preparation for whatever criticism columnists or football fans want to throw at him too.
