Man Utd legend Gary Neville leads Newcastle and Arsenal stars in support of Laura Woods’ Champions League move

Manchester United legend Gary Neville was one of many pundits and football stars to send well wishes to former talkSPORT presenter Laura Woods as she confirmed a much-expected TNT Sports appointment.

The 36-year-old will be the lead presenter for Champions League coverage on the channel, which is to replace BT Sport. She is joined by Lynsey Hipgrave on Premier League coverage, Reshmin Chowdhury on Champions League matches and Jules Breach for Europa League action.

The other major appointment come as Ally McCoist, Wood's talkSPORT radio partner, joins at TNT's major football co-commentator. Darren Fletcher and Adam Summerton will also continue in commentary roles.

Elsewhere, Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, Joe Cole, Rachel Brown-Finnis, Owen Hargreaves, Steve McManaman, Joleon Lescott, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Robbie Savage have all landed punditry and co‑commentary positions.

The shake-up comes after Jake Humphrey announced his departure from BT Sport in May and Des Kelly also left the broadcasters after the Champions League final.

Messages of congratulations flooded in for Woods as she confirmed the news on Instagram this morning. She wrote: "The New Chapter…Oh, hi TNT Sports. And helloooooo Champions League, *cue CL music*. A very, very proud day for me."

Manchester United legend turned pundit Gary Neville was one of the first to share his excitement for Woods. He commented: "Well done Laura and Congratulations."

Arsenal hero Ian Wright and former Newcastle United talisman Alan Shearer also congratulated their broadcasting colleague as Ally McCoist joked that Woods had 'never told me'.

Alex Scott also welcomed the 'big moves' from her friend and boxing star Tony Bellew wrote 'well done mate'. Premier League stars Ben Foster, Carlton Cole, Steve Sidwell and Danny Simpson were also on hand to welcome the news.

TNT Sports will enter the football broadcasting world for £29.99 a month, the same price as its BT Sports predecessor. TNT merged with BT in September 2022 under the Warner Brothers/Discovery media conglomerate.

TNT will take over Champions League rights from BT until 2027, as well as 52 Premier League games until 2025.