Scott Christopher Minto (born 6 August 1971) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a left back who played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for Chelsea and West Ham United and in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

for Benfica. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

and Rotherham United and was capped six times by

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

. Since retirement, Minto has worked as a pundit and occasional co-commentator, notably with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

and talkSPORT.

Playing career

Minto started his career with

and made his debut as a 17-year-old in 1988. After over 220 appearances for the Addicks, he moved across

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to sign for Chelsea in July 1994 for £875,000. Minto made his debut for Chelsea in a 6–2 Cup Winners' Cup win against Czech side

FK Viktoria Žižkov FK Viktoria Žižkov is one of the oldest football clubs in the Czech Republic, from Žižkov (since 1922 part of Prague). It plays in the Bohemian Football League, the third tier of football in the country. The club won the Czechoslovak First ...

, and played in every round of the side's run to the semi-finals. His time at Chelsea was plagued by injuries, but he was nevertheless a regular member of the Chelsea defence when fit. In 1996–97, he was an important part of the side's run to the

1997 FA Cup Final The 1997 FA Cup Final was the 116th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 17 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium and was contested by Chelsea and Middlesbrough, the North East club appearing in its first FA Cup Final. Chelsea won 2–0 to win the FA C ...

, which they won, defeating

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

2–0 in what proved to be his last game for the club. He scored five goals in 72 appearances for Chelsea, all of which came in his final season. In June 1997, shortly after Chelsea's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

win, Minto joined Benfica of Portugal on a free transfer. He remained in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

for 18 months, making 31 appearances, before returning to England with West Ham United for £1,000,000 in January 1999. His West Ham career got off to a poor start, losing 4–0 at home to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

, but he quickly established himself in the side, as the club secured 5th place in the league – their highest ever

finish. However, his time there was again plagued by injury problems and he was released by the club upon the expiry of his contract in June 2003. He played in 51 league games for West Ham, without scoring. Minto then joined League One side Rotherham United, but once again injuries hindered his progress and he made just seven league appearances during the 2005–06 season. He announced his retirement from the game in July 2006.

Media career

Minto presented ''Revista de la Liga'' and live coverage of Spanish football on

until 2015, when he started presenting live coverage of the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

as the deputy lead presenter behind Simon Thomas. When Thomas was promoted to present Premier League football on Saturday lunch times following the departure of Ed Chamberlin to

ITV Racing ''ITV Racing'' is a programme produced by ITV Sport for races shown on ITV or ITV4 in the United Kingdom. The programme is referred to as ''Racing on STV'' in Northern and Central Scotland on STV. In its previous incarnation, the show was an ...

, Minto became the lead English Football League presenter in August 2016. He regularly presents games on Friday evenings, Sunday lunch times and Monday nights, and anchors Sky's coverage of the end of season play-off games. Prior to his presenting work, Minto occasionally made appearances commenting on games from the studio for Soccer Saturday. Minto was replaced on Sky in 2020. He previously appeared on talkSPORT's ''Evening Kick-off'' show as a co-presenter. Other previous work as a pundit included working for

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the Lond ...

's live football commentaries. Minto currently hosts Charlton TV Live, the official Charlton livestream service, on matchdays.

Personal life

In 2008, Minto graduated from Staffordshire University with a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting.

Career statistics

:Source:

Honors

Chelsea *

: 1996–97

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minto, Scott 1971 births Living people People from Heswall English footballers English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Portugal England under-21 international footballers Premier League players English Football League players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Association football fullbacks S.L. Benfica footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Alumni of Staffordshire University English association football commentators FA Cup Final players