Des Lynam regrets move to ITV

Des Lynam has admitted that he regrets his decision to defect to ITV from the BBC.

"It had so many repercussions and shook me up so much," the presenter told The Mirror.

"If it was a decision I had to make now I probably wouldn't do it. I went from being a great broadcaster, or at least a very acceptably good one, to being a somewhat inadequate one overnight."

Lynam made the move five years ago after signing a four-year £26,000-per-week deal to host ITV's football coverage. He then decided to leave ITV in 2004 and is currently presenting Countdown as a replacement for Richard Whiteley.