Scott Christopher Minto (born 6 August 1971) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a left back who played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for Chelsea and West Ham United and in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

for Benfica. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Charlton Athletic and Rotherham United and was capped six times by England U21. Since retirement, Minto has worked as a pundit and occasional co-commentator, notably with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

and talkSPORT.

Playing career

Minto started his career with Charlton Athletic 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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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, 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, which they won, defeating Middlesbrough 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 win, Minto joined Benfica of Portugal on a free transfer. He remained in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

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. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

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

Personal life

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

Career statistics

Honours

Chelsea * FA Cup: 1996–97 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1993–94 First Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minto, Scott 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Heswall Footballers from Merseyside English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Portugal England men's under-21 international footballers Premier League players English Football League players Primeira Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Men's 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