Ally Begg

Ally Begg (born 21 August 1972) is a Scottish former model, boy band member, number one selling author and now a sports producer employed by beIN Sports based in Doha, Qatar. In a 15-year presenting career Ally hosted Celtic TV, MUTV, Setanta Sports, Sky Sports News, Sky News, Thomas Cook TV and ESPN Star Sports in Singapore.

Football and modeling career

Begg moved to Newburgh, a coastal village north of Aberdeen after spending his early days in the Netherlands. He was educated at Ellon Academy. As a teenager Begg had trials with Blackpool and Burnley and trained with his local team Aberdeen. Begg also captained the north of Scotland under 15 and 16 teams and played for a host of semi-pro sides well into his late teens.

Unable to cement a career in the game, Begg moved to London at the age of 18 to sign a modelling contract with Lorraine Ashton IMG. After a short but productive time with Ashton Begg moved to Models 1 where for 18 months he worked for a variety of magazines and catalogs. He appeared in an Athena poster campaign for the Autumn Winter Campaign 1993. It was during his time as a model that Begg was approached to become a member of boy band Bad Boys Inc.

Bad Boys Inc

Bad Boys Inc was formed in 1992 by famous impresario Ian Levine. Despite being a success in Europe and Japan and having a top ten album which garnered six top-twenty hits, the band split up quickly in 1995. Begg has expressed his disappointment at their lack of opportunities in terms of working with multiple producers and sounds, which he believes would have furthered the popularity of the band. However, at the same time, he also looks back with a great deal of fondness and a hint of pride at what they achieved.

Career in media

Begg took time away from the spotlight after the split of the band and became a qualified Scottish Football Association Coach and fitness instructor. It was during this time that he focused his attention on a career in Broadcasting. After a short spell with Granada Television, Ally made the move to Manchester United's TV station MUTV. During his five-year stint as one of the faces of the channel, Begg interviewed the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham and Roy Keane. In addition, Ally quickly expanded his repertoire and worked as a freelance presenter for channels such as Sky News, Sky Sports, Talksport Radio, Thomas Cook TV and ITV Digital.

Begg then moved back north of the border in the summer of 2004, accepting a full-time position with Setanta Sports to become the lead presenter of new club channel, Celtic TV. As well as hosting the channel's flagship programme "The Daily Huddle", Begg was involved in a host of projects including documentary and feature material.

After three years at Celti, the opportunity to live and work in Asia arose and Ally made the move to ESPN Star Sports in Singapore. He hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup and the network's Premiership football coverage, the FA Cup, full England internationals, England U21, FIFA Club World Cup and the Champions League. Ally also hosted Golf Focus and the sports round up show, Score Tonight.

After taking the difficult decision to leave presenting behind he entered the world of sports news production where he quickly found himself producing ESPN News 24. From there he produced Score Tonight on Star Sports and then the channel's flagship news show "Sportscenter" on ESPN. After a successful period producing sports news Ally made the swift move into the football department where he produced the networks live Premier League coverage and the regions most popular football magazine show "World of Football".

In August 2013 Ally accepted an offer from beIN Sports to move to Doha, Qatar as a Senior Football Producer. He currently produces the networks live global Champions League coverage and the ever-popular "The Club"

Ally contributed a chapter for Willie Miller's book "Willie Miller's Aberdeen Dream Team" where Ally named his own Aberdeen Dream Team. He married Miriam Fuchsberger in Salzburg, Austria in the summer of 2011. Ally & Miriam celebrated the birth of their baby son Lennox,born in Singapore in January 2013 and Harvey born in Qatar in December 2015.

In October 2014 Ally released his own book "Begg to Differ" where he talks about is life as an Aberdeen fan as well as his days with Bad Boys Inc and his broadcasting career. Begg to Differ became an instant hit reaching number one in various categories on the Amazon book charts.