Coral has agreed to sponsor the new football show on ESPN, 'Off the Ball' in a spot of puppet marketing. The show launches on 12th January and will be hosted by the Guardian football writer Will Buckley along with comedians and journalists Nick Hancock, Harry Pearson and Martin Kelner.

Partners Andrews Aldridge have created a series of puppet characters characters for the Coral sponsorship. Each spot features one of the six puppets giving a post match interview.

The new 30-minute weekly show will begin on 12 January and air each Thursday night at 10pm.

“Off The Ball” will deliver a weekly TV dose of wit and wisdom examining the goings-on around the Barclays Premier League, where regular panellists line up alongside host Will Buckley to sift through the goals, transfers, manager sackings, controversies, sending-offs, off-the-field shenanigans and more.

Each week, Buckley will be joined by three other panellists who will take it in turn to discuss a wide range of topics, from the latest news to the patently absurd. Panellists will include writer/comedian Martin Kelner, writer Harry Pearson and comedians Henning When, Ian Stone and Bob Mills.

Coral is one of the 6 businesses owned by Gala Coral

Coral is the third largest retail bookmaking business in the UK with a market share of approximately 20%

Gala Bingo is the leading operator in the UK Bingo sector with an approximate market share of 34%

Gala Casinos is the third largest casinos business in the UK with a market share of c.17%

Eurobet Italia is the fifth largest bookmaker in Italy – on and offline – with an approximate market share of 5%

Gala Interactive is a major online bingo and casino operator with galabingo.com its leading brand

Coral Interactive is a focussed online sports-betting business with coral.co.uk as its main brand