The champion trainer battle will overshadow Richard Johnson at Sandown

Alan Shearer has secured a contract extension to 2020 with the BBC

The broadcaster has held discussions over showing the final on YouTube

BT Sport have attracted poor viewing figures for the Champions League

BT Sport are considering broadcasting their exclusive live coverage of the Champions League final on social media platform YouTube to boost viewing figures.

European club football’s flagship occasion will also be shown on BT’s Freeview channel, Showcase, so the network honour their promise to make the match accessible to the widest possible audience in the first season of their £897million contract.

This follows BT attracting poor viewing figures for the Champions League — especially for group-stage games involving English clubs on Freeview, which were under-promoted as they did not help subscription numbers.

BT Sport have attracted poor viewing figures for the Champions League but they have a plan for the final

Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich could end up being shown on YouTube in a radical change of approach

But the YouTube discussions suggest a radical change of approach for the broadcasting of a final that could involve Manchester City.

A BT statement read: ‘We said at the launch that we wanted to make the UEFA Champions League final available for everybody to watch, so any decision on where it is broadcast live in the UK will be made by BT.’

Despite the criticisms surrounding BT Sport — which includes the Advertising Standards Authority upholding two complaints about their football promotions breaching regulations — UEFA continue to offer full support.

A statement read: ‘UEFA is very happy with its decision to award BT Sport exclusive Champions League and Europa League rights.

‘As would be the case with any pay-TV broadcaster, average audiences are below free-to-air channels. We have an excellent relationship with BT and are especially pleased with their high quality coverage and production.’

Manchester City face Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the competition and they too could end up on YouTube

Alan Shearer has been rewarded for his marked improvement as a football pundit with a BBC contract extention to 2020.

Shearer’s transformation from a dull, sit-on-the-fence analyst — adding to the image of him celebrating Blackburn’s title win by creosoting the garden fence — to a highly opinionated key figure started after senior pundit Alan Hansen retired.

Alan Shearer will continue on television screens after sealing a contract extension to 2020 at the BBC

Richard Johnson deserves all the limelight at Sandown on Saturday when he will be crowned champion jump jockey after 16 years finishing runner-up to Sir Tony McCoy.

Yet Johnson will be overshadowed as the battle for champion trainer between Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins is going to the wire at Sandown.

There is little love lost between the pair and sensitive Nicholls, who is narrowly leading the race, has taken exception to being described last week as the ‘soon-to-be-former-champion trainer’ by TV pundit Graham Cunningham.

Richard Johnson will be overshadowed at Sandown where he is set to be crowned champion jump jockey

Gloucester rugby owner Martin St Quinton, responsible for developing the bond system that financed Cheltenham racecourse’s acclaimed £45m Princess Royal stand, has joined the board of headhunters Sports Recruitment International.

SRi have established themselves as the leading UK sports job recruiters and are expanding overseas.

Princess Anne opens the New Princess Royal stand at Cheltenham racecourse in November last year

Roy won't blame Jack

Jack Wilshere, who hasn’t helped himself with off-field partying, is very fortunate that England manager Roy Hodgson remains so supportive and keen to pick him for Euro 2016.

Hodgson believes the injury-plagued Arsenal midfielder’s image has suffered from social media being ever-present when he’s out — rather than blaming Wilshere for his own poor behaviour.

Jack Wilshere has not been blamed for his own poor behaviour by supportive England manager Roy Hodgson

Only the MCC could promise a performance guarantee with the much-needed two new lifts in their £4m revamp of the unloved media centre at Lord’s — then have to close one during the first match of the season.

The lift was shut for an hour on Wednesday during Middlesex’s game against Warwickshire for what the MCC described as cosmetic repairs to a glass panel. The contractors had turned up a day early — begging the question why they weren’t told to return when no cricket was being staged.

The MCC promised an improvement of lift performances at Lord's - only to have to close one on Wednesday

Ticketmaster, who caused mayhem before the London Olympics when their computer software collapsed due to demand, have gone on to win coveted supply contracts for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and now the 2017 World Athletics Championship in London.

One rival believes organising bodies like the fact that if it goes belly-up Ticketmaster will be blamed because of their history.