Barwick casts a 7 o'clock shadow over big picture

The beautiful game is set for another TV revolution, and the man behind it says he cannot see the bubble bursting

The man who has emerged as the key player in television sport is a big, bluff Scouser, never on screen but very much in your face. A heavyweight who pulls no punches. "One of the most honourable people in the business," said the former BBC managing director Paul Fox admiringly last week of Brian Barwick, who has brought football's Saturday night fever to ITV. Certainly one of the most dynamic.

Old Macho of the Day, Des Lynam, may be fronting it, and Terry Venables and Ally McCoist may fiddle amusingly with their gizmos, hoping ProZone doesn't turn out to be more like Prozac, but it is Barwick who has pressed all the right buttons to make it happen. What used to be the BBC's footy flagship, now with commercial knobs on, is set to create one of the biggest sea-changes in viewing habits since old Ena Sharples pulled on her hair-net.

Football will no longer be the preserve of late-night owls or Sunday-afternoon snoozers now that Barwick has fought for, and won, the battle for a seven o'clock kick-off for ITV's new Premiership package. It was Barwick who removed the two prize sporting assets from the BBC: Lynam and Match of the Day. Now, for Match of the Day, which he produced and Lynam presented when they were both in the White City bunker, read All in the Family. "Football at prime time. It is a pioneering, ground-breaking move," beamed Barwick before the assembled bigwigs and pundits at last week's launch. "This proves ITV are taking football seriously."

Well, the £183m he persuaded his bosses to splash out for the three-year deal (not to mention the £5m on Lynam) suggests that they will want to get their serious money's worth. Hence wall-to-wall football not only on ITV, but also ITV2. The word overkill springs to mind, but Barwick is quick to stifle it. "I don't think there will ever be such a thing as an overkill of good football. People don't have to watch. OK, so there is the occasional match when you ask, 'What the hell is that doing there?' – some of these pre-season friendlies for instance. But when the competition is for real there is an audience and always will be. I don't believe it's a bubble waiting to burst. The level of interest in football is phenomenal. Are the newspapers writing any less about it? I enjoyed watching Wimbledon, The Open and the British Grand Prix, but most of the tabloids still led with football stories while they were on."

While praising Barwick, Paul Fox also said that he did not think he would settle on something as boring as The Premiership for the title of the new show. Barwick demurs. "Premiership is a clean, straightforward description of what the programme is all about. And our team of Des, Terry [Venables] and Ally are the best in the business. Des for me was the key signing. He's not just a mate, he's the best pro I've ever worked with.

"I believe we've taken the best of Match of the Day and added more to it [they've also taken its BBC producer, Paul McNamara]. But it will be a different show. And on at a time when we're wide awake rather than half asleep."

An ex-newspaperman, Barwick, 48, joined the BBC in 1979 as an assistant sports producer. In his 18 years there he oversaw Match of the Day, Football Focus and Sportsnight, the World Cups of 1990 and 1994 and three Olympics. He probably would have become BBC's head of sport had the ITV job offer not come along three years ago. "I thought I would be a lifer at the BBC, there for the gold watch. But the best three years in my professional life have been the last three."

As someone who trades in up- frontishness, Barwick could very easily turn round and say "up yours" to his former alma mater following snatch of the day. But he lets them down almost gently. "There was a period at the BBC where they lost touch of the fact that part of the cornerstone of the way British people watch television is through sport. The loss of some of the major contracts was quite painful to me as someone thinking he might be there for another 15 years.

"When Jonathan Martin went as head of sport, I thought, 'I'm going to be the next guy in here'. But I didn't want to be King Canute. I thought, 'All this stuff is going, and more will go'. Of course, some would come back. That's the nature of the exercise. But it was time for a move."

The son of a tailor, Barwick grew up in Liverpool and has been a fanatical follower of the Reds since he was five. He went to the same Quarry Bank school as John Lennon, though he describes it as "a working-class Eton".

"When I told my dear old mum that I was leaving the BBC, she was aghast. For her, and many like her, the BBC is where it begins and ends. Now she is the most avid ITV viewer you could meet.

"ITV is a different animal to the BBC. When I left we were doing 54 sports. That was their bag. ITV have a narrower set of objectives. They have to have commercial reality and to be big on global or national talking points. Here we have short lines of management, decisions are made very quickly. We fly under the radar.

"When you are at the BBC you think you are the only game in town, but when I came to ITV I found they had some very good professionals who hadn't always won the respect they deserved. I felt they needed a sense of leadership, a big injection of confidence and a few more contracts. The backing over the past three years has been fantastic. We've made our statement."

Under Barwick's stewardship as controller of sport, ITV have secured not only their prime-time Premiership but the Worthington Cup, the Nationwide League and the Champions' League. "I wouldn't say we are in the driving seat as far as TV sport is concerned, but we have closed the gap and that's important. But when it comes to terrestrial football coverage, we're virtually the only game in town."

Their new digital channel, ITV Sport, Barwick's baby, begins on Friday and will screen 115 live games throughout the season, beginning with Kevin Keegan's Manchester City against Watford's Gianluca Vialli. Barwick has also done deals for the Rugby World Cup and the Tour de France. "We don't expect to be Sky Sports overnight. They have done a cracking job over the last 10 years, but I feel we have real chances."

Barwick recalls: "When I came over, Jeff Farmer, then the head of football, said, 'Welcome to ITV. We work really hard here but we do it with a smile.' I said, 'Well, let's do it with a laugh'. We have a lot of fun. It's all done with a certain lightness of touch that you don't get at the BBC."

So will there be fresh sporting fields for ITV and Barwick to conquer? He smiles: "Dunno. I've spent a lot of ITV's money. I think they want a bit left to do the odd drama or light entertainment."

Somehow you get the feeling that the man who turned his back on the Beeb and became game for a laugh hasn't quite had his last one yet.