Jeff Stelling has confessed that he no longer tunes into Soccer Saturday, the show he presented for a quarter of a century, as he doesn't wish to critique it. The TV host bid farewell to his position on the Sky Sports programme at the conclusion of the 2022/23 season, marking the end of his 31-year tenure with the network.
His exit came three years after the dismissal of his long-standing co-stars Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas, and Matt Le Tissier. Simon Thomas has since stepped into Stelling's shoes as presenter, with a rotating panel including the likes of Paul Merson, Michael Dawson, Clinton Morrison, Kris Boyd, Sue Smith, among others.
Now working for talkSPORT and hosting the YouTube channel 'Football's Greatest', Stelling has shared what he most frequently hears from the public about Soccer Saturday and why he no longer watches the show.
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"In the time since I have left Sky I still hear the cries of 'Un-believable Jeff! ' from passers-by and black-cab drivers," he pens in his autobiography Saturday Afternoon Fever. "But often it is now accompanied with 'It isn't the same anymore, Jeff'. That saddens me as that was never my intention when I left Soccer Saturday," reports the Mirror.
"I won't lie. I no longer watch the show that was my life for almost three decades. Not because I feel any ill-will. Just the opposite. I have many friends working on the programme and I am desperate for it to succeed. But if I watched, I know that as an opinionated little so-and-so I would sit and criticise which would benefit no one.
"Instead, I would rather celebrate nearly thirty years of doing the best job in the world. I am lucky that so many people believe there is life in this old dog yet and have offered me projects. Not many people are still learning about and enjoying new roles at my age."
Health concerns harboured by Stelling were pivotal in his decision to end his long-standing role on Soccer Saturday. In a candid interview with The Guardian, he revealed: "Even though I'd been there a long time, I felt some of my views weren't considered at all. Every week I was fighting a battle. I got tired of fighting and it was making me ill. Eventually, I went to Sky's management and said: 'This is making me unwell. I've got to step away from it.'
"I'm almost ashamed to say it because my dad worked in a steelworks and would come back from his shift covered in grime and muck and absolutely exhausted. He would never have allowed me to say I was shattered after a TV show. But I felt it was making me ill so I had to step away."
Saturday Afternoon Fever by Jeff Stelling (Headline, £22)
