Chris Kamara's Boxing Day return to live TV football reporting is more than just a heartwarming tale of a national treasure's encore.
There will be a sprinkling of Christmas magic in the air when he reunites with his former sidekick Jeff Stelling on Amazon Prime for Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham, in which fans will can be allowed to reminisce about their time on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday together.
The duo became iconic for certain moments like Kamara's delayed reaction to a red card at Portsmouth and his hilarious report of Reading's ghost goal at Watford, which he described as: "Jeff, unbelievable! There's a goal, but it's not a goal, but it's a goal because the referee's given it." To which Stelling amusingly responded: "Thanks for clearing that up, Chris."
However, in March 2022, Kamara left Soccer Saturday after 24 years with Sky Sports after he was diagnosed with apraxia, a condition affecting his speech.
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But after undergoing revolutionary treatment in Mexico, recommended by Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway, Kamara is poised for a comeback following an unexpected offer for one last hurrah at the City Ground.
"It was surreal to get that phone call from Andrew 'Buzz' Hornet, who was one of the first football producers at Sky Sports," Kammy, now 66 and an MBE recipient for his services to football, charity, and anti-racism, told Mirror Sport. "I was on my way to a Paul Heaton gig in Manchester – I've known Paul since I played for Sheffield United, he's a big Blades fan and me invited over to one of his concerts – when Buzz called.
"I thought, 'What does he want? And Buzz says, 'How do you fancy being reunited with Jeff on Boxing Day? ' Er, yes – in what capacity? 'Reporting on live football, like you normally do, at Forest v Spurs.'
"How could I refuse? It might be one last hurrah for me in terms of covering football on the box, but to work with Jeff again will bring a bit of extra magic to Christmas for me. Of course I'm not 100 per cent, but I'm 70 per cent better than when I first disclosed my condition in public and I feel like I've got the old Kammy back."
He added: "The one thing about my job at Sky that I guarded more than anything was being spontaneous. I've lost that ability in a way but I'm going to try and wheel it out on Boxing Day. If I started to rehearse lines in my head, or tried to prepare some premeditated lines, then I would be guaranteed to mess it up."
Kamara has opened up about his sadness over his disappearance from TV screens three seasons ago. "My last game for Sky was at Rotherham against Shrewsbury, and when I got back to the car I knew I had made a complete balls-up of it," Kamara recounted.
"When I checked my phone, on Twitter there were loads of comments with people saying, 'He must have been drunk' or 'has he had a stroke? I rang my therapist and said, 'This can't continue. I can't go on like this.' And he replied, 'You can – but you need to tell everyone what's going on.'
“That’s when I resolved to ‘come out’ and it was the moment that changed everything. Suddenly people were 100 per cent supportive and there were so many offers of help. Thankfully, one of them came from Kate Garraway, whose husband Derek had gone over to Monterrey in Mexico for treatment after contracting Long Covid.
“She said it had helped to stimulate parts of his brain so he could read again, for example, and she said, 'Why don't you give it a go?' I've been over to Mexico three times and it’s made such a difference.”
At his lowest ebb, Kamara had fears about dementia, before the definitive diagnosis of speech apraxia.
"Doctors asked me how many concussions I had suffered as a player – there were three," he said. "And of course there were dark moments where it messes with your head. You're doing these reports live to camera and I know I'm not me any more, but I'm not letting anyone or anybody know what's going on.
"These little voices in your head are asking, 'Could it be dementia? Could it be Alzheimer's?' Now I know the truth, I can handle it. I'm working as much as I can, especially to help children with speech and language conditions, and I've stopped being a bloke who's too stubborn to ask for help.
"The part of my brain that's been affected is the one that governs your memory speech fluency, but I can still sing and I can still do a Scottish accent – or both."
His comeback to TV screens is a Christmas treat for football fans everywhere.
