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Soccer Saturday: Behind the scenes with Jeff Stelling

Jeff Stelling promotes Prostate Cancer UK's Men United campaign

Speaking on behalf of Prostate Cancer UK's Men United campaign, Jeff Stelling reveals what it's like controlling the Soccer Saturday team on air and why preparation is the key...

Soccer Saturday

The Soccer Saturday panel are a good bunch of lads. They are all ex-international footballers and yet they have become terrific friends to me. We do spend quite a bit of time away from the show together as well. That’s one of the important things as you have to have chemistry on Soccer Saturday. You have all got to get on with each other – and we all do. Principally we all talk football, I’ll be absolutely honest. We talk football, football, football and more football. And then maybe there might just be a little time to talk about families and other issues and so on and so forth. They are a great bunch. You can see from the rapport between them on screen what they are like. What you see is what you get. Quite literally you are seeing real people and real friends. The show is a big piece of my life but they are a big piece as well.

Head of the class

The boys all know how far they can go. Yes, in some ways it’s like a teacher with unruly pupils, but it is like a teacher with pupils who you know are good kids and they know how far to push it. Sometimes they do push you to the limit and sometimes I push them to the limit as well. But they are a really good bunch. There is a real sense of mischief too. Paul Merson is mischievous, Phil Thompson is extremely mischievous, Charlie Nicholas - ‘Champagne Charlie’ - again very mischievous. I can’t think of a better way to spend Saturday afternoons. I watch football with my mates and I get paid for it. The only addition would be with a pint of beer or a glass of wine.

Fails of the week

Evolution of the show

The show has gone on for nearly 20 years now and I love it as much now, if not more so, than ever. I look forward to every Saturday. A lot of work goes into it beforehand and I don’t look forward to that so much, but I look forward to Saturdays immensely. Sky give us a lot of freedom to talk about what we want to talk about, to express our own views, to have some fun, to have some jokes, to be a bit irreverent at times. I can’t think of a better way to spend Saturday afternoons. If I wasn’t presenting I’d probably be watching it I enjoy it that much. We never thought for a minute it would last more than a season or two seasons but people tell me now, and sometimes I forget this, that they have grown up with it. It’s all they’ve ever known, Soccer Saturday. Hopefully it’s got plenty of legs in it yet. I'm not sure I have but hopefully it has!

Gillette Soccer Saturday

Preparation

In terms of preparation there’s one guy who is a huge help, a statistics expert called Trevor Simmons, and he’s become a really good friend through the years as we work so closely together. He will provide me with packs of statistics. It’s my job to study them and learn them and decide what I want to take out of them. When Saturday arrives he will expect me to know how many goals Charlie Austin has scored for QPR this year or how many games it is since Aston Villa managed to score a goal in the Premier League. He would expect me to know the basic things. He will be beavering away in the background and if a full-back that hasn’t scored in 440 games in a 15-year career suddenly scores it’s his job to make sure he pops up with that statistic. It’s teamwork. We work pretty closely together.

Jeff Stelling promotes Prostate Cancer UK's Men United campaign

Hartlepool havoc

A few weeks ago the bottom of League Two (featuring Jeff’s team Hartlepool) stayed on screen for quite some time. It was an absolute disgrace and I shall name our director Karen Wilmington, that’s Karen Wilmington, who refused to take it off. The poor people on graphics. Karen rules the place, let’s get this straight, absolutely rules it and she refused to let our graphics people move on to the next table until we sat on it. It was 20 or 30 seconds but felt about 20 or 30 minutes! It’s part of the fun of this show. Football is entertainment. Sometimes we forget that don’t we?

Men United

We all know people that have suffered from prostate cancer don’t we? It’s great to help raise awareness of such a fantastic cause.

Jeff Stelling is an ambassador for Men United, Prostate Cancer UK’s movement for everyone who believes men are worth fighting for; standing together to help beat prostate cancer and keep friendships alive. By joining Men United you'll get to see your mates more, do something great together and help us beat prostate cancer. Search Men United or visit http://menunited.prostatecanceruk.org?p=stelling

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