''Soccer AM'' was a British
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
-based
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
talk show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
, produced by
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
. It aired from 20 August 1994 to 27 May 2023 on
Sky Showcase
Sky Showcase is a British pay television channel which launched on 1 September 2021. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a division of American media company Comcast.
Sky Showcase was announced on 28 July 2021, along with Sky Max, as a rep ...
,
Sky Sports Premier League
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
and
Sky Sports Football
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
. From 2010, the programme was put on a short
broadcast delay
In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...
to allow censoring of profanity or other issues before it went to air.
Its best-known presenters were
Helen Chamberlain, who presented the show for 22 years, and
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings. He ...
, who hosted from 1996 to 2007. Its final set of presenters were
John Fendley and ex-footballer
Jimmy Bullard.
On 22 March 2023, Sky announced that the show would be axed after the end of the current footballing season.
The final episode aired on Saturday 27 May 2023, the day before the end of the
2022–23 Premier League
The 2022–23 Premier League was the 31st season of the Premier League and the 124th season of top-flight English football overall. Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest were the three promoted clubs from the 2021–22 EFL Championship, re ...
season.
Key features
Fans of the Week
The "Fans of the Week" feature is a mainstay of the show - eight fans of a British football club feature as studio guests every week, seated in a section of the set known as the "
Luther Blissett
Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional association football, footballer and coach (sport), manager who played for the England national football team, England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Bliss ...
Stand", introduced in December 1997. They were featured in various aspects of the show, culminating in a team footballing challenge at the end of the programme. The feature was dropped for the 2015–16 season when the programme's running time was cut to 90 minutes.
The car park game
The challenge involved fans attempting to kick a football through a number of holes within the sixty second time limit. The challenge had been renamed almost every season, along with the props and background music for the feature. The other studio guests all have the opportunity to attempt to score as well. Its various guises through the years include:
*"You Know The Drill Live" (2018–2023) - Jimmy Bullard provides the demonstration to the ball shooting techniques, then challenges in-studio guests to recreate the best goals within the sixty second time limit. The goals that they've scored represent points. It began in 2016, where Tubes defeats Fenners in a volley challenge with 8–3. It also returned in 2018 after 2 years as one-off segment, with Bullard battling
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football coach and former player. He most recently managed Saudi First Division League side Al-Qadsiah.
As a player, he was a striker, and is the ninth-highest goalscorer in the histor ...
in a Double Bubble challenge. Fowler won the challenge with 10–9.
*"Soccer AM Pro AM" (2017–2023) - Fans must answer some trivia questions from Fenners throughout the football world within 5 minutes. If the contestants got the correct answer, an in-studio guest is ready to attack. But if the contestants got the answer wrong, other celebrity guests are ready to attack. The contestants are a set of football fans. There will be 5 ball shooting techniques for £50: Penalty Shootout, Volley, One-on-One with a goalkeeper, Crossbar and Free Kick.
*"Volley Challenge" (2015–2023) - Fans must volley a shot and try and score past a "celebrity" keeper each week. The contestants are a set of football fans.
*"World Cup Worldies" – Jimmy Bullard and an in-studio guest, or maybe Bullard himself must compete in a challenge in order to recreate the best World Cup goals from the past within a time limit.
*"The Champions League" (2012–2015) – The game has been reworked, now featuring five panels - each decorated with the name and logo of one of the five highest Leagues, with a hole in each of increasing elevation and decreasing width. Fans are challenged to hit the ball into each hole in order, from League 2 up to the Champions League, within 60 seconds.
*"Wembley 2011" (2010–11) – Fans now have a much larger hole to kick the ball through. The set now features a hole in the number 0 (of the inflated year 2011), the curtain of the Champions League logo, and the stadium in which the final will be played, Wembley.
*"The Glory Hole" (2009–10) – Fans now have a much larger hole to kick the ball through. The set now features a large
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
trophy, as well as the curtain of the ''Soccer AM'' logo.
*"Road To Rome" (2008–09) – Fans now have a much larger hole to kick the ball through. The set now features a large
Champions League trophy surrounded by players such as
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,[Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...]
, and
Billy McNeill
William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He had a long association with Celtic F.C., Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, m ...
. Other features of the set include
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
holding up a red card and a red carpet displaying the Champions League logo along with the city in which the final will be played, Rome.
*"Hollywood" (2007–08) – following
David Beckham
Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...
's move to the
Los Angeles Galaxy
The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...
, the game featured a
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
-style "pavement" leading to the familiar target with a David Beckham mock-up alongside it. The stars included friends of the show with
Jeff Stelling
Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He presented '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports from 1994 until 2023 and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015.
He also present ...
as the biggest star on the walkway.
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
,
Ricky Hatton
Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and boxing trainer, trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world champi ...
,
Mani
Mani may refer to:
People
* Mani (name), (), a given name and surname (including a list of people with the name)
** Mani (prophet) (c. 216–274), a 3rd century Iranian prophet who founded Manichaeism
** Mani (musician) (born 1962), an English ...
, and
Kasabian
Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and second vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff ...
's
Sergio Pizzorno
Sergio Lorenzo "Serge" Pizzorno (born 15 December 1980) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, and second vocalist of the rock band Kasabian, for whom he became t ...
also featured.
*"Road to Wembley II" (2006–07) – a revision of 2005–06's "Road to Wembley" – a
tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
History
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...
response to the failure of
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
to be completed in time for
2006 FA Cup final, despite the
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...
hosted the event. The segment celebrates 126th installment of the
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...
at Wembley Stadium in May 2007. On 26 August 2006,
Kasabian
Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and second vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff ...
guitarist and vocalist Sergio Pizzorno scored what was hailed to be the best goal on ''Soccer AM'' by
Helen Chamberlain – flicking the ball up in front of him and unleashing a spectacular right footed volley clean through the hole target whilst wearing cowboy style boots.
*"Road to Wembley" (2005–06) – the original edition was named to celebrate the return of the FA Cup Final to Wembley Stadium in May 2006, although remained unchanged despite
The FA
The Football Association (the FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsibl ...
's announcement that the stadium would not be complete, and be relocated to Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
. The challenge was 'scoring' by hitting the ball through the hole in the letter "b" (of the inflated word "Wembley") as many times as possible in 80 seconds from
12 yards. Viewers are encouraged to text in and guess the number of times the "Fans of the Week" will get the ball through the "b". This is done with the background music of
"Que Sera, Sera". Teams who score seven or more times won an "Easy" T-shirt for each member.
*"We Are the Champions League" (2004–05) – celebrating Sky Sports' purchase of broadcasting rights for the
Champions League, the central star of a
3D Champions' League logo was removed and made the target from 12 yards. The background music was, "
Blitzkrieg Bop
"Blitzkrieg Bop", titled "The Blitzkrieg Bop!!" on its single release, is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, released in February 1976 as their debut single in the United States. It was the opening track on the band's self-titled debut a ...
" by "The
Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...
"
*"Feed The Iron Curtain" (2002–03) – fans had to kick the ball through the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
as many times as possible in one minute. Meanwhile, the Eastern European substitutes (wearing red TCCCP
tracksuit
A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with a front zipper. Also known as ''sweatsuits'' or ''trackies'', tracksuits are designed to keep the body warm during and after athletic activity. It w ...
s - a pun on the old
СССÐ
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
shirts and
TCP the antiseptic) would
warm-up
'Warming up' is a part of stretching and preparation for physical exertion or a performance by exercising or practicing gently beforehand, usually undertaken before a performance or practice. Athletes, singers, actors and others warm up before s ...
, a memorable moment from "Feed the Iron Curtain" was when one of the celebrities missed the "goal" and kicked the rebounding ball in frustration and the ball hit one of the eastern European substitutes in the face. This celebrity was
Frank McAvennie
Francis McAvennie (born 22 November 1959) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent two spells playing for each of St Mirren, West Ham United and Celtic. With Celtic, he won the Scottish Premier Division in ...
and Tim and Helen loved it so much that they renamed the car park The Frank McAvennie Car Park in his honour.
*"World Cup 2002" (2001–02) – a giant face of
Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager.
After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...
with his mouth wide open was the target, with the background music of "Sven, 'Gor-don', Eriksson, tra, lala, lala!" (to the tune of
Brown Girl in the Ring).
*"Feed the Goat" (2000–01) – the target being the mouth of a giant goat, with the background music of "Feed The Goat And He Will Score" (to the tune of
Cwm Rhondda
Cwm Rhondda is a popular hymn tune written by John Hughes (1873–1932) in 1907. The name is taken from the Welsh name for the Rhondda Valley.
It is usually used in English as a setting for William Williams' text "Guide Me, O Thou Great ...
) – a popular
terrace chant for
Shaun Goater
Leonard Shaun Goater (born 25 February 1970) is a Bermudian former professional Association football, footballer, coach and pundit who is currently part of the coaching staff at Aston Villa W.F.C., Aston Villa Women.
As a player he was a Forwa ...
at
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
.
*"Lob Star" (1999–00) – The target was a large net, held up by a lobster. The object being to chip the ball into the net from distance. Notably,
Neil Lennon
Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic.
During his playing career he represe ...
successfully found the target, only to be told he had done so before the whistle. Following the whistle, he repeated the feat.
*"Chips" (1998–99) – As the name suggested, the ball had to be chipped into the target. This had to be done over a short "brick" wall. The ball boys at this time were American state troopers in the style of those in the popular TV show
CHiPs
''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. After the final first-run telecast on NBC in May 1983, the series went into reruns on Sundays fr ...
.
*"Rob Jones" (1996–1998) – A round target with a head shot photo of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
defender
Rob Jones glued onto it. The target was on a spring sticking out of a small box. Each week Tim would joke 'because Rob Jones hasn't scored for Liverpool in the 2/3/4/5 seasons he's been playing for them'.
Soccerette
The ''Soccer AM'' ''Soccerette'' was a feature of the show for several years. A young woman modelling a ''Soccer AM'' T-shirt, which was redesigned each season acted as a competition prize. Viewers can win the T-shirt by guessing the number of goals scored by the "Fans of the Week" in their team challenge later in the show. The Soccerette was introduced by the male presenter and was asked a series of questions that almost inevitably led into premeditated gags and innuendo.
The Soccerette was asked about her marital status, which results in rampant cheers if "single", and boos if the Soccerette "has a boyfriend" or "married" (although the latter was fairly rare), and a crew member would run on without a shirt and react. Former host
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings. He ...
used to declare that the Soccerette's relationship will "never last", regardless of how long they had been together.
Famous Soccerettes have included
Natalie Sawyer,
Jennifer Metcalfe
Jennifer Joanne Metcalfe (born 4 September 1983) is a British actress from Bradford, England. She is known for her role as Mercedes McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', which she has appeared in since 2006. Her portrayal of the ch ...
,
Lucy Pinder
Lucy Katherine Pinder (born 20 December 1983) is a British actress and model. She rose to international fame for her work as a glamour model in men's magazines, and made her film debut in the comedy horror ''Strippers vs Werewolves'' (2012), w ...
,
Tamsin Greenway
Tamsin Greenway (born 6 October 1982) is a former England netball international. She was a member of the England teams that won bronze medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and at the 2011 and 2015 Netball World Cups. Between 2006 and 2018 she ...
,
Gemma Atkinson
Gemma Louise Atkinson (born 16 November 1984) is an English influencer, radio presenter, and former actress and glamour model. She played Lisa Hunter in ''Hollyoaks'' (2001–2005, 2022) and in three spin-off series, '' Hollyoaks: After Hours ...
and
Louise Cliffe. This segment was dropped in 2015.
The segment was seen as politically incorrect in later years which is why it was removed. Clips from the Soccerette segment often go viral on Twitter and people comment on how the nature of the show changed.
Footballing features
Shocker Saturday / Sky Spoof News
''Shocker Saturday'' is a segment parodying
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast.
History
Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...
' ''
Soccer Saturday
''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a British football-focused programme broadcast on Sky Sports. It delivers live score updates and commentary on football matches across various leagues, particularly the Premier League and English Football Le ...
'', featuring Fendley playing the part of
Jeff Stelling
Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He presented '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports from 1994 until 2023 and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015.
He also present ...
. The studio guests, standing in front of a green-screen in the studio, pretend to be match reporters. During his time co-presenting the show, Lloyd Griffith played a character named "Glen Stefani", an obvious reference to American singer-songwriter
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer.
Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...
. Fendley and the "reporters" all typically link into humorous clips of various footballing antics, in addition to some non-football clips.
''Sky Spoof News'' was a segment featuring Lloyd Griffith playing a Sky Sports News presenter named "Glen Stefani", typically alongside one of the actual presenters from the channel. The segment typically features blunders from presenters and journalists, as well as entertaining football clips. On occasion, Griffith also presented from other events such as the
PDC World Darts Championship
The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Paddy Power World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport of darts. The championship begins in December and ends in January and has ...
.
Unbelievable Tekkers
''Unbelievable Tekkers'' is a segment featuring a clip of football action from the past week, usually the best goal or piece of skill of the week. The phrase was apparently first used by
Andy Ansah on
Wayne Rooney's Street Striker, with the word "tekkers" meaning "technique". The introduction goes "Some tekkers are good..." (with clip of a great Wayne Rooney overhead kick), "Some tekkers are bad..." (with clip of David Dunn miskicking and falling over) "but some tekkers..." (Andy Ansah clip) "Unbelievable Tekkers!" The 2010–11 season Soccer AM T-shirt also featured this phrase.
The segment is, as of 2019, called ''Obscene Skill'', featuring a clip of football action, ending with a clip of
Jamie Carragher saying "That's obscene that is!".
Nutmeg Files
A nutmeg is the term applied when a player plays the ball between his opponent's legs and regains control of the ball after going round him. Another ever-present feature of the show, the weekly edition of "The Nutmeg Files" shows a clip from the previous week's football matches of a player being nutmegged, while the "nutmegger" is superimposed shouting "NUTS!", "¡Caňo!" (Brazil/Portugal), "Tunnel" (Italy) and "Petit Pont" (France), depending on which country the "nutmegger" is from. This feature is (very loosely) based on ''
The Rockford Files
''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner, aired on NBC from September 13, 1974, to January 10, 1980. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investigator Jim Rockford, with Noah Beery Jr. in th ...
''.
The segment is, as of 2019, called ''Megnuts of the Week''.
Third Eye
''Third Eye'' has been a feature of the show from its outset, and involves viewers sending in often-comical mishaps from the television (generally football matches) that may well have been missed by the majority of the viewing audience. These typically involve people falling over or being caught doing something stupid.
Taxi
The feature Taxi!, accompanied by the theme tune of
the US sitcom, consists of yet more clips from the previous week's live football. The clips chosen are typically embarrassing displays of showboating gone wrong. The embarrassed player's name is then suffixed to the voice-over phrase "TAXI FOR...". Concluding with the quote "''Taxi is filmed in front of a live stadium audience.''"
The presenters highlight several embarrassing moments from the previous week's football, the worst comes last and is usually introduced with:
"It's time for a trip to ''(stadium)''".
"Taxi for ''(name)''!"
Team Mates
Team Mates is the section at the end of the show where a player from a football team is interviewed about their teammates, being asked questions such as which teammate is the best trainer or has the worst dress sense.
The Crossbar Challenge
''The Crossbar Challenge'' is a feature that involves a weekly trip to the training ground of a British league football team. The entire squad, including willing coaching staff and managers, are filmed, one-by-one, introducing themselves and attempting to hit the crossbar of the
goal
A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to ...
from the halfway line. The feat is rarely accomplished - the majority of squads fail to hit the bar once. However, a successful strike generally provokes manic celebrations by the kicker and his teammates. The original background music is the instrumental "Seventeen Years" by
Ratatat
Ratatat ( ) is a Brooklyn-based electronic rock duo consisting of Mike Stroud (guitar, melodica, synthesizers, percussion) and producer Evan Mast (bass, synthesizers, percussion).
History
Beginnings and first album, ''Ratatat'' (2001–2005 ...
but this was changed to "Smiling" by
The Beta Band
The Beta Band are a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style is described as being a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, post-rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experimentation and occasional humour. They were praised ...
.
The current record is held by
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
who hit the crossbar four times on 25 April 2009. The current player record is held by Graham Stack who has hit the bar three times for three different clubs (Wolves, Plymouth and Millwall).
In 2007, the Ice Patrol Ship HMS Endurance's 1XI team carried out The Crossbar Challenge in Antarctica, with the goalposts semi buried in fresh snow. This was shown on the show and is acknowledged as the most southerly Crossbar Challenge, to date.
Skill Skool
A pre-recorded section where two members of a football team – usually a youth/academy side – pits their wits against each in showing off their best individual skills with the football. It involves a different side each week. Rocket presents this part with the two opponents, surrounded by their teammates, and with the appropriate drum and bass backing tune of "Don't Wanna Know" by
Shy FX
Andre Williams, better known as Shy FX, is a British DJ and producer from London. He specialises in drum and bass and jungle music.
Biography
Shy FX's debut record was "Jungle Love", released in 1992 on the Permission to Dance label. Soon after ...
, T-Power, Di and Skibadee. He begins by saying to the footballers (named Joe and Bob for example):
"Joe, Bob, Welcome to Skill Skool. You know the rules, three rounds, best skill wins. Let's get the lesson on!"
Sublime individual skills are shown by each competitor while being egged on by their teammates. After each have completed 3 rounds, Rocket says:
"Joe/Bob, good skills. But there's only one winner....
Guys, give it up for Joe (cue cheering and applause).
Give it up for Bob (bigger/lesser cheering and applause)
Bob, you're the Skill Skool winner. Skills!"
Rocket proceeds to thrust the ball into the mid-rift of the winner, while the teammates usually mob and even sometimes perform some prank.
A live version of the segment where two freestylers pit their wits against each in showing off their best individual skills, to involve a different side. Rocket presents this part with the two opponents, surrounded by an audience from the car park, and with the same tune and rules with a short time limit addition.
My Favourite Goal
A famous footballer is asked to name his three favourite goals throughout his career so far, and the choices are played (in reverse order) at various stages throughout the show. Notable appearances have included
Thierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry (; born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, sports broadcaster and former player. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time and widely regarded as the greatest player in Premi ...
,
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...
,
David Beckham
Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...
, and
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...
.
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (; born 1 July 1976), commonly known as Ruud van Nistelrooy (), is a Dutch professional Association football, football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship club Leic ...
in this section was only asked to pick his top three favourite goals for
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
. The song used during the older version of 'My Favourite Goal' is "
Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)" by
Aqualung.
Our Man In A Caff
This sketch involves crew member Trev, dressing up in a builders outfit, sitting in a café and reading the newspaper (presumably
tabloid) and giving us his account of recent events in football and footballers all over the world, in a parody of
James Richardson from
Football Italia
''Football Italia'' was a television programme in the United Kingdom, showing Italian football, that ran from 1992 to 2002 on Channel 4, and continued until 2007–08 Serie A, 2008 on other channels. It was known as ''Football Italiano'' in its ...
. This is a skit on the typical lazy English builder, having lunch in a café. Our Man In A Caff ends with Trev signing out with 'Over an Out' plus an added sign off from somebody or from somewhere.
I'm an A League Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here
This weekly sketch involves two crew members playing the part of
Ant and Dec
Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo consisting of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly from Newcastle upon Tyne. After meeting as child actors on CBBC's drama ''Byker Grove'', they performed together as pop musicians PJ & Duncan, ...
in Australia as if presenting the ITV show ''
I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here'', who introduce football clips from Australia's
A-League
A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...
, typically featuring former Premier League star
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football coach and former player. He most recently managed Saudi First Division League side Al-Qadsiah.
As a player, he was a striker, and is the ninth-highest goalscorer in the histor ...
, accompanied by a parody Australian commentary. While the football clip is playing, a guest attempts a "bushtucker trial" trying to find a star in "
Georgie Thompson
Georgina Jane Ainslie, Lady Ainslie (born 25 November 1977), better known as Georgie Thompson, is a British television presenter.
Education
Thompson was educated at Queenswood School, an independent boarding school for girls near Hatfield in ...
's box", a cardboard box with a picture of said
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast.
History
Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...
presenter on the front and shown to contain some form of unpleasant creature, a task at which the guest always fails. The end of the sketch generally sees "Ant" hit in the eyes by some kind of object or substance and shouting "I'm blind, Dec!", a reference to a scene from the teenage drama ''
Byker Grove
''Byker Grove'' is a British teen drama and coming of age television series which aired between 1989 and 2006 on BBC One.
The show was set in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne and was filmed in nearby Benwell. It was created by writer Adele Rose a ...
'' in which the real-life Ant and Dec first found fame.
You Know The Drill
The ''You Know The Drill'' challenge was introduced in 2015. It is also a pre-recorded section that involves a weekly trip to some training grounds and stadiums. Jimmy Bullard presents this part with willing coaching staff and managers by demonstrating ball shooting techniques before he challenges every member of a football team for a goal-scoring battle, to determine the winner with the most goals scored by the points. The end of the segment is the decision for the winner of this challenge, alongside a catchphrase of Bullard saying "Football's always the winner!". A live version of the segment began in 2016, where Tubes battles Fenners in a volley challenge. Its live version also returned in 2018, where Fenners presents this part from the car park with Jimmy Bullard demonstrating ball shooting techniques. Then Bullard challenges every guests, such as professional and legendary footballers, willing coaching staff and managers, as well as celebrities, for a goal-scoring battle within the sixty second time limit, also to determine the winner with the most goals scored by the points.
Other past comedy features
Current, and former performing crew members include "Fenners" (John Fendley), "Sheephead" (Joe Worsley), "Tubes" (Peter Dale), "Rocket" (James Long), Neil (Smythe), Robbie Knox (TRAMP! is sung every time he is mentioned to the tune of ''The Champ'' by
The Mohawks
William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for films and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company i ...
), Jon Dyson, Chris Nutbeam and newest member Steve Sutcliffe, as well as "Curly" (James Kirtland).
Tubes
Crew member "Tubes" (Peter Dale) has had a regular feature on the show, where he has ''"one question and one question only"'' to one of the studio guests. Max asks ''"Who is your question for this week"'', and the answer results in a dimming of the studio lights and a spotlight on the questionee. After the question has been asked Tubes goes to shake the questionees hand thanking them as he does. Tubes' popularity has grown significantly - a public vote saw him being voted more popular than (crew member) Rocket - in part due to his woeful (but comic)
rapping
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...
ability which he demonstrates every week before actually posing a question, his ability to keep a "straight" face is also one of his main attributes. Due to his weekly
binge drinking
Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions vary considerably.
Binge drinking is a style of ...
exploits, Tim Lovejoy called for
pub
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
landlords across the country to ban Tubes from their establishments for his own good. Tubes' rapping has also been used in a parody of
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
, where at the end instead of saying "iTunes", it says "iTubes". Some Of Tubes' Catchphrases include "Sickening" "Sick" and "Sickness".
The segment had been discontinued and replaced by his usual interview with professional and legendary footballers, or some willing coaching staff and managers, starting in 2015.
Tubes suffered a heart attack in January 2018 and spent time off show whilst recovering.
When Tubes was unable to conduct an interview, Fenners would be on a set to have a chat with the biggest names in football, such as
Pep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...
,
Craig Shakespeare
Craig Robert Shakespeare (26 October 1963 – 1 August 2024) was an English professional footballer and coach best known for managing at the time Premier League club Leicester City in 2017.
A midfielder, Shakespeare began his playing career w ...
,
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...
,
Marcus Rashford
Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa, on Loan (association football), lo ...
and
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...
.
The Dance-Off
Each year, the ''Soccer AM'' Dance-Off was held which is a dancing competition usually involving all crew members. The crew have 15 seconds each to dance before the next contestant goes on, and each dance usually receives good natured laughing and booing from the audience. In 2014 the first and only member of the public Lee Woods participated in the ‘Dance off’ after an audition that won the public vote. During his performance Lee slipped on baked beans which had been placed on the floor earlier by crew member Frankie Fryer sparking the controversial and infamous ‘Beangate’ incident. Lee was the bookmakers hot favourite to win but after the slip Rocket subsequently took the crown.
Rocket was the undisputed Dance off champion with 5 wins to his name, he has a tattoo to commemorate his success. The ‘Dance off’ feature ended in 2015.
Former comedy features
Following Tim Lovejoy's departure, several of the crew members including "Fenners" (John Fendley), "Sheephead" and Robbie Knox also departed, which meant the end of some of the features of the show. Adam Smith (Baby Elvis/Franky Fryer) departed from the show as well to become a permanent host of ''Saturday Social''.
Boston Goals
From 2004 to 2007 the previous weekends highlights from
Boston United
Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system.
The club is known as 'the ...
's games featured in their own segment called "Boston Goals". Presented by "Mike Schweinberger" and "Randy Wakeman III", Boston were coined as "the League's only
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
side" alluding to the City of
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and making a play on United's nickname "The Pilgrims" which was named after the
settlers of the same name. The commentary would be exaggerated and 'Americanized' with various phrases featured in American sports like
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
,
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
and
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
featuring heavily. Phrases featured were "PK" for a penalty, "Corner Restart" for a corner, "Ejected" for a red card, "Rejected" for a save by the goalkeeper, "Top body strike" for a header. Shots or goals hit into the top corner would be described as hit towards the "upper 90" or "lower 90" with phrases such as "Touchdown" occasionally used to describe a goal and "fumble" when a player would lose a ball to the other team, a goalkeeper was occasionally referred to as a "Point Guard" The feature ended when Boston United were relegated from the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
at the end of the 2006–07 season.
Small Talk
In Small Talk, Rocket and Arrogant Baby Elvis go around the streets of a chosen British town and ask a question related to a current event in the Football world e.g. in the episode from 13 September 2008, Baby Elvis asked people in Doncaster how they keep fit, following reports of
Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov (; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Known for his technique and ball control, Berbatov is regarded as one of the greatest Bulgarian players of all time. He cap ...
being on an intensive fitness programme after his recent move to
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
.
Big Stan Hibbert
His catchphrases were ''"I'm Here All Week & Centrifugal Force"''.
[
]
Topless Weather
Sheephead reads the weather, with frequent references to gravy and a light drizzle.
Brad Bobley
This is a sketch which was a parody of the new American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
manager of Swansea City
Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...
, Bob Bradley
Robert Frank Bradley (born March 3, 1958) is an American association football, soccer coach, who most recently managed Norwegian football team Stabæk Fotball, Stabæk fron 2023 - 2024.
A native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton Universi ...
. The sketch is a light-hearted take on the way Americans take "Soccer" and expressions used. Phrases were coined in a similar way to the previous Boston Goals sketch as Fenners who had played "Mike Schweinberger" also played Bobley. The theme was the "Brad Bobley Soccer Camp" and each week he would show participants how to execute a variety of different football skills such as Penalties, Free Kicks and challenges. The segment would often feature Bobley lambasting and swearing at Rocket and hitting him over the head with his clipboard. He coined the phrase "Megnuts, so sweet" in reference to a "Nutmeg". The real Bradley was dismissed after only a few months in the Swansea job, but Soccer AM continued with the Brad Bobley character for the rest of the 2016–17 season. This led to a new feature called "Megnuts of the Week". When asked about Bradley's sacking AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...
manager, Eddie Howe
Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Premier League club Newcastle United.
A centre-back during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing ...
accidentally referred to him by naming him "Brad". This was picked up on by the show who played it the following week.
Other features
''Soccer AM'' webcam
Th
Soccer AM Webcam
was introduced in the start of the 10th season. Refreshing every 5 seconds, it gave viewers the opportunity to view a live feed from the ''Soccer AM'' Office. Due to popular demand, it was later upgraded to refreshing every ''3 seconds''. The webcam
A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...
soon gained its own feature on the show - a soap
Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...
picking out the best behind-the-scenes moments from the office, and concluding with a cliffhanger of a will he-won't he. The webcam broke in between seasons in the summer of 2006, but at the start of the following season the team announced that a new webcam had been installed with improved pictures as well as the ability for the team to zoom in on certain aspects of the office.
The Ten-Yard Bucket Challenge
Borne out of the link between professional footballers and golf, ''"The Ten-Yard Bucket Challenge"'' sees a professional footballer attempting to chip a golf ball into a bucket from a distance of ten yards. The football-golf link exists due mainly to the amount of free time footballers are allowed in the daytime after training sessions, and ''Soccer AMs homage to golf involves a single personality from the world of football who attempts the challenge. One notable attempt was from Ryan Taylor, then of Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...
, who was not featuring in the challenge that week, but was accompanying teammate Jason McAteer
Jason Wynne McAteer (born 18 June 1971) is a former professional footballer. His primary position was in midfield either in the centre or on the right flank, though he was also an able full-back. Born in England, he represented the Republic o ...
. While cameras happened to be rolling, he had a go and accomplished the feat in a single attempt. Many overconfident amateurs have been known to run tallies of well over a hundred attempts. The background music to the challenge is "Ladyflash" by The Go! Team
The Go! Team are an English indie rock band from Brighton, England. The band initially began as a solo project conceived by Ian Parton; however, after the unexpected success of the Go! Team's debut album, '' Thunder, Lightning, Strike'', Parton ...
.
Bullseye Challenge
A part of the show where two players from a club compete to see who can hit the bullseye of a dart board first. The current holder with only two throws is Emmanuel Eboue whilst he was playing for Arsenal.
Achievements
As its audience share grew, its influence grew in turn. Some of the show's notable influences have included:
* The Save Chip campaign saw large ''"Save Chip"'' banners appear all over the world, not only in football matches. The full tag line was "Save Chip... Don't Let Sarah win!". The campaign involved a football fan's plea to help save him from his girlfriend Sarah, who would not let him watch his favourite sport. It became a cult when banners appeared at countless televised football matches across the country and also made airtime in WWE wrestling events, rugby matches and many more televised sporting (and non sporting) events. The banner also appears randomly in the first screens of the PC video game Championship Manager: Season 01/02 released by Sports Interactive
Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the ''Football Manager'' series. Founded by brothers Collyer brothers (game designers), Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired in ...
. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson also promoted the campaign after scoring the winner in the 2001 LDV Final for Port Vale, lifting his shirt over his head revealing a shirt underneath which said "Save Chip"
* Getting a golden star on the England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
football shirt. Sparked after France 98, when the France national team added a golden star to their shirt as soon as they won the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
, the ''Soccer AM'' team successfully campaigned to get a golden star on England's shirt to commemorate winning the World Cup in 1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
.
* Getting the word "''bouncebackability''" into the English dictionary has been credited to ''Soccer AM''. Its creation is generally accredited to former Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...
manager Iain Dowie
Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit.
He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...
's reference to his team's return to form in 2005, and the ''Soccer AM'' team took it upon themselves to continuously refer to the subject until their feat was accomplished later that year.
*The ''Soccer AM'' regulars are immortalised in the computer game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...
Football Manager 2005, as an unmanageable team called ''The Badgers''. Amongst the 'players' are Rocket, Tubes, Sheephead, Paul Dalglish
Paul Kenneth Dalglish (born 18 February 1977) is a Scottish former professional footballer.
Playing career
Dalglish, son of former Scotland international Kenny Dalglish, was born in Glasgow though spent his childhood in Liverpool where his fa ...
, Fenners, Phil Neal
Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full-back. He is regarded as one of the most successful English players of all time, having won ei ...
, John Wark
John Wark (born 4 August 1957) is a Scottish former footballer who spent most of his playing time with Ipswich Town. He won a record four Player of the Year awards before becoming one of the four inaugural members of the club's Hall of Fame. ...
and of course, Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings. He ...
himself. All of the players can be signed by the player. They have also been featured in Football Manager 2012, featuring Max Rushden
Max Paul Rushden (born 18 April 1979) is an English radio and television presenter and the current host of ''The Guardian''s '' Football Weekly'' podcast.
Career
Rushden's first presenting role was BBC London 94.9's breakfast show from December ...
as captain.
* The World of Wrestling sketch exploded into British culture in 2005. After destroying his opponent in a public place (e.g. a swimming pool), the masked "red" wrestler began a chant of "Easy! Easy!, whilst clapping his hands above his head, before stopping telling an observer "You shut up!" and resuming his chant of "Easy! Easy!". The sketch is a parody and play on words of the '' World of Sport'' wrestling, which had been repeated on TWC Fight! starting in early 2004. In the sketch, the masked wrestlers are based on Kendo Nagasaki
Kendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling stage name, used as a Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick of that of a Japanese Samurai warrior with a mysterious past and even supernatural powers of hypnosis. The name derives from ...
, whilst the chanting is taken from Big Daddy. This chanting action has since been reintroduced thanks to the sketch and is now seen across the UK at all kinds of events - sporting or otherwise.
Other content
*Tim Lovejoy offered five of "the queen's English pounds" to anyone who went to an English football match with a banner saying ''"Lovejoy is a legend"'', although he soon stopped after it ended up costing him too much money (mainly after Sky Sports's match coverage picked up on the competition, showing a number of banners before each match).
*Tim Lovejoy and Bradley Walsh
Bradley John Walsh (born 4 June 1960) is an English actor, television presenter, comedian, singer, and former professional footballer.
Walsh's acting roles on television include Danny Baldwin in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2004 ...
were flown by helicopter after the show to do Sky's fanzone commentary for the Arsenal v Chelsea FA Cup Final in 2002. Lovejoy has been ridiculed on ''Soccer AM'' ever since for saying "Oh it's okay, it's only Ray Parlour" moments before Parlour's spectacular opener in the 2–0 win, to which Walsh replied "That is some goal!". Whenever Parlour is mentioned, they find some way to bring this up.
*The programme has been known to jokingly change its name in its on-air graphics to Soccer PM when a show has run into the afternoon.
Football League Trophy Play Your Cards Right
For some seasons, ''Soccer AM'' had the privilege of being able to draw fixtures for each round of the Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...
.
This was normally done - in the style of British gameshow ''Play Your Cards Right
''Play Your Cards Right'' (or ''Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right'') is a British television game show based on, and played similarly to, the American show ''Card Sharks''.
History
''Play Your Cards Right'' broadcast on ITV from 1 Februar ...
'' - by the presenters cutting oversized cards onto large holders, and turning them over one at a time to generate football matches. This process was overseen by an independent adjudicator from the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
Stuart Trigwell, known to Soccer AM as 'face', ridiculing a column in the Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
referring to him as the 'Face of The Football League'.
Merchandise
Four ''Soccer AM'' DVDs were released - ''The Top Ten Goals of All Time'' in November 2004, ''The Ten Greatest Players of the Last Ten Years'' the following year, ''The Greatest Matches of All Time'' in 2006, and ''Dream Team - The Greatest Team in the World'' in 2009.
A soundtrack of indie and rock music featured in the show's goal compilations was released in June 2006.
Football Walk Music
*'' Mr. Big Stuff'' (2004) (By Jean Knight)
The Soccer AM Stadium
In July 2014, ''Soccer AM'' announced a partnership with non-league Basingstoke Town F.C.
Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward ...
The club's Camrose Stadium was renamed 'The Soccer AM Stadium' as part of the partnership – with the club featuring regularly on the show. "Soccer AM" producer, Rob Wakeling said "We’re really pleased to be supporting Basingstoke Town FC from now on – and we’ve got some very exciting things planned over the coming season".
Soccer AM All-Sports Show
Soccer AM's All Sports Show was a spin-off
Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media
*Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine
* ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
of Soccer AM, launched in 2002 and originally hosted by Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings. He ...
and Helen Chamberlain until 2004 when Andy Goldstein replaced Lovejoy and according to Andy when Tim left "he took all the writers with him".
It was shown on every Friday during the football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
season from 6-7:00 p.m. on Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
, with repeats shown regularly throughout the night on Sky3 and Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
.
When Lovejoy left Soccer AM in the summer of 2007, Goldstein was again called to replace him leaving the future of the All-Sports show in doubt. At the end of the 10th and final All Sports Show's weekly podcast it was confirmed that the show would not be returning for the 2007–08 season.
Unlike its sister programme, The All Sports show focuses on a wider range of sports. This means that as well as football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, sports like cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby union: 15 players per side
*** American flag rugby
*** Beach rugby
*** Mini rugby
*** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side
*** Rugby tens, 10 players per side
*** Snow rugby
*** Tou ...
(both Union and League
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
* ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...
) and even "American sports" like the NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
and the NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
are covered on the show.
See also
* Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
* ''Cricket AM
''Cricket AM'' is a Saturday-morning cricket-based television programme that was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports, Sky Sports 1. It began broadcasting in May 2006, and is largely based on its successful Association football, football ...
''
* '' Soccer AM's All Sports Show''
References
External links
Official ''Soccer AM'' website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soccer Am
1994 British television series debuts
2023 British television series endings
1990s British sports television series
2000s British sports television series
2010s British sports television series
2020s British sports television series
English Football League on television
British English-language television shows
Football mass media in the United Kingdom
Premier League on television
Sky Sports original programming