- Soccer Saturday
Infobox Television
show_name = Soccer Saturday
caption = Host Jeff Stelling
format = Football news
camera =
picture_format =
audio_format =
runtime = 360 minutes
creator =
executive_producer =
starring =Jeff Stelling
narrated =
opentheme = "Requiem for a Tower" by Corner Stone Cues
endtheme =
country =United Kingdom
language = English
network =Sky Sports
first_aired = 1992
last_aired =
num_episodes =
website = http://www.skysports.com/skysports/shows/soccersaturday
imdb_id = 0366019
tv_com_id ="Gillette Soccer Saturday" is a
television programme broadcast onSky Sports in theUnited Kingdom and theRepublic of Ireland during the football season. Soccer Saturday grew out of "Sports Saturday", which started in 1992 hosted by Paul Dempsey. Current hostJeff Stelling joined the programme in 1994 and became its sole presenter a year later, the programme's name changing in 1998. It has been sponsored for many years by Gillette.Format
"Soccer Saturday" is a weekly programme that starts at 12PM on Saturdays, with a runtime of up to six hours. It always broadcasts on Sky Sports News and mostly always on Sky Sports 1 as well.
Jeff Stelling hosts a panel of four experts who begin the show by debating the games coming up and the current issues in the sport. If Sky Sports is broadcasting a game at 12.45pm, then Sky Sports 1 or 2 will cover the game from 12.30pm, whereas Sky Sports News will continue to broadcast Soccer Saturday. Sky Sports 1 or 2 viewers then come back to Soccer Saturday at 3PM, just in time for the start of the 3PM games. When the football matches kick off at 3pm the pundits watch a game each, usually from theFA Premier League orFA Cup . They report on significant incidents as they occur. Also included are live reports from a number of reporters at grounds across the country, while Stelling provides other latest scores. On screen there is video of the presenter and analysts, as well as on screen graphics which display latest scores and match details. After the games finish the studio pundits discuss the games they have been watching, and post-match interviews with players and managers are shown.The programme is also broadcast when there are a number of midweek games, usually in the
UEFA Champions League , in which case it is known as "Soccer Special", and from the start of the 2008/2009 season was hosted byEd Chamberlin , who had shared presenting the programme withIan Payne during the previous season. "Soccer Special" was hosted by Stelling until he began presenting Monday Night Football at the start of the 2005/2006 season.During the summer the show is replaced with "Sports Saturday" which is more akin to the show's original format, concentrating on sports other than football due to the absence of competitive football during the summer. This again is presented by Chamberlin.
Presenters and experts
*Presenter: Jeff Stelling
*Studio analysts:Matt Le Tissier ,Paul Merson ,Phil Thompson ,Charlie Nicholas &Paul Walsh
*Match reporters:Alan McInally , Alan Smith,Chris Kamara ,Scott Minto ,Tony Cottee ,Gordon McQueen ,Tony Gale ,Peter Beagrie ,Iain Dowie ,Alan Mullery ,John Salako Rodney Marsh was a regular pundit, known for his outspoken views, until being sacked by Sky Sports in early 2005 after a poor taste joke referencing the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4208135.stm|title=TV pundit sacked for tsunami joke|date=
2005-01-26 |accessdate=2007-03-03|publisher=BBC News ] . The lateGeorge Best was also a regular until leaving in 2004 to fight alcohol problems.fact|date=February 2008The football results at the end of the day's matches are read by Alan Lambourne.
References
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