Soccer AM
Encyclopedia
Soccer AM is a British
Saturday-morning football-based comedy
/talk
show, predominantly based around the Premier League (though also showing clips from The Football League
, Scottish Premier League
and some Europe
an leagues). Originally presented by Helen Chamberlain
and Russ Williams, the pair lasted just a year before Tim Lovejoy
replaced Williams, where Lovejoy served for over a decade. He has since been replaced by Andy Goldstein
and, more recently, Max Rushden
. The show has been aired on Sky Sports 2
each Saturday morning of the football season since 1995 from 8 am or 9 am to noon originally and currently between 10 am and 12 pm. Since 2007, the show has been simulcast on Sky1, while in early 2009, the 500th episode was broadcasted. Although the show is filmed live from 2010 it has been broadcast on a momentary delay due to bad language and/or inappropriate content from certain guests.
The show's current sponsor is Procter & Gamble
through their Head & Shoulders
brand. The show was previously sponsored by Frijj
, a brand of milkshake, after Dairy Crest signed a £
2 million sponsorship deal.
Parts of the show have remained since the beginning, whilst new items have been introduced each season. In that respect, it is almost the same every week, the difference being new football footage and comedy skits. Every week sees a new group of celebrity guests, generally featuring at least one footballer who is free on the Saturday, and a mix of musicians, TV personalities, and other sportsmen.
Stand". They are featured in various aspects of the show, culminating in a team footballing challenge at the end of the programme.
Helen Chamberlain also interviews the fans, asks them to sing a song, and asks a few other questions.
The challenge, which takes place outside in the "Frank McAvennie
Car Park", involves the fans attempting to kick a football through a hole as many times a possible within the time limit, generally sixty seconds currently the highest score ever recored on the challenge is sheffield Wednesday fans with a total of 15 shots through the hole. The challenge has 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:
of Oliver Kahn
) and "Gianluigi Bouffant" (a parody on Gianluigi Buffon
, played by John Dyson until 2005–06). The original keeper was former Brookside
actor Brian Regan
, who also featured in the show. Crew member Robbie Knox took over in 2006–07. The current goalkeeper is "Baby Elvis", another crew member.
Referees are also parodied in this feature. "Referee Gallagher" was a "merger" of former Premiership
-referee Dermot Gallagher
and Oasis
frontman Liam Gallagher
, who welcomed viewers "outside to the sunshiiiinnnnneeee".
"Hugh Dallas" was a cowboy and a parody on Scottish referee Hugh Dallas
; "Paul Guerkin" used a penny whistle (a parody on referee Paul Durkin
); and "Mark Battenberg" (dressed as a Battenberg cake, a parody on referee Mark Clattenburg
). The 2010-11 season version is "Peter Andre Marriner", a combination of pop star Peter Andre
and current Premier League referee Andre Marriner
.
The Soccerette is 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 is fairly rare), and a crew member will run on without a shirt and react. Former host Tim Lovejoy used to declare that the Soccerette's relationship will "never last", regardless of how long they had been together.
The Soccerette is asked to play "Take it to the Max" with a choice of one of the "Fans of the Week". In the challenge, the fan must beat the Soccerette at her special skill (for example, breakdancing, volleyball, fire-breathing).
At the beginning of the 2009 season, a new game was revealed. Rushden Roulette consists of Max Rushden spinning a wheel, while Cheryl Mole stands by, and the fan and the soccerette answering questions. The winner of Rushden Roulette is asked to do 'The Lap of Onuoha' which involves the winner (not always the Soccerette) to sitting on the lap of a lifesized cutout of Nedum Onuoha's. Just as she sits down, the deep voice of an African-American soul singer saying 'Yaaaaaaaa.....'.On several occasions, the wheel has been stopped and tampered with to suit whatever is planned out beforehand or just for fun.
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.
.
s shown. The clip of the tackle is played with soothing music, with a smooth French accent talking over it. The feature begins with the French person saying 'Big Tackle. Sponsored by Claude Makélélé
. Featuring... (the name of the "tackler").' When the tackle happens, a smooth "Oooh la laaaaaaaa!" is said by the French person.
woman trying to take pictures on her camera, realising half an hour later that the lens cap was on, or a Grimsby
ball boy
calmly heading the ball back into play whilst slouched on his seat (the boy later appeared as a 'Stranger On The Sofa'), or one where, during a match, Liverpool
's John Arne Riise
fell victim to the schoolboy empty chewing gum prank
whilst sitting on the subs bench.
Jimmy Bullard
has also made a few choice appearances in this feature, especially his goal mouth leapfrog incident. Another infamous Third Eye incident was Manchester United Assistant Manager Mike Phelan
bursting a balloon in the dugout, frightening Alex Ferguson and causing him to swear. Another favourite one was when a Chelsea
mascot went to shake hands with Steven Gerrard
, but went on to wave his hands away and shake it in front of his nose.
, 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 male presenter (currently Max) and Helen highlight several embarrassing moments from the previous week's football, the worst comes last and is usually introduced with:
Max: "It's time for a trip to (stadium)".
Helen: "Taxi for (name)!"
, Pelé
, David Bentley
, Nemanja Vidić
, Gary McAllister
, Ian Holloway
, Emmanuel Eboué
, Joleon Lescott
, Deco
, and Rio Ferdinand
. The song played in the background of this feature is "Watch Me Fall Apart" by Hard-Fi
.
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 team-mates. Normally, the background music is the instrumental "Seventeen Years" by Ratatat
but was changed to "Smiling" by The Beta Band
.
The current record is held by Wolverhampton Wanderers
who hit the crossbar four times on 25 April 2009, beating the previous record of three set by Northampton Town, Hereford United and inaugural three time crossbar hitters Doncaster Rovers.
The current player record is held by Graham Stack who has hit the bar twice for two different clubs (Wolves and Plymouth).
Soccer AM aim to, at some point, visit every team in the league, although this is likely to prove very difficult as clubs such as Manchester United are unwilling to allow players onto shows such as these. However, other clubs like Chelsea
, Manchester City
(Christmas special) and Tottenham Hotspur
have appeared in the past (Arsenal
appeared on a French show that had copied the challenge). Players who appear as guests on "The Orange Sofa" are always shown their attempt at the challenge if it is one of the many on the database.
The first manager to actually hit the bar is former Huddersfield Town Manager Andy Ritchie. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy
's shot hit the crossbar and then bounced off and struck the up-right when Wolves took part in the challenge. This feat has never been repeated.
and T-Power. 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 team-mates. 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 midrift of the winner, while the team-mates usually mob and even sometimes perform some prank.
In season 2008–09, the section has strayed away from youth sides to include different competitors. Young children from Africa (when Rocket visited a region to deliver football shirts to under privileged areas) were seen showing their undoubted abilities, and also when Chelsea Ladies were celebrating by bundling the winner to the ground, Rocket (in a comical attempt of male opportunity) joined in celebrations by diving on top of the ladies midway through celebrations.The only time when Rocket has not presented was when he took on Tubes (in which tubes won and the rest of the crew jokingly mimicked the normal crowd)instead Trev dressed in a Battenburg costume took his place
, Wayne Rooney
, David Beckham
, and Ryan Giggs
. Ruud van Nistelrooy
in this section was only asked to pick his top three favourite goals for Manchester United
. The song used during the older version of 'My Favourite Goal' is "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)" by Aqualung
.
captain John Terry
and his older brother Paul
, currently playing for Darlington
. The winner would be the player who scored the most in a season.
internationals Hull City
midfielder
Stephen Hunt and Reading
striker
Noel Hunt
.
and younger brother Anton
of Queens Park Rangers – going head to head to see who can score the most goals in a premier league season. Only league goals count and whoever scores the most in the season will win the title of Ferdinand Vs Ferdinand, currently Rio has won all three seasons. There is now also a Wright-Phillips vs. Wright-Phillips, featuring Charlton
striker Bradley
and older brother Shaun
of Queens Park Rangers and Caldwell Vs Caldwell between Birmingham
player Steven
and brother Gary
of Wigan
award given to the top scorer in a league or competition. This competition is based on a goals-to-game ratio. Only league goals count and a player has to have played in at least half of their team's league games to be in with a chance of winning the shoe. The Golden Shoe is open to every player in the English Premier League, the Football League and the Scottish Premier League
.
The "Golden Espadrille" is the European equivalent to the Golden Shoe. The same rules apply, and the only real difference is that it is open to the English
Premier League, the Scottish Premier League, Spanish
La Liga
and Italian
Serie A
players.
Leeds United's Jermaine Beckford
is the new current holder of the Golden Shoe. Leeds United
's turn on the cross bar challenge is also said to be the most entertaining one ever.
Atlético Madrid's Diego Forlán
is the new current holder of the Golden Espadrille.
, Chris Kamara
, Jeff Stelling
, and Matt Le Tissier are a few of the people who enthusiastically talk about the goal as if it were the most amazing goal ever scored.
player Bas Savage
, namely his moonwalk
celebrations after scoring a goal, a feature called "I Want to Be Like Bas" was introduced in the 2006–07 season. If Savage scores in a game previous to the showing of Soccer AM, his goal and celebration is shown to the music of Michael Jackson
's "Smooth Criminal
", as the video also features moonwalking.
's (usually the lower leagues) to score their goal and celebrate exactly like or vaguely like Steve on the show will win the £10 prize money. If nobody uses the celebration then the £10 is rolled over to the next week. One of Steve's celebrations was a team photo (first of all score your goal, then get a few of your team mates, get 'em round you, lovely picture!). He previously made a £10 bet with Tubes that nobody would do his celebration that week so he picked one he thought nobody would do. During the following show, Steve was forced to give Tubes £10 in which he dropped the tener on the ground for Tubes to pick up. Towards the end there was a parody of this when comedian Paddy McGuinness went on the show and for one time only and created, Paddy's £10 celebration. It was won by Carlisle's Gary Madine.
Steven Gerrard's "kiss the camera" celebration in a 4-1 win over Manchester Untied in 2009 was Steves £10 challenge
) narrated by crew member Trev. The different volumes of facts are organised with Roman Numerals e.g. 'El Classico, Volume IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..........'. The first few I's are followed with sighs and groans of fed upness. In typical Soccer AM fashion nothing is taken seriously and the last fact on Trev's list of facts is arguable, biased, or very funny (e.g. 'What is the worst injury in football?? The one the Irish'll give Thierry Henry when they get their hands on him!!')
as if presenting the ITV show I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, who introduce football clips from Australia's A-League
, typically featuring former Premier League star Robbie Fowler
, 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
's box", a cardboard box with a picture of said Sky Sports News
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
in which the real-life Ant and Dec first found fame.
, he said 'it's Richard riki riki boom boom braca braca brap brap ooh ooh Naylor!' Now whenever Richard Naylor scores a goal, an own goal, has a good chance or makes a mistake, Max Rushden will say e.g. 'Big championship question of the week, who was it who scored against Watford last weekend?' and then DJ David Ghetto says the whole thing and then they show the clip.
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), Jon Dyson, Chris Nutbeam and newest member Steve Sutcliffe.
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
exploits, Tim Lovejoy called for pub 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
, where at the end instead of saying "iTunes", it says "iTubes". Some Of Tubes' Catchphrases include "Sickening" "Sick" and "Sickness".
A VHS
video from 2000 was recently broadcast showing Tubes, dressed as a sailor, dancing on stage to the YMCA song
.
It is usually held on the first Saturday in January each year, and viewers at home are encouraged to vote for who they thought was the best by texting in. However, they can also vote for "Don't care". The 2007 Dance-Off winner was Rocket, the 3rd time he has won the competition. In 2008 Trev won the competition despite being a 33/1 shot. Helen asked him how he felt about winning, he replied "It's alright I suppose." 2009 saw Rocket take the crown for the fourth time, however this win is debatable as Rocket used a prop (wheelies) during his performance. However, he was allowed to remain as champion in exchange for him 'Taking One For The Team' the following week, with all the losing participants taking a shot (all of whom missed). In 2010 Lisa became the first female contestant to claim the crown, with Max Rushden suggesting that she 'used her assets' well. Despite being the favourite, Baby Elvis did not even make the top three.
Soccer AM Dance-Off Roll Of Honour:
", said in a French accent.
Indeed it was a truly funny section.
being on an intensive fitness programme after his recent move to Manchester United
.
calling Scottish club Raith Rovers
'Roath Ravers,' the showing of the clip cues two ravers at the back of Max & Helen's sofa. Some Raith Rovers fans did their own version of this at their defeat in a title decider to Dunfermline Athletic
on 23 April 2011
!".
, who is filmed in a pre-recorded sketch
.
fan and crew member Sheephead gave his "weather forecast" for Britain without wearing a shirt. During the run of Topless Weather, Southern England
has yet to be forecast anything but "Light drizzle".
This part of the show was always introduced with a "sponsorship" message -
"Topless Weather, in association with "Gravy
". Oooh, northern boys love "Gravy".
The background video of gravy
being poured onto a plate of chips
is a mimic of the television advertising employed by Bisto
, where gravy is poured onto a traditional Sunday lunch
with the voice-over "Ahh, Bisto".
Sheephead finished Topless Weather every week with "keep smiling, back inside to Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy", upon which the sponsorship message is repeated, albeit with gravy now over-flowing from the plate.
When Exeter City
were in the football league Sheephead would always forecast "Glorious weather at the Real St. James Park
." This was a dig at Helen as she is a Torquay United supporter and Exeter are Torquay's rivals. This ended when Exeter were relegated to the Conference
.
There was normally a mention of the Polish
weather for Warsaw (Walsall)
fans.
Due to popular request, from the 2006–07 season, Sheephead also delivers the weather for Ireland, and adds a new running joke. When forecasting, he points at Ireland, and says "Oh my god, it's Kilkenny" in reference to the Irish county of Kilkenny
and a play on the South Park
running joke, said in every episode when Kenny
is killed.
However, Sheephead transferred to David Beckham's Soccer USA so topless weather is no longer running.
and Fred Trueman
. Recently, however, the 'regional' news was styled from Manchester. The headline story involves "yet another example that change is not good. The concept of change is almost certainly a gag at political correctness
, and is usually blamed on "those la de da London
-types" from the South. "Change" has come in the form of female employment, foreign cuisine, men dancing, and non-beer beverages, amongst others. A highlight of this feature was when a reporter went to Blackpool to question whether Bradford City
striker Dean Windass
had 'lost his bottle' after a poor run of performances- an 'irate' Windass charged at the reporter, tearing his own shirt off in the process. Another famous moment occurred when the topic of YouTube
was mentioned.
Ending the news with "S'thee later", Soccer AM reappears with Helen saying "Welcome back to Soccer AM!"
On the 3 February 2007 edition of the show, Yorkshire News was replaced by "Manchester News" with the people of Manchester
being asked what they thought of the new supercasino
being built there. This led to an apology by Tim as apparently the Yorkshire
region got the wrong regional news.
Amongst other fictional trivia, Yorkshire News has reported on:
The interviewees on Yorkshire news are invariably working class
northern streotypes.
) as Barry, Pugsy as Pugsy, and Vikki as Vikki The Barmaid. Set at The Wheatsheaf pub in Perivale
, Barry dresses in green seventies-style tracksuits and aviator sunglasses, and is known for his hatred of Northerners
, and catchphrases "Oooh that's a right touch!" and "He's taking some right liberties". Some famous faces have appeared on this section of the show as well, including Tim
, actor Tamer Hassan
, West Ham
fan Perry Fenwick
(Billy Mitchell
from EastEnders
) and the band The Rifles
. "Two-Hits" and "Bob the Glare" have also appeared on a few occasions as "bouncers" and in one episode brought out their own DVD.
Barry also appeared in a Patrick McGuinness
stand up. McGuiness asked Barry to come on stage and tell a few jokes to his audience, composed mostly of "Northerners
". Instead of telling "tasteful" jokes to the audience, Barry started telling jokes that would be offensive to "Northerners
" and got booed off-stage.
Recently Barry has been on a Soccer AM edition of Partner Swap, (take of Wife Swap), where he was partnered up with Theresa O'Sullivan. After constantly making jokes about Teresa being Mother Theresa, Theresa confronted him, pleading him that there be no more of those jokes. Having been asked this, Barry said there would be none - (nun). That is a right touch.
TV is inspired by the television channels of several of the larger clubs in British football. Set in the 1986/87 season, the fictitious channel brings us features which resemble Closed-Circuit TeleVision of funny and unusual behaviour. Usual topics of conversation include whether Keith Houchen
should be selected by boss John Sillett
, and that the club should never leave Highfield Road
(which has of course happened with the move to the Ricoh Arena
)
The channel is presented by Paul Gardner (Fenners) and Brian Kildare (Sheephead). The two presenters also ask every guest whether they have a 'genuine Coventry
accent' and not a "Cod
Birmingham
" accent
.
programme Dragons' Den. Basically every week Sheephead shows the Dragons an invention which already exists. For example, he recently showed them crisps where you put the salt on them yourself although this already had been done. One of the Dragons tells him "It's already been done"; he then responds by saying "Oh has it! Oh, I'll be back. You'll see!"
, millionaire businessman and TV personality Duncan Bannatyne
and Natalie Appleton
and Nicole Appleton
, ex-Liverpool
and Real Madrid
star Steve McManaman
and horse racing jockey Frankie Dettori
to hilarious consequences.
soon gained its own feature on the show - a soap
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.
, now of Newcastle United
, who was not featuring in the challenge that week, but was accompanying team-mate Jason McAteer
. While cameras happened to be rolling, he had a go and accomplished the feat in a single attempt (Taylor is also one of an elite few to hit the crossbar in the "Crossbar Challenge", and reportedly hit it in his practice attempt as well). Many over-confident 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 sketch apes certain well-known scenes from the 1970s bodybuilding documentary film
Pumping Iron
in which Arnold Schwarzenegger
taunts Lou Ferrigno
and mentors other gym users in poses.
When Tim left the show, this segment was replaced by "Lift Fun".
Another memorable aspect to the show was in 2000 when Tim started to tell the same gag every week. The gag revolved around steak and kidney pie
s, and the gag would normally see Tim and Helen discuss what they'd eaten. Invariably, Tim would announce that he'd had a "steak and kidley" pie, to which Helen enquired: "Don't you mean steak and kidney?" Tim would then reply "That's what I said did'll I". This running gag ran and ran, to the point where even fanzone commentators performed the gag. Following on from one such occurrence, Tim pleaded with Martin Tyler
and Andy Gray to do the gag during a live game.
Another recurring gag is when someone with the surname "O'Leary" or "Riley" is involved. For example, Helen once announced that Dermot O'Leary
was on the current show and would be talking about his role as Big Brother's Little Brother presenter. Tim then asks "Oh really?", to which Helen reluctantly replies "... no, O'Leary". This is clearly a pre-determined gag judging by Tim's reaction which gains much laughter when done.
Lovejoy actually had a few ongoing gags back in the day including famous one liners as "Is it a record?" "Oi fish head!" "Double sweet double douvet!"
clips, sent in by Soccer AM viewers, is Crazy Dave. Crazy Dave is a young tractor
driver who chooses to over take his Dad, driving another tractor, on a narrow strip of road - with hilarious consequences. He has many phrases which have achieved cult status amongst Soccer AM fans such as "but yeah, YEAH, I do fancy it, big time!" and "He's gonna have my f***ing pants down!". His antics have been parodied by many people which have also been shown on the mobile phone
clip section of the show. One of the most notorious MMS clips was David Bentley kicking a ball from a balcony office and getting it into a skip.
each round of the Football League Trophy
(formerly known as the LDV Vans Trophy, it is now called the Johnstone's Paint Trophy).
This is normally done - in the style of British gameshow Play Your Cards Right
- by Max & Helen cutting oversized cards onto large holders, and turning them over one at a time to generate football matches, with Max normally drawing the Home teams first, and Helen drawing the Away sides. This process is overseen by independent adjudicator from the Football League
Stuart Trigwell, now known to Soccer AM as 'face', ridiculing a column in the Daily Mail
referring to him as the 'Face of The Football League'
The fans of the week are usually from a club that is in the draw.
Strangely, before the quarter final draw, Peterborough United
fans were asked who they would least like to draw, to which they replied Bristol Rovers. The resulting draw then gave them an away game against... Bristol Rovers, which made the Peterborough fans boo Tim and Helen for their poor fixture making skills.
, which became a success, mostly down to being the ideal Christmas
gift for men. Since this date, more DVDs have been released. The 2005 edition self titled, Soccer AM II included the 10 greatest players of the last decade, which included David Beckham
, Ronaldinho
and Alan Shearer
. In June 2006, Soccer AM went music
al by releasing a CD
with music they use on the show with such bands as Hard-Fi
, The Automatic
and The Ordinary Boys
. Later that year another DVD was released titled, Soccer AM III - the Greatest Matches of All Time which included a selection of 1982 World Cup
games, 1979–1981 and 2006 FA Cup
Finals.
In 2009 the fourth DVD called Soccer AM IIII - The Greatest Team in the World was released. This featured going through the best players in the world at the moment in a fantasty dream team. This DVD was the first DVD with Max Rushden
.
References:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Saturday-morning football-based comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
/talk
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
show, predominantly based around the Premier League (though also showing clips from The Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
, Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
and some Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an leagues). Originally presented by Helen Chamberlain
Helen Chamberlain
Helen Marie Chamberlain is an English television presenter.She previously worked as a holiday camp entertainer and Disc Jockey before working on a variety of radio and television programmes...
and Russ Williams, the pair lasted just a year before Tim Lovejoy
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...
replaced Williams, where Lovejoy served for over a decade. He has since been replaced by Andy Goldstein
Andy Goldstein
Andrew 'Andy' Goldstein is a British TV presenter.Well known for his rather long nose, homosexuality, dodgy briefs and dapple faced complextion....
and, more recently, Max Rushden
Max Rushden
Max Rushden is an English television presenter who replaced Andy Goldstein as a co-presenter of Saturday morning Sky Sports show Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain from August 2008.- Career :...
. The show has been aired on Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
each Saturday morning of the football season since 1995 from 8 am or 9 am to noon originally and currently between 10 am and 12 pm. Since 2007, the show has been simulcast on Sky1, while in early 2009, the 500th episode was broadcasted. Although the show is filmed live from 2010 it has been broadcast on a momentary delay due to bad language and/or inappropriate content from certain guests.
The show's current sponsor is Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
through their Head & Shoulders
Head & Shoulders
Head & Shoulders is a brand of anti-dandruff shampoo produced by Procter & Gamble. Head & Shoulders Classic Clean Shampoo is the top-selling shampoo in the United States by dollar sales.- History :...
brand. The show was previously sponsored by Frijj
FRijj
Frijj is a brand of milkshake sold mainly in the United Kingdom. Produced by Dairy Crest, it was first launched in 1993. Frijj is sold in four permanent flavours: strawberry, chocolate, banana and Chocolate Fudge Brownie...
, a brand of milkshake, after Dairy Crest signed a £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2 million sponsorship deal.
Parts of the show have remained since the beginning, whilst new items have been introduced each season. In that respect, it is almost the same every week, the difference being new football footage and comedy skits. Every week sees a new group of celebrity guests, generally featuring at least one footballer who is free on the Saturday, and a mix of musicians, TV personalities, and other sportsmen.
Current
List of crew members and jobs/characters:- Helen ChamberlainHelen ChamberlainHelen Marie Chamberlain is an English television presenter.She previously worked as a holiday camp entertainer and Disc Jockey before working on a variety of radio and television programmes...
– Co-presenter; - Max RushdenMax RushdenMax Rushden is an English television presenter who replaced Andy Goldstein as a co-presenter of Saturday morning Sky Sports show Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain from August 2008.- Career :...
– Co-Presenter; - Tubes (Peter Dale) – Guest interviewer, 3rd in Dance Off 2010;
- Rocket (James Long) – Skill Skool presenter/That Is Life interviewer/2003,2005,2007,2009 Dance Off Champion; Soccerette Gag; Dec from A-league celebrity
- Chris Nutbeam – The C Word/Soccerette Gag/Angry Chris;
- Steve Sutcliffe – Writer; Celebration; Soccerette Gag
- Baby Elvis (Adam Smith) – Small Talk/Loose Men/Car-Park Goalkeeper/Soccerette Gag/2006 Dance Off Champion; Safety from the duo 'Health and Safety'/DJ David Ghetto/Frankie Fryer
- Trevor Giess – Referees Mark Battenburg and Jeff Winter/2008 Dance Off Champion/Brian the Bear/Man in the Caff/Kenneth the wembley groundskeeper
- Dave Morgan – Loose Men/Soccerette Gag/Health from the duo Health and Safety/Ant from A-League celebrity/Pat McGroin
- James Kirtland – 3rd Place in 2008 Dance Off/New Lad/Brown Coat Man Referee Peter Andre Marriner
- Lisa Hebden – Webcam, 2nd Place Dance off 2009 & Winner of Dance Off 2010/Cheryl Mole, 3rd place Dance off 2011
- Devlin – Dance off/Rookie Editor/Part 5
- Bobbie – Dance off/Pants/Brown Coat Man
- Scott Lavell – Newbie/Dance Off
- Ashley - Newbie/2010 Dance Off Runner Up/Volcanic Ash
- Raj - 2011 Dance off winner
Former
- Gadzooks – 2000–01 Dance off Champion;
- Fenners (John Fendley) – Stan Hibbert/Barry Proudfoot/Mike Schweinberger/Referee Gallagher;
- Sheephead (Joe Worsely) – Topless Weather/Soccerette Gag;
- Neil Smythe – Autobiography Reader/Randy Wakeman III/Yorkshire News/Angry Fan;
- Robbie Knox – "That Is Life" interviewer/Fixtures Man/Tramp/2002 Dance Off Champion;
- Aldo (Mark Aldridge) - David The Letterman / The Terminator / Equalizer / CHiPs
- Jon Dyson – Writer/Yorkshire News;
- Tom - Forces/Returned for Dance Off 2010
- Colin - Forces
- Brian ReganBrian Regan (actor)Brian Regan is a British actor known for playing Terry Sullivan, one of the lead roles in the Channel 4 soap Brookside, during the 1980s and 1990s. He has also had small parts in other television series...
– "Can He Kick It?" goalkeeper. - The Helmet - Silent Man of Mystery/Tug of War Champion (on most occasions)
Fans of the Week
The "Fans of the Week" feature has been a mainstay of the show. Eight fans of a British football club come in as studio guests every week, seated in the "Luther BlissettLuther Blissett (footballer)
Luther Loide Blissett is a former professional footballer and manager, who is currently a first-team coach at Hemel Hempstead Town. Blissett played as a striker, and is best known for his time at Watford, whom he helped win promotion from the Fourth Division to the First Division...
Stand". They are featured in various aspects of the show, culminating in a team footballing challenge at the end of the programme.
Helen Chamberlain also interviews the fans, asks them to sing a song, and asks a few other questions.
The challenge, which takes place outside in the "Frank McAvennie
Frank McAvennie
Francis "Frank" McAvennie is a former Scottish football striker best known as a player with West Ham United and Celtic, having had two spells with both of these clubs.-Early life:...
Car Park", involves the fans attempting to kick a football through a hole as many times a possible within the time limit, generally sixty seconds currently the highest score ever recored on the challenge is sheffield Wednesday fans with a total of 15 shots through the hole. The challenge has 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:
- "Wembley 2011" (2010–11)
- "Hole of Glory" (2009–10)
- "Road To Rome" (2008–09) – Fans now have a much larger hole to kick the ball through. The set now features a large Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
trophy surrounded by players such as Steven GerrardSteven GerrardSteven George Gerrard MBE is an English footballer who plays for and captains Premier League club Liverpool. He also has 89 caps for the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfielder role, but he has also been used as a second striker and right winger...
, Ryan GiggsRyan GiggsRyan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season...
, and Billy McNeillBilly McNeillWilliam "Billy" McNeill MBE is a former Scottish footballer and manager. He is best known for captaining Celtic to the European Cup triumph in 1967 and he later went on to manage the club. He is now the official Club Ambassador at Celtic....
. Other features of the set include Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
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, RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. - "Hollywood" (2007–08) – following David BeckhamDavid BeckhamDavid Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
's move to the Los Angeles GalaxyLos Angeles GalaxyThe Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...
, the game featured a Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
-style "pavement" leading to the familiar target with a David Beckham mock-up alongside it. The stars included friends of the show with Jeff StellingJeff StellingRobert Jeffrey "Jeff" Stelling is an English sports journalist and sport television presenter, of Gillette Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports and other programming for the satellite broadcaster. In January 2009 he took over as host of the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown...
as the biggest star on the walkway. Noel GallagherNoel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
, Ricky HattonRicky HattonRichard John Hatton MBE, more commonly known as Ricky "the Hitman" Hatton, , is a former British professional boxer, and currently a promoter....
, ManiGary MounfieldGary Manny "Mani" Mounfield , is an English rock bassist of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. He has a distinctive playing style that combines a fast moving rock style with a dance rhythm or dub groove...
, and Kasabian's Sergio PizzornoSergio PizzornoSergio Lorenzo "Serge" Pizzorno is a British guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the indie rock band Kasabian. He became Kasabian's lead song-writer after the departure of Christopher Karloff....
also featured. - "Road to Wembley II" (2006–07) – a revision of 2005–06's "Road to Wembley" – a tongue-in-cheekTongue-in-cheekTongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
response to the failure of Wembley StadiumWembley StadiumThe original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
to be completed in time for 2006 FA Cup FinalFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
. On 26 August 2006, Kasabian guitarist Sergio Pizzorno scored what was hailed to be the best goal on Soccer AM by Helen ChamberlainHelen ChamberlainHelen Marie Chamberlain is an English television presenter.She previously worked as a holiday camp entertainer and Disc Jockey before working on a variety of radio and television programmes...
– 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 FAThe Football AssociationThe Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
's announcement that the stadium would not be complete. 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 amount 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"Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Qué Será, Será)"Que Sera, Sera ", first published in 1956, is a popular song which was written by the Jay Livingston and Ray Evans songwriting team....
. 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 LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, the central star of a 3D3D computer graphics3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
Champions' League logo was removed and made the target from 12 yards. The background music was, "Blitzkrieg BopBlitzkrieg Bop"Blitzkrieg Bop" is a song by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released as the band's debut single in April of 1976 in the United States...
" by "The RamonesRamonesThe Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
" - "Feed The Iron Curtain" (2002–03) – fans had to kick the ball through the Iron CurtainIron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting 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 1989...
as many times as possible in one minute. Meanwhile, the Eastern European substitutes (wearing red TCCCP tracksuitTracksuitA tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly as what athletes wore over competition clothing and would take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn...
s - a pun on the old CCCPCCCPCCCP is a Russian abbreviation for the Soviet Union.CCCP may also refer to:* Combined Community Codec Pack, a filter pack developed for Microsoft Windows to play back rich multimedia content* Central Committee of the Communist Party...
shirts and TCPTCP (antiseptic)TCP is a mild antiseptic, produced in France by Laboratoires Chemineau in Vouvray and sold in the United Kingdom by Omega Pharma.The brand name comes from its original chemical name, which was trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl...
the antiseptic) would warm-upWarming upA warm-up is usually performed before participating in technical sports or exercising. A warm-up generally consists of a gradual increase in intensity in physical activity , a joint mobility exercise, stretching and a sport related activity. For example, before running or playing an intense sport...
, 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 McAvennieFrank McAvennieFrancis "Frank" McAvennie is a former Scottish football striker best known as a player with West Ham United and Celtic, having had two spells with both of these clubs.-Early life:...
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 ErikssonSven-Göran ErikssonSven-Göran Eriksson , in Sweden commonly referred to just by his nickname Svennis, is a Swedish ex-football manager. From October 2010 to October 2011 he managed Football League Championship side Leicester City....
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 RingBrown Girl in the Ring (song)"Brown Girl in the Ring" is a traditional children's song in the West Indies. It was originally featured in the game of the same name.Brown Girl in the Ring is a children's ring game thought to have originated in Jamaica....
). - "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 RhonddaCwm RhonddaCwm Rhondda, the Welsh name for the Rhondda Valley, is a popular hymn tune written by John Hughes and first performed in 1907. It is often erroneously called Bread of Heaven and is usually used in English as a setting for William Williams's text Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah , originally...
) – a popular terrace chantFootball chantA football chant or terrace chant, is a song or chant sung at association football matches. They can be historic, dating back to the formation of the club, adaptations of popular songs, or spontaneous reactions to events on the pitch. They are one of the last remaining sources of an oral folk song...
for Shaun GoaterShaun GoaterLeonard Shaun Goater MBE is a Bermudian footballer who played as a striker for a number of English clubs in the 1990s and 2000s...
at Manchester CityManchester City F.C.Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
. - "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 LennonNeil LennonNeil Francis Lennon is a former footballer from Northern Ireland. He is the current manager and former captain of Celtic....
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 CHiPsCHiPsCHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
. - "Rob Jones" (1996–1998) – A round target with a head shot photo of LiverpoolLiverpool F.C.Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
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'.
"Can He Kick It?"
Should one of the studio guests include a retired footballer, it is customary for them to take a penalty in the car park. A comedy character plays the role as goalkeeper, such as "Oliver Kahn't" (a parodyParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Oliver Kahn
Oliver Kahn
Oliver Rolf Kahn is a former German football goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team. He had his debut game in the professional squad in 1987...
) and "Gianluigi Bouffant" (a parody on Gianluigi Buffon
Gianluigi Buffon
Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, Ufficiale OMRI , is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team. He has won the FIFA World Cup and is widely considered by fans and experts to be one of most dominant and successful goalkeepers in history...
, played by John Dyson until 2005–06). The original keeper was former Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
actor Brian Regan
Brian Regan (actor)
Brian Regan is a British actor known for playing Terry Sullivan, one of the lead roles in the Channel 4 soap Brookside, during the 1980s and 1990s. He has also had small parts in other television series...
, who also featured in the show. Crew member Robbie Knox took over in 2006–07. The current goalkeeper is "Baby Elvis", another crew member.
Referees are also parodied in this feature. "Referee Gallagher" was a "merger" of former Premiership
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
-referee Dermot Gallagher
Dermot Gallagher
Dermot J. Gallagher is a retired English-based association football referee, who lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire. He refereed in the Premier League of English football until May 2007.-Career:...
and Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
frontman Liam Gallagher
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...
, who welcomed viewers "outside to the sunshiiiinnnnneeee".
"Hugh Dallas" was a cowboy and a parody on Scottish referee Hugh Dallas
Hugh Dallas
Hugh Dallas MBE is a Scottish former football referee. He officiated at two FIFA World Cup tournaments, in 1998 and 2002; he was appointed fourth official for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final...
; "Paul Guerkin" used a penny whistle (a parody on referee Paul Durkin
Paul Durkin
Paul Anthony Durkin is an English former football referee, who retired in 2004. He comes from the Isle of Portland in Dorset. He currently works as a referee assessor for the Football Association....
); and "Mark Battenberg" (dressed as a Battenberg cake, a parody on referee Mark Clattenburg
Mark Clattenburg
Mark Clattenburg is an English professional football referee, who officiates primarily in the Premier League, and for FIFA. He is based in Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne...
). The 2010-11 season version is "Peter Andre Marriner", a combination of pop star Peter Andre
Peter André
Peter James Andrea , better known by the stage name as Peter Andre, is an English-born Australian musician, singer-songwriter, television personality and businessman. As a recording artist, he has achieving four top 10 UK albums and ten top 10 singles.-Early life:Andre was born at Northwick Park...
and current Premier League referee Andre Marriner
Andre Marriner
Andre Marriner is an English professional football referee who officiates in the Premier League. He is based in Sheldon, West Midlands.-Career:...
.
Soccerette
The Soccer AM Soccerette has been a feature of the show for several years, and is a young female modelling a Soccer AM T-shirt, which is redesigned each season and acts 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 is introduced by the male presenter and is asked a series of questions that almost inevitably lead into premeditated gags and innuendo.The Soccerette is 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 is fairly rare), and a crew member will run on without a shirt and react. Former host Tim Lovejoy used to declare that the Soccerette's relationship will "never last", regardless of how long they had been together.
The Soccerette is asked to play "Take it to the Max" with a choice of one of the "Fans of the Week". In the challenge, the fan must beat the Soccerette at her special skill (for example, breakdancing, volleyball, fire-breathing).
At the beginning of the 2009 season, a new game was revealed. Rushden Roulette consists of Max Rushden spinning a wheel, while Cheryl Mole stands by, and the fan and the soccerette answering questions. The winner of Rushden Roulette is asked to do 'The Lap of Onuoha' which involves the winner (not always the Soccerette) to sitting on the lap of a lifesized cutout of Nedum Onuoha's. Just as she sits down, the deep voice of an African-American soul singer saying 'Yaaaaaaaa.....'.On several occasions, the wheel has been stopped and tampered with to suit whatever is planned out beforehand or just for fun.
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 AnsahAndy Ansah
Andrew Owusu Ansah is an English football player and actor.He played for six Football League teams in his career, most notably Southend United, where he played 157 league games and scored 33 goals during the early to mid 1990s, when they played in the new Division One following two successive...
on Wayne Rooney's Street Striker
Wayne Rooney's Street Striker
Wayne Rooney's Street Striker is a British reality television series that is broadcast on Sky1 and in high definition on Sky1 HD. The third series of the show started airing on 14 November 2010...
, 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.
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 FilesThe Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
.
Big Tackle
Big Tackle is a feature that shows a hard, but well-timed tackle from the previous week, but there are no foulFoul (football)
A foul in association football is an unfair act by a player which is deemed by the referee to contravene Law 12 of the Laws of the Game.For an act to be a foul it must:...
s shown. The clip of the tackle is played with soothing music, with a smooth French accent talking over it. The feature begins with the French person saying 'Big Tackle. Sponsored by Claude Makélélé
Claude Makélélé
Claude Makélelé Sinda is a retired football player who used to play as a defensive midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. Prior to joining Paris Saint-Germain, Makélélé played for Nantes, Olympique de Marseille, Celta Vigo, Real Madrid and Chelsea...
. Featuring... (the name of the "tackler").' When the tackle happens, a smooth "Oooh la laaaaaaaa!" is said by the French person.
Kung Fu Academy
Kung Fu Academy, by contrast to Big Tackle, shows a particularly grievous foul that would likely result in an injury and/or a card. The feature is introduced as the perpetrator's team's 'Kung Fu Academy' and the foul is shown and replayed twice (for emphasis), accompanied by stock Martial Arts movie music and special effects.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. A classic was a MancunianManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
woman trying to take pictures on her camera, realising half an hour later that the lens cap was on, or a Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
ball boy
Ball Boy
Ball Boy is a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano and also the name of the main character. It first appeared in issue 1735, dated 18 October 1975. It features a five-a-side football team that includes:* Ball Boy - the captain of the team, Ball Boy bears resemblances to The Dandy's Owen Goal...
calmly heading the ball back into play whilst slouched on his seat (the boy later appeared as a 'Stranger On The Sofa'), or one where, during a match, Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
's John Arne Riise
John Arne Riise
John Arne Semundseth Riise is a Norwegian footballer who currently plays as a left wing-back for Fulham and the Norwegian national team. Riise spent seven years playing for Premier League side Liverpool before moving to Roma in 2008...
fell victim to the schoolboy empty chewing gum prank
Practical joke
A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
whilst sitting on the subs bench.
Jimmy Bullard
Jimmy Bullard
James Richard "Jimmy" Bullard is a footballer who currently plays for Ipswich Town. He played youth football at West Ham before moving to Gravesend & Northfleet in 1998...
has also made a few choice appearances in this feature, especially his goal mouth leapfrog incident. Another infamous Third Eye incident was Manchester United Assistant Manager Mike Phelan
Mike Phelan
Michael Christopher "Mike" Phelan , also known as Mick Phelan or Micky Phelan, is an English football coach, former player, and current assistant manager of Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson....
bursting a balloon in the dugout, frightening Alex Ferguson and causing him to swear. Another favourite one was when a Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
mascot went to shake hands with Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard MBE is an English footballer who plays for and captains Premier League club Liverpool. He also has 89 caps for the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfielder role, but he has also been used as a second striker and right winger...
, but went on to wave his hands away and shake it in front of his nose.
Taxi
The feature Taxi!, accompanied by the theme tune of the US sitcomTaxi (TV series)
Taxi was an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series, which won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for "Outstanding Comedy Series", focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher...
, 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 male presenter (currently Max) and Helen highlight several embarrassing moments from the previous week's football, the worst comes last and is usually introduced with:
Max: "It's time for a trip to (stadium)".
Helen: "Taxi for (name)!"
Team Mates
Team Mates is the section at the end of the show where a player from a football team, is given questions, which they respond by telling which team mate, is more related to the question. The questions are as followed:- Best Trainer
- Worst Trainer
- Most Skilful
- The Joker
- Fastest
- Most Intelligent
- Least Intelligent
- Worst Dress Sense
- Worst Taste in Music
- And...Who's the longest in the shower (a double entendreDouble entendreA double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
some respond in terms of a teammates length in the shower, in terms of time, and some respond in terms of a teammates penis length)
I love football
I love football is a new feature added to the show this season. Each week either a current or ex footballer will answer a series of questions related to football, such as "I love football fans because", My favourite piece of memorabillia was", "My footballing hero was". The list of names that have taken part in this so far this season include Wayne RooneyWayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
, Pelé
Pelé
However, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time...
, David Bentley
David Bentley
David Michael Bentley is an English footballer who plays for West Ham United as a winger, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur....
, Nemanja Vidić
Nemanja Vidic
Nemanja Vidić is a Serbian footballer who captains English Premier League club Manchester United. He was part of the Serbia national football team from 2002 to 2011....
, Gary McAllister
Gary McAllister
Gary McAllister MBE is a Scottish former professional footballer.McAllister played primarily as a midfielder, in a successful career spanning over nineteen years. He started his career at local side Motherwell before moving south of the border to Leicester City at the age of 20...
, Ian Holloway
Ian Holloway
Ian Scott Holloway is an English football manager and former player. He became the manager of Blackpool in May 2009. Holloway is well-known amongst football fans for his off-the-wall interviews, with a wide selection of quotes and soundbites being printed. Holloway's playing career spanned 18...
, Emmanuel Eboué
Emmanuel Eboué
Emmanuel Eboué is an Ivorian footballer who plays for Süper Lig club Galatasaray and Ivory Coast. His natural position is at right back, but he is also used in various other positions. Eboué also holds a Belgian passport.-Early career:...
, Joleon Lescott
Joleon Lescott
Joleon Patrick Lescott is an English footballer who currently plays for Manchester City. He plays as a centre-back, though he has played in various other positions across the defensive line, in particular left-back....
, Deco
Deco
Anderson Luís de Souza, OIH , commonly known as Deco, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays for Fluminense....
, and Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand is an English footballer. He plays at centre back for Manchester United in the Premier League and for the England national football team...
. The song played in the background of this feature is "Watch Me Fall Apart" by Hard-Fi
HARD-Fi
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band formed in Staines, Surrey in 2003. The band's members are Richard Archer , Ross Phillips , Kai Stephens and Steve Kemp .They achieved chart success with their third single, "Hard to Beat" and then followed by other successful singles such as...
.
The Crossbar Challenge
"The Crossbar Challenge" is a relatively new feature that footballing legend Mark Oliveira added to the show, and 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 goalGoal (sport)
Goal refers to a method of scoring in many sports. It can also refer to the physical structure or area of the playing surface where scoring occurs....
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 team-mates. Normally, the background music is the instrumental "Seventeen Years" by Ratatat
Ratatat
Ratatat is a New York City electronic music duo consisting of Mike Stroud and producer Evan Mast .-History:Evan Mast and Mike Stroud first met as students at Skidmore College, but they did not work together until 2001, when they recorded several songs under the name "Cherry"...
but was changed to "Smiling" by The Beta Band
The Beta Band
The Beta Band were a British musical group who received much critical acclaim and achieved cult status amongst avid followers of the underground and experimental music scene...
.
The current record is held by Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
who hit the crossbar four times on 25 April 2009, beating the previous record of three set by Northampton Town, Hereford United and inaugural three time crossbar hitters Doncaster Rovers.
The current player record is held by Graham Stack who has hit the bar twice for two different clubs (Wolves and Plymouth).
Soccer AM aim to, at some point, visit every team in the league, although this is likely to prove very difficult as clubs such as Manchester United are unwilling to allow players onto shows such as these. However, other clubs like Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
, Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
(Christmas special) and Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
have appeared in the past (Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
appeared on a French show that had copied the challenge). Players who appear as guests on "The Orange Sofa" are always shown their attempt at the challenge if it is one of the many on the database.
The first manager to actually hit the bar is former Huddersfield Town Manager Andy Ritchie. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy
Mick McCarthy
Michael Joseph "Mick" McCarthy is an English-born former Irish international footballer who is currently the manager of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he has been in charge since July 2006....
's shot hit the crossbar and then bounced off and struck the up-right when Wolves took part in the challenge. This feat has never been repeated.
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 team-mates, and with the appropriate drum and bass backing tune of "Don't Wanna Know" by Shy FXShy FX
Shy FX is the pseudonym of Andre Williams, an English DJ and Producer from London. He specializes in Drum and Bass and Jungle music.-Biography:...
and T-Power. 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 team-mates. 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 midrift of the winner, while the team-mates usually mob and even sometimes perform some prank.
In season 2008–09, the section has strayed away from youth sides to include different competitors. Young children from Africa (when Rocket visited a region to deliver football shirts to under privileged areas) were seen showing their undoubted abilities, and also when Chelsea Ladies were celebrating by bundling the winner to the ground, Rocket (in a comical attempt of male opportunity) joined in celebrations by diving on top of the ladies midway through celebrations.The only time when Rocket has not presented was when he took on Tubes (in which tubes won and the rest of the crew jokingly mimicked the normal crowd)instead Trev dressed in a Battenburg costume took his place
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 HenryThierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional footballer who plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.Henry was born in Les Ulis, Essonne where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and...
, Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
, David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, and Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season...
. Ruud van Nistelrooy
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Rutgerus Johannes Martinus "Ruud" van Nistelrooy, , is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Málaga CF in Spain's La Liga. He is the second-highest goalscorer in Champions League history with 60 goals...
in this section was only asked to pick his top three favourite goals for Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
. The song used during the older version of 'My Favourite Goal' is "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)" by Aqualung
Aqualung (musician)
Matthew "Matt" Hales , better known as Aqualung, is an English singer and songwriter best known in the UK for his song "Strange and Beautiful", which was featured on a television advertisement for the new Volkswagen New Beetle during the summer of 2002 and went on to become a Top 10 hit in the UK...
.
Terry V. Terry Shield
Introduced during the 2004–05 season, "the most important goals competition in football" as Soccer AM like to put it, focuses on the goalscoring form of Chelsea and former EnglandEngland national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
captain John Terry
John Terry
John George Terry is an English professional footballer. Terry plays in a centre back position and is the captain of Chelsea in the Premier League...
and his older brother Paul
Paul Terry (footballer)
Paul Laurence Terry is an English footballer who plays for Conference South club Thurrock as a midfielder. He made 206 appearances in the Football League for Yeovil Town and Leyton Orient between 2003 and 2009.-Club career:...
, currently playing for Darlington
Darlington F.C.
Darlington Football Club is a professional association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, currently playing in the Conference National. The club was founded in 1883, and originally played its games at Feethams, before moving to the Darlington Arena in 2003...
. The winner would be the player who scored the most in a season.
Hunt V. Hunt Shield
Introduced for the 2009–10 season, focusing on the scoring of IrishRepublic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
internationals Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...
Stephen Hunt and Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
Noel Hunt
Noel Hunt
Noel Hunt is an Irish footballer, who currently plays as a striker for Football League Championship side Reading. His brother is Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C...
.
Ferdinand Vs Ferdinand III
This features the two Ferdinand brothers – Manchester United centre back RioRio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand is an English footballer. He plays at centre back for Manchester United in the Premier League and for the England national football team...
and younger brother Anton
Anton Ferdinand
Anton Julian Ferdinand is an English footballer who plays for Queens Park Rangers as a defender. He is the brother of Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand and the cousin of former England striker Les Ferdinand and Southend United defender Kane Ferdinand. Like his brother, Anton...
of Queens Park Rangers – going head to head to see who can score the most goals in a premier league season. Only league goals count and whoever scores the most in the season will win the title of Ferdinand Vs Ferdinand, currently Rio has won all three seasons. There is now also a Wright-Phillips vs. Wright-Phillips, featuring Charlton
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
striker Bradley
Bradley Wright-Phillips
Bradley Edward Wright-Phillips is an English footballer who plays for Charlton Athletic as a striker.He is the son of former Arsenal and England player Ian Wright, and younger half-brother to Queens Park Rangers and England international Shaun Wright-Phillips; Ian's adopted son, with whom he used...
and older brother Shaun
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Shaun Cameron Wright-Phillips is an English footballer who plays for Queens Park Rangers and the England national team. He is the adopted son of former England international, Ian Wright and the half-brother of fellow professional football player Bradley Wright-Phillips...
of Queens Park Rangers and Caldwell Vs Caldwell between Birmingham
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
player Steven
Steven Caldwell
Steven Caldwell is a Scottish footballer who plays for Birmingham City as a defender. His younger brother Gary is also a defender and Scotland international.-Newcastle United:...
and brother Gary
Gary Caldwell
Gary Robert Caldwell is a Scottish footballer who is currently the captain of Wigan Athletic and also plays for the Scotland national football team....
of Wigan
Wigan Athletic F.C.
Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English Premier League Association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, having been promoted from the Championship in 2005. Wigan's current spell in the Premier League is the only top flight run in the club's history.They have played at the DW...
Golden Shoe/Espadrille
Soccer AMs own goalscoring competition, the "Golden Shoe" is the show's light tug on the Golden BootGolden Boot
A Golden Boot or Golden Shoe is an award, most often in football sports, given to the individual player who scores the most goals in a league or a tournament.These terms may also refer to:In association football...
award given to the top scorer in a league or competition. This competition is based on a goals-to-game ratio. Only league goals count and a player has to have played in at least half of their team's league games to be in with a chance of winning the shoe. The Golden Shoe is open to every player in the English Premier League, the Football League and the Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
.
The "Golden Espadrille" is the European equivalent to the Golden Shoe. The same rules apply, and the only real difference is that it is open to the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Premier League, the Scottish Premier League, Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
and Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
players.
Leeds United's Jermaine Beckford
Jermaine Beckford
Jermaine Paul Alexander Beckford is an English footballer who plays for Leicester City as a striker. He started his career as a trainee at Chelsea...
is the new current holder of the Golden Shoe. Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
's turn on the cross bar challenge is also said to be the most entertaining one ever.
Atlético Madrid's Diego Forlán
Diego Forlán
Diego Forlán Corazo is an Uruguayan footballer who plays as a striker for Internazionale and the Uruguayan national team. He is a two-time winner of both the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe, and also received the Golden Ball as the best player at the 2010 World Cup.Forlán was born...
is the new current holder of the Golden Espadrille.
Golden Glove
Similar to the above but for goalkeepers in a Clean Sheets-to-games ratio, subject to the same restrictions as the golden shoe (only English Premier League, English football League and SPL players are eligible and must have played at least half their teams games and only league clean sheets count)100 Greatest Goals
The 100 Greatest Goals from the Games that Nobody Remembers except our Panel of Talking Heads was introduced in 2006–07 as a sarcastic take off of the many "100 best..." countdown shows on TV. A piece of unremarkable football action is used, typically a scrappy goal from a lower division game in the 1990s, which is analysed in the same way as these shows tend to do, with the action interspersed with different experts views of it. Jamie RedknappJamie Redknapp
Jamie Frank Redknapp is a retired English footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is now a football pundit with Sky Sports, and an editorial columnist with the Daily Mail....
, Chris Kamara
Chris Kamara
Chris Kamara is a retired English footballer. He ended his playing career in 1995 and last managed a club in 1998. He is now a presenter and football analyst on Sky Sports.-Playing career:...
, Jeff Stelling
Jeff Stelling
Robert Jeffrey "Jeff" Stelling is an English sports journalist and sport television presenter, of Gillette Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports and other programming for the satellite broadcaster. In January 2009 he took over as host of the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown...
, and Matt Le Tissier are a few of the people who enthusiastically talk about the goal as if it were the most amazing goal ever scored.
I Want to Be Like Bas
After seeing the on-pitch antics of at the time, ex Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton & Hove Albion F.C.
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club are an English association football club based in the coastal city of Brighton & Hove, East Sussex. They currently play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system....
player Bas Savage
Bas Savage
Basir "Bas" Mohammed Savage is a professional English footballer who plays as a striker for Northampton Town. He is known for his trademark moonwalk goal celebration and his outrageous hairstyles which have gained him cult fame on TV's Soccer AM.-Starting out at Reading:Savage started his...
, namely his moonwalk
Moonwalk (dance)
The moonwalk or backslide is a dance technique that presents the illusion of the dancer being pulled backwards while attempting to walk forward. A popping move, it became most popular around the world after Michael Jackson executed the dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25:...
celebrations after scoring a goal, a feature called "I Want to Be Like Bas" was introduced in the 2006–07 season. If Savage scores in a game previous to the showing of Soccer AM, his goal and celebration is shown to the music of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Smooth Criminal
Smooth Criminal
"Smooth Criminal" is the seventh single from Michael Jackson's 1987 Bad album. The song contains a fast-paced beat intertwined with Jackson's lyrics about a woman named Annie, who has been attacked in her apartment by a "smooth" assailant. It was released as a single on October 24, 1988 and peaked...
", as the video also features moonwalking.
Celebration Steve's £10 Celebration
This includes crew member Steve, composing a brand new celebration for any player in the world to perform. The celebration is usually based on current event/s in the news or mimicking a famous person and their trademark pose/s. The first professional player in the Premier League or The Football LeagueThe Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
's (usually the lower leagues) to score their goal and celebrate exactly like or vaguely like Steve on the show will win the £10 prize money. If nobody uses the celebration then the £10 is rolled over to the next week. One of Steve's celebrations was a team photo (first of all score your goal, then get a few of your team mates, get 'em round you, lovely picture!). He previously made a £10 bet with Tubes that nobody would do his celebration that week so he picked one he thought nobody would do. During the following show, Steve was forced to give Tubes £10 in which he dropped the tener on the ground for Tubes to pick up. Towards the end there was a parody of this when comedian Paddy McGuinness went on the show and for one time only and created, Paddy's £10 celebration. It was won by Carlisle's Gary Madine.
Steven Gerrard's "kiss the camera" celebration in a 4-1 win over Manchester Untied in 2009 was Steves £10 challenge
Prediction Time
In this part of the show former footballer and current Sky Sports pundit Chris Kamara goes head to head with Mystic Ed, a horse that Soccer AM insist is magic and can predict the scores. Each week, Kammy and Mystic Ed must predict the score of a live game, usually from the Premier League.Itso Facto
This is simply, random facts about a certain aspect of football (e.g. managers, injuries, the South Wales derbySouth Wales derby
The South Wales derby is a football local derby between Welsh clubs Cardiff City and Swansea City and is regarded as one of the most fierce rivalries in British football....
) narrated by crew member Trev. The different volumes of facts are organised with Roman Numerals e.g. 'El Classico, Volume IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..........'. The first few I's are followed with sighs and groans of fed upness. In typical Soccer AM fashion nothing is taken seriously and the last fact on Trev's list of facts is arguable, biased, or very funny (e.g. 'What is the worst injury in football?? The one the Irish'll give Thierry Henry when they get their hands on him!!')
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 Richardon from Football Italia. This is a skit on the typical lazy English builder, having lunch in a café. As Trev rambles on about one of his views on football, images related to the word or subject he's on at that moment appear on the TV (e.g. when David Beckham is mentioned a snapshot of David appears for that split second or two, when the word scouser is mentioned, a picture if Steven Gerrard flashes onscreen). Just before Trev is about to swear, the waitress arrives and gives him his tea, he replies with 'Cheers mush' and sips his tea. Our Man In A Caff ends with Trev signing out with 'Over an Out' plus an added sign off from somebody or from somewhere (e.g. Over and Out or as my son would say, 'I'm not gonna turn out like you, am I??')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 in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
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
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
, typically featuring former Premier League star Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler is an English footballer who is currently player/manager for Thai Premier League club Muangthong United....
, 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
Georgie Thompson
Georgina Jane 'Georgie' Thompson is an English broadcast journalist and television presenter for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News.-Education:...
's box", a cardboard box with a picture of said Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It is run by BSkyB whose sports channels include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as Sky Sports HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4....
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
Byker Grove was a British television series which aired between 1989 and 2006 and was created by Adele Rose. The show was broadcast at 5.10pm after Newsround on CBBC on BBC One...
in which the real-life Ant and Dec first found fame.
DJ David Ghetto
In this sketch, DJ David Ghetto (Baby Elvis) will sing a song about the fans of the week. He often says the line, 'Don't playa' hate, appreciate!' He sings about two or three of the team's players and the team's manager before singing about the fans. At the end, he will say '(team's name) fans, make some noise!' After which, the fans will start singing. One week, they had the Leeds fans on and when he got to Richard NaylorRichard Naylor
Richard Alan Naylor is an English footballer who plays as a centre back for Doncaster Rovers after leaving Leeds United where he had been Captain...
, he said 'it's Richard riki riki boom boom braca braca brap brap ooh ooh Naylor!' Now whenever Richard Naylor scores a goal, an own goal, has a good chance or makes a mistake, Max Rushden will say e.g. 'Big championship question of the week, who was it who scored against Watford last weekend?' and then DJ David Ghetto says the whole thing and then they show the clip.
Current comedy features
One of the strengths of Soccer AM is its talented crew members. Throughout the show's history, its various producers and researchers have contributed to comedy skits, playing various characters. The level of talent varies, but they are all excellent sports and likeable performers. The show's humour is generally of the corny, old-fashioned variety, but no less hilarious for that.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), Jon Dyson, Chris Nutbeam and newest member Steve Sutcliffe.
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) rappingRapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
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
Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is the modern epithet for drinking alcoholic beverages with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. It is a kind of purposeful drinking style that is popular in several countries worldwide,...
exploits, Tim Lovejoy called for pub 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
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, where at the end instead of saying "iTunes", it says "iTubes". Some Of Tubes' Catchphrases include "Sickening" "Sick" and "Sickness".
A VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video from 2000 was recently broadcast showing Tubes, dressed as a sailor, dancing on stage to the YMCA song
YMCA (song)
"Y.M.C.A." is a song recorded by American disco group Village People. It was released in 1978 as the only single from the album Cruisin. The song reached No. 2 on the U.S. charts in early 1979 and reached No.1 in the UK around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit...
.
The Dance-Off
Each year, the Soccer AM Dance-Off is 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.It is usually held on the first Saturday in January each year, and viewers at home are encouraged to vote for who they thought was the best by texting in. However, they can also vote for "Don't care". The 2007 Dance-Off winner was Rocket, the 3rd time he has won the competition. In 2008 Trev won the competition despite being a 33/1 shot. Helen asked him how he felt about winning, he replied "It's alright I suppose." 2009 saw Rocket take the crown for the fourth time, however this win is debatable as Rocket used a prop (wheelies) during his performance. However, he was allowed to remain as champion in exchange for him 'Taking One For The Team' the following week, with all the losing participants taking a shot (all of whom missed). In 2010 Lisa became the first female contestant to claim the crown, with Max Rushden suggesting that she 'used her assets' well. Despite being the favourite, Baby Elvis did not even make the top three.
Soccer AM Dance-Off Roll Of Honour:
- 2000: Gadzooks
- 2001: Gadzooks
- 2002: Robbie Knox
- 2003: Rocket
- 2004: Tobes
- 2005: Rocket
- 2006: Baby Elvis
- 2007: Rocket
- 2008: Trev
- 2009: Rocket
- 2010: Lisa
- 2011: Raj
Take One For The Team
Take One For The Team is another new feature added to the show this season and takes place in the Soccer AM car park. Every time someone in the office, usually a crew member will have to let three other member of the crew kick a football at their backside. This occurs when one of the crew members makes a mistake. Rocket, Graham, Tubes, Jimi, Phil V and Dave all faced it last season and Tubes has faced again it this season. Tubes has the record amount of hits as he has hit 2 out of 3 shots.(Graham and Dave). On 9 January 2009, Rocket was forced to take one for the team but with every crew member getting a shot. Only Chris and Simon managed to hit the target.Big Tackle
The Big Tackle feature was added to the line-up in the 2008–09 season to celebrate the art of the "Big Tackle". The feature begins with the phrase "Big Tackle, sponsored by Claude MakéléléClaude Makélélé
Claude Makélelé Sinda is a retired football player who used to play as a defensive midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. Prior to joining Paris Saint-Germain, Makélélé played for Nantes, Olympique de Marseille, Celta Vigo, Real Madrid and Chelsea...
", said in a French accent.
Indeed it was a truly funny section.
Small Talk
In Small Talk, Rocket and Arrogant Baby Elvis go around the streets of a chosen British town and asks 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 BerbatovDimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a forward for Manchester United. He captained the Bulgarian national team from 2006 to 2010, and is its all-time leading goalscorer and has also won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year a record seven times, surpassing the number of...
being on an intensive fitness programme after his recent move to Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
.
Roath Ravers
A now running gag which started on the show on 12 March, which refers to Jeff Stelling on Soccer SaturdaySoccer Saturday
Gillette Soccer Saturday is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Saturday afternoons. The current host is...
calling Scottish club Raith Rovers
Raith Rovers F.C.
Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Kirkcaldy, Fife. They are members of the Scottish Football League, currently playing in the First Division, having secured promotion from the Second Division as champions in 2009. Rovers have won one national trophy, the...
'Roath Ravers,' the showing of the clip cues two ravers at the back of Max & Helen's sofa. Some Raith Rovers fans did their own version of this at their defeat in a title decider to Dunfermline Athletic
Dunfermline Athletic F.C.
Dunfermline Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Dunfermline, Fife, commonly known as just Dunfermline. They currently compete in the Scottish Premier League....
on 23 April 2011
MMS Clips
This is the part of the show when the members of the public send in their videos from their mobile phones of them and their mates doing something stupid and funny.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.Big Stan Hibbert
Another popular feature of the show – Big Stan Hibbert was "Here All Week". Hibbert – a northern, working-men's club style comedian, played by Fenners – appearanced early in the show with his standard one quarter full mug of beer, and cracked a joke to rampant cheers (and jeers). After his joke, he declared "I'M HERE ALL WEEK!" before proceeding to spin around on the spot at high speed with his beer mug held out wide, and when nothing spills (not a given) stated "CENTRIFUGAL FORCECentrifugal force
Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...
!".
Norman Whiteside
Following the end of the "Big Stan Hibbert" feature, the week's joke was provided for the following season by former Northern Ireland, Manchester United and Everton player, Norman WhitesideNorman Whiteside
Norman Whiteside is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played in two World Cups.He appeared for Manchester United and Everton, before his career was ended by injury at the age of 26. He won the FA Cup twice during his time playing for Manchester United, in 1983 and 1985...
, who is filmed in a pre-recorded sketch
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
.
Topless Weather
Soccer AMs response to European television's more lewd feature of the same name. Celebrated Bolton WanderersBolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
fan and crew member Sheephead gave his "weather forecast" for Britain without wearing a shirt. During the run of Topless Weather, Southern England
Southern England
Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...
has yet to be forecast anything but "Light drizzle".
This part of the show was always introduced with a "sponsorship" message -
"Topless Weather, in association with "Gravy
Gravy
Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
". Oooh, northern boys love "Gravy".
The background video of gravy
Gravy
Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
being poured onto a plate of chips
French fries
French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
is a mimic of the television advertising employed by Bisto
Bisto
Bisto is a well-known brand of traditional British foods in the United Kingdom, most famous for its gravy products.-History:The very first Bisto product, in 1908, was a meat-flavoured gravy powder, which rapidly became a bestseller in the UK. It was added to gravies to give a richer taste and aroma...
, where gravy is poured onto a traditional Sunday lunch
Sunday roast
The Sunday roast is a traditional British main meal served on Sundays , consisting of roasted meat, roast potato or mashed potato, with accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy....
with the voice-over "Ahh, Bisto".
Sheephead finished Topless Weather every week with "keep smiling, back inside to Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy", upon which the sponsorship message is repeated, albeit with gravy now over-flowing from the plate.
When Exeter City
Exeter City F.C.
Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003...
were in the football league Sheephead would always forecast "Glorious weather at the Real St. James Park
St James Park
St James Park is a football stadium in Exeter and is the home of Exeter City F.C. The stadium is served by the St James Park railway station which is right next to the ground...
." This was a dig at Helen as she is a Torquay United supporter and Exeter are Torquay's rivals. This ended when Exeter were relegated to the Conference
Football Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
.
There was normally a mention of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
weather for Warsaw (Walsall)
Walsall F.C.
Walsall Football Club are an English association football club based in Walsall, West Midlands. They currently play in League One. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. The club was one of the founder members of the Second...
fans.
Due to popular request, from the 2006–07 season, Sheephead also delivers the weather for Ireland, and adds a new running joke. When forecasting, he points at Ireland, and says "Oh my god, it's Kilkenny" in reference to the Irish county of Kilkenny
County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...
and a play on the South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
running joke, said in every episode when Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
is killed.
However, Sheephead transferred to David Beckham's Soccer USA so topless weather is no longer running.
Yorkshire News
Allegedly separate from the show itself, Tim announces that "It's time for the news from your region." Regardless where you are (or so it seems), "Yorkshire News" appears on the screen, anchored by "Yorkshireman" Geoffrey Trueman (Dyson). This name is taken from the names of legendary Yorkshire cricketers Geoffrey BoycottGeoffrey Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott OBE is a former Yorkshire and England cricketer. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's most successful opening batsmen...
and Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
. Recently, however, the 'regional' news was styled from Manchester. The headline story involves "yet another example that change is not good. The concept of change is almost certainly a gag at political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
, and is usually blamed on "those la de da London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-types" from the South. "Change" has come in the form of female employment, foreign cuisine, men dancing, and non-beer beverages, amongst others. A highlight of this feature was when a reporter went to Blackpool to question whether Bradford City
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
striker Dean Windass
Dean Windass
Dean Windass is an English footballer, who predominantly played as a striker, and is known for his spells at Bradford City and his hometown team Hull City...
had 'lost his bottle' after a poor run of performances- an 'irate' Windass charged at the reporter, tearing his own shirt off in the process. Another famous moment occurred when the topic of YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
was mentioned.
Ending the news with "S'thee later", Soccer AM reappears with Helen saying "Welcome back to Soccer AM!"
On the 3 February 2007 edition of the show, Yorkshire News was replaced by "Manchester News" with the people of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
being asked what they thought of the new supercasino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
being built there. This led to an apology by Tim as apparently the Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
region got the wrong regional news.
Amongst other fictional trivia, Yorkshire News has reported on:
- The reaction of KeighleyKeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
residents upon a survey suggesting men take their wives and girlfriends out on a Friday instead of seeing male friends - The reaction of WetherbyWetherbyWetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...
residents upon learning a local pub 'The Kings Head' has been converted into an 'American style sports bar - A bake sale taking place in FollifootFollifootFollifoot is a large village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the A658 road and south east from the town centre of Harrogate.-History:...
The interviewees on Yorkshire news are invariably working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
northern streotypes.
Barry
Soccer AMs own little sitcom stars Barry Proudfoot (actually FennersJohn Fendley
John "Fenners" Fendley is a British television presenter, currently a reporter on Sky Sports News show Soccer Saturday and also presenter on Sky Sports show Take It Like A Fan.-Biography:...
) as Barry, Pugsy as Pugsy, and Vikki as Vikki The Barmaid. Set at The Wheatsheaf pub in Perivale
Perivale
Perivale is a small suburb in the London Borough of Ealing, west of Charing Cross, central London. Landmarks in the suburb include the A40, a large road that connects Central London with the M40 motorway, and the large Art Deco Hoover Building, as well as St Mary's Church , the River Brent and...
, Barry dresses in green seventies-style tracksuits and aviator sunglasses, and is known for his hatred of Northerners
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
, and catchphrases "Oooh that's a right touch!" and "He's taking some right liberties". Some famous faces have appeared on this section of the show as well, including Tim
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...
, actor Tamer Hassan
Tamer Hassan
Tamer Hassan is a British actor of Turkish Cypriot descent.-Early life:Hassan was born in London, England into a Turkish Cypriot family. Having sustained an injury in boxing, Hassan started to run nightclubs and restaurants and is now the owner, chairman and player/coach of Greenwich Borough and...
, West Ham
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
fan Perry Fenwick
Perry Fenwick
Perry Fenwick is an English film and television actor. He has one sister, Tracey, and two brothers, Faron and Lee. He is, also, the second cousin of Georgina Hagen, who played Lauren Waters in the series of Britannia High....
(Billy Mitchell
Billy Mitchell (EastEnders)
William "Billy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Perry Fenwick, who made his first appearance on 2 November 1998. Billy was seen when Phil went to visit his godson Jamie. However, he didn't arrive in the Square until 2 August 1999, almost a year after...
from EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
) and the band The Rifles
The Rifles (band)
The Rifles are an English indie rock band from Chingford, London.Their debut album No Love Lost was released on 17 July 2006 and reached #26 in the UK charts...
. "Two-Hits" and "Bob the Glare" have also appeared on a few occasions as "bouncers" and in one episode brought out their own DVD.
Barry also appeared in a Patrick McGuinness
Patrick McGuinness
Patrick Joseph "Paddy" McGuinness is an English stand-up comedian, comedy actor, television personality and presenter. Born in Farnworth, Bolton, he is best known for his performances alongside comedian Peter Kay, and as the host of dating programme Take Me Out.-Early life:He attended Mount St....
stand up. McGuiness asked Barry to come on stage and tell a few jokes to his audience, composed mostly of "Northerners
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
". Instead of telling "tasteful" jokes to the audience, Barry started telling jokes that would be offensive to "Northerners
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
" and got booed off-stage.
Recently Barry has been on a Soccer AM edition of Partner Swap, (take of Wife Swap), where he was partnered up with Theresa O'Sullivan. After constantly making jokes about Teresa being Mother Theresa, Theresa confronted him, pleading him that there be no more of those jokes. Having been asked this, Barry said there would be none - (nun). That is a right touch.
The "Love it" song
A cameraman and a man with a microphone went round asking pretend cockneys, who were actually acted by crew members about the TV soap EastEnders. At the end they would say "We larve it, larve it, larve it, larve it, larve it." It was eventually released before the World Cup 2006 as a song by the Soccer AM crew and rap artist MC Neat, with all proceeds going to Barnardo's Children's Charity. Obviously, the song was edited as it focused on the England football team, rather than EastEnders.CCTV
Coventry CityCoventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...
TV is inspired by the television channels of several of the larger clubs in British football. Set in the 1986/87 season, the fictitious channel brings us features which resemble Closed-Circuit TeleVision of funny and unusual behaviour. Usual topics of conversation include whether Keith Houchen
Keith Houchen
Keith Morton Houchen is an English former footballer and football manager. A forward, he score 162 goals in 509 league games....
should be selected by boss John Sillett
John Sillett
John Charles Sillett is a former football player and manager.His father Charlie Sillett was a footballer with Southampton between 1931 and 1938. He is the younger brother of Peter Sillett, also a footballer.Sillett played for Chelsea, Coventry City and Plymouth Argyle...
, and that the club should never leave Highfield Road
Highfield Road
The Highfield Road Stadium was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. until the club moved to the new Ricoh Arena after the 2005-06 season...
(which has of course happened with the move to the Ricoh Arena
Ricoh Arena
The Ricoh Arena , home to Coventry City F.C., is a stadium complex situated in the Rowleys Green district of the city of Coventry, England containing a 32,609 seater football stadium, a 6,000 square-metre exhibition hall, a hotel, a leisure club, and a casino...
)
The channel is presented by Paul Gardner (Fenners) and Brian Kildare (Sheephead). The two presenters also ask every guest whether they have a 'genuine Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
accent' and not a "Cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
" accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
.
Dragons' Den
Introduced in the 2006-07 season Soccer AM have done their version of the BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
programme Dragons' Den. Basically every week Sheephead shows the Dragons an invention which already exists. For example, he recently showed them crisps where you put the salt on them yourself although this already had been done. One of the Dragons tells him "It's already been done"; he then responds by saying "Oh has it! Oh, I'll be back. You'll see!"
Book Reconstructions
When a guest(s) or someone they talk to on the phone has written a book, Tim Lovejoy used announce, "I can't read very well, and neither can Helen or any of the crew, but Neil's a good reader, so we had him reconstruct the best bits", which Neil duly did, often exaggerating for comic effect. So far he has reconstructed scenes from the books written by footballer John HartsonJohn Hartson
John Hartson is a former Welsh international footballer who played as a striker, best known for his spells with West Ham and Celtic. Hartson also featured prominently for Wales, earning 51 caps until his international retirement in 2006...
, millionaire businessman and TV personality Duncan Bannatyne
Duncan Bannatyne
Duncan Walker Bannatyne, OBE is a Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. His business interests include hotels, health clubs, spas, media, TV, stage schools, property and transport. He is most famous for his appearance as a business angel on the BBC programme Dragons' Den...
and Natalie Appleton
Appleton
-People:* Alistair Appleton, British television presenter* Charles W. Appleton, of GE* Colin Appleton, footballer* Daniel Appleton, American publisher, 1800s founder of D...
and Nicole Appleton
Nicole Appleton
Nicole Marie Appleton-Gallagher is a Canadian pop singer and actress who rose to fame as a member of All Saints. She was formerly a member of Appleton along with her older sister Natalie.-Early life:...
, ex-Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Real Madrid
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
star Steve McManaman
Steve McManaman
Steven McManaman is a retired English footballer who played as a midfielder, winger and playmaker. Having spent his playing career at two of European football's most successful clubs of the 20th century, Liverpool and Real Madrid, as well as a spell at Manchester City, McManaman is the most...
and horse racing jockey Frankie Dettori
Frankie Dettori
Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, MBE is an Italian horse racing jockey and celebrity. Dettori has been Champion Jockey on three occasions and has ridden the winners of more than 500 Group races.. He has had many successes in his role of stable jockey to Godolphin Racing...
to hilarious consequences.
Soccer AM webcam
A new addition to the show, introduced in the start of the 10th season, is the Soccer AM Webcam. 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 webcamWebcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
soon gained its own feature on the show - a soap
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
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 RoversTranmere Rovers F.C.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are an English team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system...
, now of Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
, who was not featuring in the challenge that week, but was accompanying team-mate Jason McAteer
Jason McAteer
Jason Wynne McAteer is a retired Irish footballer, who represented the Republic of Ireland at international level. He announced his retirement from professional football on 12 June 2007,...
. While cameras happened to be rolling, he had a go and accomplished the feat in a single attempt (Taylor is also one of an elite few to hit the crossbar in the "Crossbar Challenge", and reportedly hit it in his practice attempt as well). Many over-confident 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
The Go! Team are a six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, double dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars similar to the style of Sonic Youth. Their songs are a mix of live...
.
Soccer AM 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 Emannuel Eboue whilst he was playing for Arsenal. Fraizer Campbell and Bolton manager Owen Coyle are second with three. Phil Taylor hit with only one but seeing as he is a darts player and not a footballer, his record does not fully count. This appeared when more and more pro's appeared to start liking darts more than golf, thus replacing the ten yard bucket challenge."Show them the whole thing"
The part of the show, shown every week, where a member of the fans in the "Luther Blisset" stand do bodybuilding poses, and clips are sent in and shown of the public "showing them the whole thing" to the background music of "Oxygene 4" by Jean Michel JarreJean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
.
The sketch apes certain well-known scenes from the 1970s bodybuilding documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Pumping Iron
Pumping Iron
Pumping Iron is a 1977 docudrama about the world of bodybuilding, focusing on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions and the 100 days leading up to them. The film was inspired by a book of the same name, written by Charles Gaines and George Butler...
in which Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
taunts Lou Ferrigno
Lou Ferrigno
Louis Jude "Lou" Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer/consultant, and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron...
and mentors other gym users in poses.
When Tim left the show, this segment was replaced by "Lift Fun".
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 InteractiveSports InteractiveSports Interactive Limited is a computer games development company currently based in Old Street, Central London and owned by the Japanese software and video game company Sega. It is the developer of the popular games Football Manager, NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and...
. 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 starStar (football crest)In association football, some national and club sides include one or more stars as part of the crest appearing on their shirt, to represent important trophies the team has previously won. Sometimes this is a unilateral decision by the team concerned rather than a privilege earned and sanctioned...
on the England football shirt. Sparked after France 981998 FIFA World CupThe 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...
, when the French national team added a golden star to their shirt as soon as they won the Football World Cup, the Soccer AM team successfully campaigned to get a golden star on England's shirt to commemorate winning the World Cup1966 FIFA World CupThe 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
in 19661966 FIFA World CupThe 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
. - Getting the word "bouncebackability" into the English dictionary has been credited to Soccer AM. Its creation is generally accredited to former Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace F.C.Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
manager Iain DowieIain DowieIain Dowie is a former footballer and manager. He is currently without a club. He has previously managed Hull City and Queens Park Rangers and was assistant manager of Newcastle United...
'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 Football Manager 2005Football Manager 2005Football Manager 2005 is a game in the Football Manager computer game series. It was developed by Sports Interactive and released on November 5, 2004, published by Sega....
, as an unmanageable team called The Badgers. Amongst the 'players' are Rocket, Tubes, Sheephead, Paul DalglishPaul DalglishPaul Kenneth Dalglish is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.-Playing career:Dalglish, son of former Scotland international Kenny Dalglish, was born in Glasgow though spent his childhood in Liverpool where his father managed Liverpool F.C...
, Fenners, Phil NealPhil NealPhilip George "Phil" Neal is a former footballer who was, at one time, the most successful player in English football history. He played for Liverpool 650 times over an eleven year period and is the only player to have appeared in the first five of their European Cup finals, winning four of them...
, John WarkJohn WarkJohn Wark 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 LovejoyTim LovejoyTimothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...
himself. All of the players can be signed by the player. They have also been featured in Football Manager 2012Football Manager 2012Football Manager 2012 is a football manager simulation video game. It was released on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on 21 October 2011.-New Features:...
, featuring Max RushdenMax RushdenMax Rushden is an English television presenter who replaced Andy Goldstein as a co-presenter of Saturday morning Sky Sports show Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain from August 2008.- Career :...
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 SportWorld of Sport (UK TV series)World of Sport was a British television sport anthology programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 to 28 September 1985 in response to competition from BBC's Grandstand...
wrestling, which had been repeated on TWC Fight! starting in early-2004. In the sketch, the masked wrestlers are based on Kendo NagasakiKendo NagasakiKendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling stage name, used as a gimmick of that of a Japanese Samurai warrior with a mysterious past and even supernatural powers of hypnosis...
, whilst the chanting is taken from Big DaddyShirley CrabtreeShirley Crabtree, Jr, better known as Big Daddy was a British professional wrestler famous for his record-breaking 64 inch chest...
. 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.
- On the Christmas Day Special 2007, The Pigeon DetectivesThe Pigeon DetectivesThe Pigeon Detectives are an English indie rock band from Rothwell, West Yorkshire, who formed in 2004. They have been championed by such well known DJs as Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley, and performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2006, where they were tagged "the band most likely to leap to...
became the first band to play live in the studio. The performance, however, was dubbed and led to criticism of the show and the band itself.
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 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 ParlourRay ParlourRaymond "Ray" Parlour , is a retired English footballer. He spent his career playing for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hull City. During his Arsenal career he was nicknamed "The Romford Pelé"; although the nickname was given with an ironic sense of humour, on account of his solid performance but...
" 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.
- Usually every time a Welsh celebrity or footballer is on the show they are required to say "Ian BealeIan BealeIan Albert Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Adam Woodyatt. He is the longest-serving character and the only remaining original character to have appeared continuously since the first episode on 19 February 1985...
" or "RatatouilleRatatouilleRatatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise.- Origin :...
", and more recently "Caerphilly"
Another memorable aspect to the show was in 2000 when Tim started to tell the same gag every week. The gag revolved around steak and kidney pie
Steak and kidney pie
Steak and kidney pie is a savoury pie that is filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney , fried onion, and brown gravy...
s, and the gag would normally see Tim and Helen discuss what they'd eaten. Invariably, Tim would announce that he'd had a "steak and kidley" pie, to which Helen enquired: "Don't you mean steak and kidney?" Tim would then reply "That's what I said did'll I". This running gag ran and ran, to the point where even fanzone commentators performed the gag. Following on from one such occurrence, Tim pleaded with Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler is an English football commentator who was voted as the FA Premier League Commentator of The Decade...
and Andy Gray to do the gag during a live game.
Another recurring gag is when someone with the surname "O'Leary" or "Riley" is involved. For example, Helen once announced that Dermot O'Leary
Dermot O'Leary
Dermot O'Leary is an English television and radio presenter. He established himself as a presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother on Channel 4 before moving on to The X Factor on ITV. O'Leary has also presented on the BBC and has his own radio show on BBC Radio 2...
was on the current show and would be talking about his role as Big Brother's Little Brother presenter. Tim then asks "Oh really?", to which Helen reluctantly replies "... no, O'Leary". This is clearly a pre-determined gag judging by Tim's reaction which gains much laughter when done.
Lovejoy actually had a few ongoing gags back in the day including famous one liners as "Is it a record?" "Oi fish head!" "Double sweet double douvet!"
MMS Clips
One of the most popular mobile phoneMobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
clips, sent in by Soccer AM viewers, is Crazy Dave. Crazy Dave is a young tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
driver who chooses to over take his Dad, driving another tractor, on a narrow strip of road - with hilarious consequences. He has many phrases which have achieved cult status amongst Soccer AM fans such as "but yeah, YEAH, I do fancy it, big time!" and "He's gonna have my f***ing pants down!". His antics have been parodied by many people which have also been shown on the mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
clip section of the show. One of the most notorious MMS clips was David Bentley kicking a ball from a balcony office and getting it into a skip.
Football League Trophy Play Your Cards Right
For the past few seasons, Soccer AM has had the privilege of being able to draw fixtures foreach round of the Football League Trophy
Football League Trophy
The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...
(formerly known as the LDV Vans Trophy, it is now called the Johnstone's Paint Trophy).
This is normally done - in the style of British gameshow Play Your Cards Right
Play Your Cards Right
Play Your Cards Right is a British television game show based on the American show known as Card Sharks. The gameplay was basically the same as in the American version.-Broadcast History:...
- by Max & Helen cutting oversized cards onto large holders, and turning them over one at a time to generate football matches, with Max normally drawing the Home teams first, and Helen drawing the Away sides. This process is overseen by independent adjudicator from the Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
Stuart Trigwell, now known to Soccer AM as 'face', ridiculing a column in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
referring to him as the 'Face of The Football League'
The fans of the week are usually from a club that is in the draw.
Strangely, before the quarter final draw, Peterborough United
Peterborough United F.C.
Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...
fans were asked who they would least like to draw, to which they replied Bristol Rovers. The resulting draw then gave them an away game against... Bristol Rovers, which made the Peterborough fans boo Tim and Helen for their poor fixture making skills.
DVDs and music
In November 2004, Soccer AM released a DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, which became a success, mostly down to being the ideal Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
gift for men. Since this date, more DVDs have been released. The 2005 edition self titled, Soccer AM II included the 10 greatest players of the last decade, which included David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira , commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, awarded to the best player over the year...
and Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...
. In June 2006, Soccer AM went music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al by releasing a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
with music they use on the show with such bands as Hard-Fi
HARD-Fi
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band formed in Staines, Surrey in 2003. The band's members are Richard Archer , Ross Phillips , Kai Stephens and Steve Kemp .They achieved chart success with their third single, "Hard to Beat" and then followed by other successful singles such as...
, The Automatic
The Automatic
The Automatic , are a Welsh rock band. The band is composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesizers, James Frost on guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals and occasional bass, Iwan Griffiths on drums and Paul Mullen on vocals, guitar and synthesizer - since 2007...
and The Ordinary Boys
The Ordinary Boys
The Ordinary Boys are an English indie rock band from Worthing, in West Sussex, England. Originally named Next in Line, they were influenced by mod revival and Britpop music, as well as the bands Madness, The Specials, The Kinks and The Smiths...
. Later that year another DVD was released titled, Soccer AM III - the Greatest Matches of All Time which included a selection of 1982 World Cup
1982 FIFA World Cup
The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July. The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final.-Host selection:...
games, 1979–1981 and 2006 FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
Finals.
In 2009 the fourth DVD called Soccer AM IIII - The Greatest Team in the World was released. This featured going through the best players in the world at the moment in a fantasty dream team. This DVD was the first DVD with Max Rushden
Max Rushden
Max Rushden is an English television presenter who replaced Andy Goldstein as a co-presenter of Saturday morning Sky Sports show Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain from August 2008.- Career :...
.
See also
- Cricket AMCricket AMCricket AM is a Saturday-morning cricket-based television programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports 1. It began broadcasting in May 2006, and is largely based on its successful football-related counterpart Soccer AM, as a replacement during the football off-season...
- FrijjFRijjFrijj is a brand of milkshake sold mainly in the United Kingdom. Produced by Dairy Crest, it was first launched in 1993. Frijj is sold in four permanent flavours: strawberry, chocolate, banana and Chocolate Fudge Brownie...
- Sky SportsSky SportsSky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
- Soccer AM's All Sports Show
External links
References: