Jeff Stelling’s dream Soccer Saturday lineup includes ‘controversial’ pick

The one-two punch of losing Soccer AM and Jeff Stelling on the same weekend will be stinging plenty of football fans across the country.

Soccer Saturday icon Stelling has been a weekly fixture on our screens for the best part of 30 years, having presented Sky Sports’ flagship score update programme since 1994, and bows out as one of English football’s most treasured TV personalities.

The Hartlepool-loving statistics wizard announced he’d be stepping away from the show last month, leaving Sky with a gaping legend-shaped hole to fill over the summer.

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Soccer Saturday exploded in popularity in the 00s thanks in no small part to the on-air chemistry Stelling had with analysist like Paul Merson, Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas, Matt Le Tissier and Chris Kamara, but when asked to name his dream Soccer Saturday panel a few years back, he excluded all of them.

In fairness, Stelling was told he was allowed to pick anyone in the world, alive or dead, and opted for three legendary football managers in Brian Clough, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, as well “controversial” political figure Alastair Campbell.

Explaining his choices, the 68-year-old told Sky Sports’ Super 6 podcast: “Brian Clough would be one. Cloughie was on some of our early shows you know, but he was so dangerous to have him on.

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“You never knew what he was going to say or what kind of language he was going to say it in. He was brilliant, brilliant value.

“[Ferguson] is amazing. He knows everything that you need to know. He’s a man of the people as well and everybody respects him. And just to make it really interesting, sitting next to Sir Alex, I’d have to have Arsene Wenger.”

Stelling admitted it was “controversial” to pick Campbell, former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s former director of communications, because he’s a “politician who knows his football but is incredibly opinionated”.

“He’s a massive Burnley fan,” Stelling revealed. “He went to a Hartlepool game with Lord Mandelson, who was president of Hartlepool at the time and Tony Blair. As the teams came out, Tony Blair said to Lord Mandelson. ‘Which ones are Hartlepool?’ – and the president of the club didn’t know!”

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