Inside Soccer AM's axe, controversial features and where all presenters are now
Wake up; eat a bacon sandwich while watching Soccer AM; go to the match.
Like many adolescents, that was my Saturday routine around 15 years ago. Soccer AM, with its silliness and star-studded guests, was a huge part of the footballing weekend. Presenters Helen Chamberlain, Tim Lovejoy and later Max Rushden never failed to put a smile on your face... yet those days are long gone.
Soccer AM was a product of its time, with many controversial features - including the 'Soccerette' - now consigned to history. It has tried to readapt and become a modern show for a YouTube audience, but that just made it bland and, sadly, irrelevant.
In March, Sky announced they were cancelling Soccer AM. The news didn't come as a surprise. Ahead of Saturday morning's final show, here's story of the iconic show's collapse.
Tubes!
Soccer AM first launched in 1995, but it wasn't until Lovejoy joined Chamberlain on the famous sofa a year later that it became a hit show. Soccer AM's pull was it's laddish sketches, seeking to be a light-hearted antidote to the seriousness of modern football.
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Features included 'Third Eye' - clips of comical mishaps - the 'Dance Off' - an annual competition which saw the crew members produce some ridiculous moves - and 'Tubes' - a man who rapped at bemused guests before asking his one and only question.
Soccer AM was at its peak when Helen Chamberlain and Tim Lovejoy presented the show (REX/Shutterstock)Do you think Sky are right to cancel Soccer AM? Let us know in the comments below!
"It was a really exciting time in television, "Lovejoy told The Athletic. "It was the 90s, there was Britpop, the British art scene, all that stuff going on. It was fantastic, it was exciting, just a thrilling time. The mantra in television was 'push the boundaries as much as you can'. These days it’s more like 'please stay within the boundaries as much as you can'."
Yet not all features have aged well, such as the 'Soccerette' - which saw grown men shout "great age" at young women as they walked down a catwalk in a football kit. That was the norm in the era of the 'Lad Mags' - but not in 2023.
"The Soccerette was a huge part of the show when I arrived," Rushden told The Athletic. "I didn’t love it. It would be too self-righteous of me to say I found the whole thing misogynistic. I did a bit, but I just wasn’t, and never have been, very good at flirting."
Yet Soccer AM was still a roaring success. Thousands, if not millions, of fans tuned in to watch it every week and some of the biggest names in showbiz appeared as guests, including Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Gene Simmons and Noel Gallagher.
Lovejoy left the show in 2007 and was replaced by Andy Goldstein, only for Rushden to come in a year later. He formed another memorable partnership with Chamberlain to continue the fun until 2015, when the show started to move in a different direction.
Modernising
John 'Fenners' Fendley and Jimmy Bullard hosted a revamped version of the show (© Sky UK Limited.)Rushden was succeeded by John 'Fenners' Fendley, a former crew member who wrote and performed sketches during Lovejoy's tenure, in 2015. The show's biggest turning point came in 2017, when Chamberlain stepped down after 22 years on air.
In came Jimmy Bullard and Lloyd Griffith, creating a three-man presenting team, and a lot of the daft sketches were replaced by more serious football features. Tubes, for example, ditched his rapping for sit-down interviewers with Premier League managers.
Although Soccer AM was still a light-hearted show, it wasn't the same. That change was necessary to suit a modern audience and, for a while, it remained successful. It has gained more than 1.25million subscribers and more than 500million views on YouTube.
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Fenners told The Athletic in 2020: "I get frustrated with people who say it’s not what it used to be, because we’re getting to a stage where I really feel we’ve hit upon something that would make it different. It gave us a new dimension.
"I think we’ve won a lot of the public over... I always felt that if we could get the right formula for the show, people would feel like that. I do feel that we’re getting close to it being a very, very good TV show again."
Ultimately, though, the end of Soccer AM felt inevitable. Sky announced its cancellation and insisted it was to do with the "evolving needs of our customers". Despite all the memories - and all of the fun - it felt like the right decision.
What's the cast up to now?
Max Rushden has enjoyed a successful career in presenting (Getty Images)Tim Lovejoy: The presenter set up his own online channel, Channel Bee, after leaving Soccer AM in 2007 but returned to TV when it collapsed within two years. Lovejoy now presents Sunday Brunch alongside Simon Rimmer on Channel 4.
Peter 'Tubes' Dale: The crew member still works on the show and runs the Tubes & Angle Golf Life YouTube channel with 192,000 subscribers.
Helen Chamberlain: Soccer AM's most beloved star still works as a TV presenter and recently hosted coverage of the Senior World Darts championship.
James 'Rocket' Long: The crew member left Soccer AM in 2017 to become JOE's head of sports production before later working for Snack Media and Mola.
Max Rushden: The presenter hosts The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast, a show on talkSPORT and Champions League coverage for Australian broadcaster Stan Sport.
Peter 'Tubes' Dale now runs a YouTube channel (Getty Images)Andy Goldstein: Like Rushden, Goldstein also his own show on talkSPORT.
Adam 'Baby Elvis' Smith: Also known as 'Franky Fryer', the crew member has forged a successful career as a presenter. He currently hosts Saturday Social alongside YouTube influencers, which many people believe is Soccer AM's long-term successor. Smith is also the reported frontrunner to replace Jeff Stelling on another Sky Sports staple, Soccer Saturday.
Robbie Knox: The crew member, who often appears on the Jaackmaate's Happy Hour podcast, has since become a prominent YouTuber and Twitch Partner.
John 'Fenners' Fendley: Fenners played a huge role in Soccer AM's success under Lovejoy and followed him to Channel Bee. His first major presenting gig was The Fantasy Football Club with Paul Merson before returning to Soccer AM as a host.
Jimmy Bullard: The former Premier League footballer is renowned for his football drills on Soccer AM and will co-host Saturday's final show.
Lloyd Griffith: The comedian quit as a presenter in 2019 and continues to do stand-up gigs, as well as acting. He has a reoccurring role in Ted Lasso.
Russ Williams: One of the original presenters left Soccer AM 1996 and has since forged a successful career as a radio presenter.
Gary Stevens: Another one of the original presenters, the former Tottenham defender left the show in 1996 and has since worked as a coach and pundit.
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