Jump to content

Soccer AM cancelled


Recommended Posts

Seems a bit strange to be starting a thread about it in 2023 as it’s been largely irrelevant for years now but the plug has finally been pulled on what was once one of the most watch tv shows in the U.K.

Like many on here I used to watch it every Saturday in the late 90’s/early to mid 00’s and it would really kick start the footballing weekend. The show would be 3 hours long and would always have great guests mixed up with hilarious slapstick gags from co presenters and  features like the “third eye” which caught funny moments people may not have spotted from the previous weeks games which were often hilarious. Overall it was a very good start to the weekend if you were planning on playing/watching football or even if you just wanted to enjoy a bit of Saturday morning high jinx.

That said, the show quite blatantly reinforced all the worst aspects of the football culture in the U.K. with misogyny at the very heart of it. First of all it was presented by Yorkie who had the slogan “it’s not for girls” which you were to see at every advert break. Secondly, the “Soccerette” feature was something I still can’t believe went on post Lovelyjoy era but here is a wee clip which summarises it petty nicely :

 

So, whilst the most watched football show in the country had an advert specifying “it’s not for girls” the show had no issue parading teenage girls about the show to be ogled at by rowdy football supporters and then interrogated by Lovejoy. Lovejoy would go on to ask the women how long they’d been together with their partners for and what ever the responses would be he would scream “it’ll never last” which would be cheered on further by the supporters before he would ask the woman to take a seat in the corner and would always pretend she had pinched his arse as she walked by. 
 

I remember Lovejoy would also regularly made the joke of “I had a female driving instructor, she taught me the seven point turn”.

I don’t remember having any issues with this back in day nor do I remember anyone actively campaigning against it but I’m pretty sure having such rampant misogyny on one of the most watched tv programmes in the country wasn’t particularly responsible. 
 

Does anyone else have any best/worst memories from the show?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Only time I’ve seen it there was some c**t called Tubes or something and I near put my foot through the telly.

I forgot to mention Tubes but that was another feature on the show that was hugely irresponsible. They used to have a running gag that involved him being banned from various pubs up and down the country because he liked to party a bit too much with regular pics and videos sent in of him being so wasted he couldn’t stand up. Needless to say he had a genuine drink problem that caused him and his family a great deal of distress and he required therapy before being able to knock the drink on the head altogether some years later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, throbber said:

I forgot to mention Tubes but that was another feature on the show that was hugely irresponsible. They used to have a running gag that involved him being banned from various pubs up and down the country because he liked to party a bit too much with regular pics and videos sent in of him being so wasted he couldn’t stand up. Needless to say he had a genuine drink problem that caused him and his family a great deal of distress and he required therapy before being able to knock the drink on the head altogether some years later.

Sure I also read he had some heart issues which he ended up in hospital with, not great for someone who was only in his 30s at the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Molotov said:

Terry Sullivan was the character. The actor was Brian Regan who had a downward trajectory into drugs and crime.

Aye, got jailed for being the get away driver in a murder. Mental.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soccer AM was excellent at its peak but as I said in the thread in the TV Forum, a product of its time and a bit cringey when looked back upon. Similar to TFI Friday, unmissable TV when you were younger but would not get away with half of it now 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, bobbykdy said:

Sure I also read he had some heart issues which he ended up in hospital with, not great for someone who was only in his 30s at the time.

Yeah it says he had a heart attack in 2018. I saw him do interview on YouTube and he didn’t mention soccer am glorifying his dangerous binging just that he’d go out after filming and people would always want to get him pished. It wasn’t necessarily the shows fault and obviously a part of a wider problem in the U.K. but still crazy to think back.

The soccerette would also be made to do a cat walk to the song of Mr Big stuff by Jean Knight and she’d remove her football strip to reveal the official soccerette T-shirt from the show. Not exactly xhamster but pretty fucking sleazy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The show peaked at Serge Pizzorno scoring the volley wearing a pair of winkle pickers. The credits should have run as he walked off into the carpark, and the show never to return again. 
 

Like most on here I’d imagine, I watched it religiously in the late 90’s into the 2000’s but haven’t seen it in years. I wasn’t actually aware it was still on, until I seen it had been cancelled earlier. 

Edited by MONKMAN
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jimmy Bullard ended up as a presenter on it for his hilarious antics in the Wigan Everton game where he squared up to Duncan Ferguson and did this hilarious leapfrog during a goal line scramble. Good times.
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...