Midday to 6pm every Saturday during the Premier League season.Hosted by – Jeff Stelling.
I will start with the obvious, why does a football program that shows no football become the staple diet of all footy fans during the season?
Plenty of people (well, non football fans) have asked this question, my fiancé certainly has (she is not a football fan, but loves computer games and big screen TVs...I’m ok with it!) So me being me, I try to explain it...
...”It’s basically like a radio show but on the TV about football with ex pros (washed up and overweight) giving analysis of what happened between last Saturday and this Saturday, then they will watch a game each on their monitor and tell you what’s happening”
Now if someone described that to me and I had never seen the show, I would certainly think about watching it when Saturday comes, instead the reply comes...
...”but you aren’t watching football, you are watching old footballers, watch football and then tell you what they have seen?”
I would say.... “Yes! Isn’t it amazing?” She would say....“No... It sounds shit”
Now I’m ok with other people not getting it because I (and a few million others) love it, I love big Jeff hosting with his ridiculous bias towards Hartlepool FC and encyclopaedic knowledge of facts and stats , I love how they all take the piss out of Matt Le Tissier because after retiring from an amazing playing career he has no need to stick to a diet so has put on “1 or 2 pounds”, I love Paul Merson’s awful cockney rhyming slang like “He’s hit the beans on toast!”.I love the way that Phil Thompson’s opinion is ignored and even ridiculed despite having 7 league winners’ medals, 2 UEFA cups, 1 F.A cup, 3 European cups and even a Manager of the Month award.
I think the reason that it is loved so much is that even though these are ex pros, they are still just 4 blokes that love football discussing football, and they are having the same conversations that me and my mates have every time we go for a pint, only difference is, they are on the TV and getting paid for it. (Lucky bastards...ok, revised list of dream jobs in order 1- Professional Golfer, 2- Bugatti Veyron test driver, 3-Soccer Saturday panellist)
For those of you that don’t know it, there is a very compelling drinking game that can be played imaginatively called “The Soccer Saturday Drinking Game!” I have posted a link here for you to look at, but beware, if you play strictly to the rules you may very well end up dead, so drink with caution blah, blah, blah!
If you have never seen SS (this long for an acronym!) but love football then you should definitely watch this show and like me, you’ll end up saying stupid things like six hours is just too short!!
Marcus Mitchell - October 2010
