End of an era: Soccer AM to be axed by Sky

[phantom]

It's been announced this show is finally being put to bed 

After 30 years the series will end in 10 weeks 

I'm sure everyone will agree that in the days of Tim Lovejoy and Helen Chamberlain it was really well worth a watch but over the past few years it's been just too painful to watch 

 

 

[cidercity1987]

Perfectly captured 1990's and 2000's culture, which is no longer applicable today

Right decision

[Northern Red]

I genuinely didn't realise it was still going. I'd given up on it long before even Lovejoy left.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Northern Red

[Super]

I used to always watch it with TL and HC. Now with Bullard it is garbage. Correct decision.

[lenred]

I actually think it’s got a lot better recently.  I like Fenners and Bullard.   Quite saddened it’s going.  

[Rossi the Robin]

Always makes me laugh

[headhunter]

 

Soccer AM is set to be shelved after almost 30 years as part of a drastic Sky Sports shake-up.

Staff were reportedly told on Tuesday that the show was to wrap up at the end of the current season. 

Full article here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11889513/Soccer-AXED-end-season-shake-up.html 

[elhombrecito]

About time, it is absolutely awful.

[Coxy27]

I think that era ended a long time ago;

A bit like the Simpsons, new episodes created for many years too long!

[Sixtyseconds]

Should do a soccer PM.

Late night viewing.

Taking penalties against babes in lingerie.

[TBW]

59 minutes ago, Sixtyseconds said:

Should do a soccer PM.

Late night viewing.

Taking penalties against babes in lingerie.

Uhhh-- what?

[Mendip Broadwalk]

Bring back the Soccerettes.

[Kodjias Wrist]

1 hour ago, elhombrecito said:

About time, it is absolutely awful.

Yeah if it stopped trying to be funny it would be a decent show i think. The comedy value was extremely low.

[2015]

Was good in its time (late 90s, early 00s). Tim Lovejoy could see it was only going one way as that time had past. Been absolutely awful ever since, has slowly got worse and worse. Too many try hards.

[CyderInACan]

17 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Was good in its time (late 90s, early 00s).

Absolutely. Been flogging a dead horse for waaay too long now though. 

[Mike Stone]

Hopefully no more Jimmy Bullard on TV ever again then

[robinforlife2]

Used to enjoy it when I was younger, mainly third eye, and the fans involvement, but it's long been on the decline and it's surprising it wasn't axed years ago. 

[Red white and red]

Should have been cancelled about 10-15 years ago. Absolute shite! 

[The Coach]

Well overdue. 

Loved it back in the day. Soccer AM from 9-12. Down AG, few drinks in the old Dolman hall. Followed by watching us play likes of Port Vale and Tranmere at home.

Good old days! Very different days mind

[Robbored]

3 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Perfectly captured 1990's and 2000's culture, which is no longer applicable today

Right decision

Absolutely.

I gave up watching it years ago. 

[Leveller]

Never heard of it - but then I’ve never subscribed to Sky.

[Super]

20 minutes ago, Leveller said:

Never heard of it - but then I’ve never subscribed to Sky.

A Soccer programme on in the morning........

[Davefevs]

It was Football Tiswas in its heyday.

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It was Football Tiswas in its heyday.

Never the same after Lovejoy left. 

[Glen hump]

1 hour ago, Mike Stone said:

Hopefully no more Jimmy Bullard on TV ever again then

Yep can’t take to the bloke, comes across as a bit of a ****.

[shelts]

It was great back in the day like and a must watch before a City game . I do like Fenners impression o Jeff Stelling . Painful to watch now . 

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, shelts said:

It was great back in the day like and a must watch before a City game . I do like Fenners impression o Jeff Stelling . Painful to watch now . 

It was but we’ve all moved on since those days as tastes change.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

It's a bit crap now tbh. 

[arrytheb]

4 hours ago, Rossi the Robin said:

Always makes me laugh

That's about the same picture quality as the matches in sky red button 

[Northern Red]

Save Chip was a successful viral meme before social media was ever a thing.

[Leveller]

52 minutes ago, Super said:

A Soccer programme on in the morning........

I worked that out! Was it just on a Saturday?

[Leveller]

If Sky have used the Soccer name for 30 years, why do so many younger fans (wrongly) think it’s an Americanism?

[Loco Rojo]

Funny for 1 season then rinse and repeat the same gags and format forever more. 

Terrible show.

[Davefevs]

38 minutes ago, Robbored said:

It was but we’ve all moved on since those days as tastes change.

Bit like The Young Ones, incredible at the time, watch it back now, its dated badly!

[Super]

14 minutes ago, Leveller said:

I worked that out! Was it just on a Saturday?

Yes

[Red-Robbo]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Never the same after Lovejoy left. 

C'mon. He had a dodgy antiques business to run. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

C'mon. He had a dodgy antiques business to run. 

Ooooh, you Tinker

[pillred]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Bit like The Young Ones, incredible at the time, watch it back now, its dated badly!

Even Blackadder which at the time I thought was laugh out loud funny hasn't aged well which considering it was set in the past is ironic tastes change, or is it just us? 

[Mr X]

11 minutes ago, pillred said:

Even Blackadder which at the time I thought was laugh out loud funny hasn't aged well which considering it was set in the past is ironic tastes change, or is it just us? 

It's the same with The Inbetweeners and that was out only 10-15 years ago and I've seen disclaimers for offensive language/homophobia before it's been shown on TV.  

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Mr X said:

It's the same with The Inbetweeners and that was out only 10-15 years ago and I've seen disclaimers for offensive language/homophobia before it's been shown on TV.  

Nah, I sit there sniggering at it just like I did first time around.  And it’s one of the few tv comedies, certainly laddish comedies, that Mrs F chuckles at too.

[Robbored]

3 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

C'mon. He had a dodgy antiques business to run. 

Not many will get that RR…………….

[David Brent]

Saw an episode years ago. The constant shouting from the audience made it very difficult to watch. I’m surprised it lasted as long as it has. 

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

4 hours ago, Leveller said:

I worked that out! Was it just on a Saturday?

There was a Soccer PM on Friday nights for a while back when it was good.

Late 90s/early 2000s was it’s heyday. I actually used to sacrifice a lie in to watch it.

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

4 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Bit like The Young Ones, incredible at the time, watch it back now, its dated badly!

Even by the 90s it had dated quite a bit.

Saying that, the first time I watched it I nearly gave myself an asthma attack laughing at Vyvian demonstrating why you shouldn’t put your head out of a moving train window.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan

[bcfcredandwhite]

I used to enjoy watching the showboat back in the day  

Not really bothered now though - hardly ever watch it these days and NEVER from start to finish. 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

My son watches it now and I catch bits of it, which are sometimes really quite amusing.

[sglosbcfc]

I proposed to the Mrs on the show back in 2008 and so I am sad it has gone. That said, I've barely watched it in the past ten years and I don't think they could replicate my TV magic so it was downhill from then. Perfect day topped off with a victory at Watford after a late goal for the mighty reds.

[Slacker]

6 hours ago, sglosbcfc said:

I proposed to the Mrs on the show back in 2008 and so I am sad it has gone. That said, I've barely watched it in the past ten years and I don't think they could replicate my TV magic so it was downhill from then. Perfect day topped off with a victory at Watford after a late goal for the mighty reds.

Did the proposal go well or did she say yes?

[RedM]

20 hours ago, Northern Red said:

I genuinely didn't realise it was still going. I'd given up on it long before even Lovejoy left.

Same. IfI was younger I would just think I outgrew the format, but I am old enough to know better. It just got tired, juvenile and cringy. Rinse and repeat.

[Tinmans Love Child]

20 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Perfectly captured 1990's and 2000's culture, which is no longer applicable today

Right decision

Along with Big Breakfast, this really was a British show of its time, the 90's were pre internet and mobiles for most people, and i think the 90's really was the end of an era in many ways.  
 

Its a shame the collective TV watch by the public has largely disappeared due to streaming etc and we are now engulfed by the same Tv programmes as the rest of the world.  Live Breakfast Tv was immense in the 90's!

[Tinmans Love Child]

12 hours ago, Mr X said:

It's the same with The Inbetweeners and that was out only 10-15 years ago and I've seen disclaimers for offensive language/homophobia before it's been shown on TV.  

I still laugh at the Inbetweeners but it's amazing that in such a short space of time, the world has moved on in terms of what is deemed acceptable, and I genuinely think it wouldn't get made now and certainly not in the same way.

If you watch Little Britain now it has aged terribly

Edited March 23, 2023 by Tinmans Love Child

[Taz]

Been on it's ass for years. I actually didn't realise it was still going until a few years ago, switched it on ready for a chuckle and just looked on and thought "WTF".

It's time to put it to sleep. They've been cruel to let it live this long...

[Lew-T]

18 hours ago, The Coach said:

Well overdue. 

Loved it back in the day. Soccer AM from 9-12. Down AG, few drinks in the old Dolman hall. Followed by watching us play likes of Port Vale and Tranmere at home.

Good old days! Very different days mind

This was pretty much my routine! Loved it when growing up. 
 

Stan Hibbert

Barry Proudfoot

Sheephead with the weather 

Tubes question

Catwalk

Xmas dance off

[phantom]

19 hours ago, Leveller said:

If Sky have used the Soccer name for 30 years, why do so many younger fans (wrongly) think it’s an Americanism?

Honestly never thought of that before reading this - is an interesting point

[spudski]

4 hours ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Along with Big Breakfast, this really was a British show of its time, the 90's were pre internet and mobiles for most people, and i think the 90's really was the end of an era in many ways.  
 

Its a shame the collective TV watch by the public has largely disappeared due to streaming etc and we are now engulfed by the same Tv programmes as the rest of the world.  Live Breakfast Tv was immense in the 90's!

TV now has just become so ' vanilla'... 

Inbetweeners, the fast show, little Britain...so funny, still is imo. 

And who can't remember the Big Breakfast. Bring it all back. Fed up of cancelling everything because someone might get offended

Remember this...

 

[Red Shadow]

54 minutes ago, phantom said:

Honestly never thought of that before reading this - is an interesting point

I  think the name Soccer was used when football first organised itself into league form back in the 1880s/90s. This was to distinguish it from rugby football. I suppose the names just morphed into football and rugby eventually. I've just had a thought when I was in junior school (1960s) we used to call it footer. Was that a thing or maybe just at my school?

[petehinton]

Was genuinely unmissable back in the day. 
 

listened to an interview with Helen Chamberlain a few years back, and she talked at length about the evolution of the show and basically said the growth of social media is what started their downfall. Tekkers, big tackle, third eye etc were all hugely popular, but they soon became stuff that everyone had already seen hours after it happened rather than the following week on the show. 
 

A lot of change in the world too, so a lot of things done/said wouldn’t wash with the Sky execs as time went on too. I think when it dropped from 3 hours a show to 2 hours that was when the writing began going up on the wall. 

[bearded_red]

So Inbetweeners is the latest thing that people have just decided has been ‘cancelled’. Even though you can barely flick through the channels any night without stumbling on it.

And rightly so, as it remains absolutely hilarious.

[!james]

20 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Was genuinely unmissable back in the day. 
 

listened to an interview with Helen Chamberlain a few years back, and she talked at length about the evolution of the show and basically said the growth of social media is what started their downfall. Tekkers, big tackle, third eye etc were all hugely popular, but they soon became stuff that everyone had already seen hours after it happened rather than the following week on the show. 
 

A lot of change in the world too, so a lot of things done/said wouldn’t wash with the Sky execs as time went on too. I think when it dropped from 3 hours a show to 2 hours that was when the writing began going up on the wall. 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/23/soccer-am-was-not-just-laddish-banter-it-changed-my-life-and-gave-soul-to-saturdays

Good article here from Max Rushden saying the same thing about social media

[City Rocker]

7 hours ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

Along with Big Breakfast, this really was a British show of its time, the 90's were pre internet and mobiles for most people, and i think the 90's really was the end of an era in many ways.  
 

Its a shame the collective TV watch by the public has largely disappeared due to streaming etc and we are now engulfed by the same Tv programmes as the rest of the world.  Live Breakfast Tv was immense in the 90's!

Quite right, Soccer AM was a big part of the 90s Zeitgeist - the vibrant red white and blue of Britpop, Blair, TFI Friday, Trainspotting, Euro 96, Loaded, lads and ladettes, etc.

Some of these have aged better than others - you decide which!

By the way, the terms 'soccer' and 'football' were both commonly used and fairly interchangeable when I was a child in the 70s, so I've never understood why people have a problem with soccer.

[shahanshahan]

I missed out on the Lovejoy era, so Max Rushden was my first co-host I watched when I got into City/the show.

Pleased I managed to get a third eye in. Think I still have a Franky Fryer shirt somewhere...

 

[DaveF]

8 hours ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

If you watch Little Britain now it has aged terribly

Little Britain was always shite.

[MC RISK77]

3 hours ago, bearded_red said:

So Inbetweeners is the latest thing that people have just decided has been ‘cancelled’. Even though you can barely flick through the channels any night without stumbling on it.

And rightly so, as it remains absolutely hilarious.

I keep fearing that Only Fools and Horses will be taken off gold before too long- can’t believe it has lasted this long on daytime television.

[Tinmans Love Child]

4 hours ago, spudski said:

TV now has just become so ' vanilla'... 

Inbetweeners, the fast show, little Britain...so funny, still is imo. 

And who can't remember the Big Breakfast. Bring it all back. Fed up of cancelling everything because someone might get offended

Remember this...

 

I think I can still remember the address (without googling)

4 Old Lock Keepers Cottages

London 

E3 2NN

 

[Eddie Hitler]

56 minutes ago, DaveF said:

Little Britain was always shite.

 

Its first radio series was absolutely superb. The pilot radio episode was possibly the funniest half hour of radio comedy ever.

Try to forget the appalling TV series it spawned and give this a go.

 

 

The TV show however was little more than a parade of grotesques, with David Walliam's "old lady pissing herself" possibly the worst of the lot.

It was like a pair of morons had listened to the radio show and tried to copy it.

 

Soccer AM should have been chopped years ago, like Fantasy Football it was hilarious in its day but that day was the 1990s.

[Lew-T]

53 minutes ago, MC RISK77 said:

I keep fearing that Only Fools and Horses will be taken off gold before too long- can’t believe it has lasted this long on daytime television.

The inflatable dolls one especially

[jj77]

Who can forget Candice? 

[CyderInACan]

22 hours ago, pillred said:

Even Blackadder which at the time I thought was laugh out loud funny hasn't aged well which considering it was set in the past is ironic tastes change, or is it just us? 

Disagree. I think Blackadder has totally stood the test of time. 

[Leveller]

5 hours ago, Red Shadow said:

I  think the name Soccer was used when football first organised itself into league form back in the 1880s/90s. This was to distinguish it from rugby football. I suppose the names just morphed into football and rugby eventually. I've just had a thought when I was in junior school (1960s) we used to call it footer. Was that a thing or maybe just at my school?

In the early 19th century days before codified rules, there were different types of football played in different places including public schools. The split was back in the 1860s though. Handling the ball was quite common at Rugby school and some others. So they went one way while others banned handling and set up the Football Association. Soccer comes from the abbreviation of Association, in parallel with the abbreviation of Rugby to "rugger", which is less often heard now. One sport evolved into two, and soccer and rugger were the common names used to distinguish the two, at least at public schools, though I think football was always used more amongst the working class clubs.

"Footer" was certainly used in the early twentieth century, but not just for soccer. "Footer bags" were football shorts!

“The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: "Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?”

"The Code of the Woosters" (PG Wodehouse, satirising Oswald Moseley and his Blackshirts, in the ludicrous figure of Roderick Spode and his Blackshorts).

Edited March 23, 2023 by Leveller

[Guest]

Oh when Tim Lovejoy had hair, those were the days... the end of an era and about time.

Now Sky just need to get rid of "Fantasy Football League", it's hardly Baddiel and Skinner.