Chris Kamara bemoans 'only five turning up' for Soccer Saturday reunion with Jeff Stelling

Wales Online

2 days ago

Chris Kamara bemoans 'only five turning up' for Soccer Saturday reunion with Jeff Stelling
Three years after he walked away from Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, Chris Kamara uploaded a picture he had with his former colleagues at a reunion
Chris Kamara recently arranged a reunion with his ex-Soccer Saturday colleagues
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA, Getty Images )
Chris Kamara has expressed his dismay after only five people turned up for the Soccer Saturday reunion he arranges every year.
The 67-year-old football pundit and former Sheffield United and Luton Town star was known for creating many amusing moments during his 24-year tenure on the show. Three years after leaving Soccer Saturday, Kamara shared an image from their recent gathering at a restaurant.
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Last year, he had organised a reunion that saw the likes of Alan McInally, Tony Cottee, Jeff Stelling, Phil Thompson and a Sky Sports producer join him. Fast forward to 2025, Kamara brought the gang back together again, this time with Charlie Nicholas, Geoff Shreeves, Bianca Westwood and the producer present.
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Absent were familiar faces from Soccer Saturday such as Thompson, Cottee, McInally, Paul Merson and Matt Le Tissier, who, presumably, had valid reasons for missing the event.
Kamara, nevertheless, appeared disappointed with the low number of ex-colleagues who turned up. Alongside the photo, he added the caption: "Soccer Saturday reunion dinner. Only five turned up. But still a fabulous night. Condo (producer), Champagne Charlie, Bianca and, of course, Unbelievable Jeff Stelling."
The use of a crying face emoji within his caption indicated his sadness at the sparse attendance. About five years have passed since Sky decided to refresh the Soccer Saturday line-up, bidding farewell to several longstanding pundits.
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Ahead of the 2020/21 season, Thompson, Nicholas and Le Tissier were let go from the show. Stelling, Kamara and Merson remained on the programme, while newcomers Adebayo Akinfenwa, Tim Sherwood, Robbie Fowler and Joleon Lescott joined as replacements.
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In 2022, Kamara departed Soccer Saturday following a speech apraxia diagnosis. Although he didn't return to the show, he made a comeback to live football TV on Boxing Day, where he appeared on Amazon Prime's Premier League coverage alongside Stelling, who stepped down from his Sky Sports position in 2023 after a 25-year tenure.
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Kamara shared his emotions about leaving Sky due to his condition, which slows down speech and thought processes, in a revealing interview with the Express. He said: "After 20 plus years of being the first ever in-vision reporter at a live football match, it was with sadness when I realised that I was no longer able to do what I had always taken for granted - just be me.
"At that time, I could hardly talk, wasn't able to remember the players names and was slurring my words. I knew then that I had to get help."
Chris Kamara left Sky Sports in 2022 after being diagnosed with speech apraxia
(Image: 2025 Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA )
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Kamara was overcome with emotion when he got the call from an Amazon Prime producer. Looking back on that moment, he added: "When my wife told me Amazon had been on the phone, I said, 'I know I am getting under your feet, but I'm not delivering parcels!'
"Seriously, Andrew Hornett [Amazon's senior coordinating producer] was on the phone asking me to work for Amazon Prime, covering the Forest v Spurs match with the unbelievable Jeff Stelling - and I loved it!
"No anxiety, no slurring, the game was good and Nottingham Forest treated me like a returning hero. So, if that's my last game as a reporter, what a way to go out.'