Chris Kamara's sadness as 'only five turn up' to Soccer Saturday reunion dinner

Daily Mirror

a day ago

Many football fans still miss the old Sky Sports Soccer Saturday line-up, including Chris Kamara, who often tries to organise a get-together with his former colleagues
Beloved football pundit Chris Kamara was left disappointed after only five people turned up to his Soccer Saturday reunion. Kamara, 67, was one of the most popular pundits over the course of his 24 years on the show.
The former Sheffield United and Luton Town player provided all sorts of funny memories for the millions of people who tuned in. Three years on from walking away from the show, Kamara uploaded a photograph from their reunion.
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In April last year, Kamara arranged another Soccer Saturday get together which was attended by Alan McInally, Tony Cottee, Jeff Stelling, Phil Thompson and a Sky Sports producer.
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The Middlesbrough born pundit uploaded a picture of the 2025 reunion onto his social media pages. The producer was there again, as was Shreeves, Charlie Nicholas and Bianca Westwood.
Former Soccer Saturday pundits Thompson, Cottee, McInally, Paul Merson and Matt Le Tissier were nowhere to be seen on the day. It's likely that they had their reasons for not being able to attend.
Nevertheless, Kamara appeared to be disappointed with the turnout. Alongside the picture he posted, he wrote: "Soccer Saturday reunion dinner. Only five turned up. But still a fabulous night. Condo (producer), Champagne Charlie, Bianca and, of course, Unbelievable Jeff Stelling.'
He also added a crying face emoji to his post, suggesting he was rather sad with the low numbers. It's been close to five years since Sky shook up Soccer Saturday by overhauling their pundits.
Before the 2020/21 football season, Thompson, Nicholas and Le Tissier were sacked by the programme. Stelling, Camara and Merson were retained by the show, while the likes of Adebayo Akinfenwa, Tim Sherwood, Robbie Fowler and Joleon Lescott were brought in as replacements.
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Kamara left the show in 2022 after being diagnosed with speech apraxia. While he did not return to Soccer Saturday, he did make a return to live football television on Boxing Day.
He appeared on Amazon Prime's live Premier League coverage, where he was reunited with Stelling, who stepped down from his position at Sky Sports in 2023 after 25 years.
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In an interview with the Express, Kamara opened up about the sadness he felt when he walked away from Sky as a result of his condition, which slows down speech and thought processes.
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.'
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