Soccer AM finally finished last year after 30 years on our TV screens, but Mail Podcasts are getting the original crew back together.
That’s right, a brand new podcast has launched, fronted by Tim Lovejoy and Helen Chamberlain named Soccer A-Z, with the first episode out now – available wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube.
Lovejoy and Chamberlain hosted Soccer AM between 1996 and 2007, before the former left the show. Chamberlain continued for another decade prior to departing in 2017.
The programme was chaotic, raw and often littered with mistakes but its rough edge and laid-back attitude was the perfect way to kick off a weekend at its peak, and now Lovejoy and Chamberlain have reunited to take a nostalgic and hilarious dive into the beautiful game’s past and present.
Need a reminder of what made them such a unique duo on Soccer AM? Here Mail Sport looks at the best of them from down the years.
Soccer AM was axed last year but the original hosts Tim Lovejoy (right) and Helen Chamberlain (left) have joined forces again for a brand new Mail podcast, Soccer A-Z
Save Chip
One of the earliest features from the show was the Save Chip feature – which to many outside of the show’s following would have caused massive confusion.
I mean, who is Chip? Why does he need saving? And how come he has such a big following?
The origins of it were from presenter Lovejoy’s friend called ‘Chip’ and casually mentioning how he couldn’t watch as much football as he wanted to due to a hectic homelife.
It took just weeks before it became a huge hit of a story and an ongoing gag.
Supporters were often seen pinning up ‘Save Chip’ banners at football grounds while producers of the show would also end up finding the material as far out as Ashes cricket matches in Australia.
It was a classic case of football related content going viral in the 1990s well before the internet boom. It even appeared on a Football Manager game and an episode of EastEnders.
‘Save Chip’ banners were often seen around many football grounds in the early 2000s
Lovejoy gets punched in the face!
Live TV doesn’t always go perfectly, and this was one of those occasions.
Lovejoy was doing a sketch with two men dressed as Aussie Rules footballers while Chamberlain and the guests watched on from the sofa.
The Aussie Rules footballers were meant to turn on Lovejoy as a joke, but one of them certainly wasn’t supposed to give him a hard thump on the nose!
Lovejoy was left clutching his face as Chamberlain tried to hold back tears of laughter after what had just happened.
After a few more fake punches and kicks, Lovejoy did see the funny side, but it probably wasn’t what he was expecting when he turned up for work that morning!
‘Easy, Easy, Easy’
Another football viral chant of its time. And yet it was such a simple design – consisting of just one word on repeat.
Yet it caught on heavily. There were plenty of football grounds up and down the country in the 2000s where when a team went 2-0… or even 1-0 up the chant of ‘easy, easy, easy’ would soon follow.
But that too spread out away from football. Soccer AM fans soon ensured darts venues would become embroiled with the chant, while even Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday couldn’t help but get caught up in the moment when his beloved Hartlepool United would grab a lead.
Serge Pizzorno volley leaves Chamberlain speechless
Many will know Serge Pizzorno as a singer and guitarist from Kasabian, but he also produced a memorable moment on Soccer AM that left Chamberlain speechless.
At the end of each show, guests would get their chance to flick the ball up and try to volley the ball into a hole in the letter ‘b’ from the word ‘Wembley’ in the car park.
Very few ever came close to pulling it off, but Pizzorno casually stepped up with his rock star shoes on and smashed a volley sweetly through the hole.
Chamberlain could only laugh in amazement, while Pizzorno rightly milked the moment for all it was worth as he took his coat off and pretended to leave the show early to celebrate his remarkable strike.
Lovejoy struts on the catwalk
One of Lovejoy’s (many) lasting impacts on the show was his famous catwalk strut which lived on well past his exit.
Guests would go on to follow in his footsteps, while an annual dance-off was also introduced after his departure from the show.
It was simple enough, and borderline dad-dancing but everyone was doing it and Lovejoy himself couldn’t help but look back fondly on the dance on X recently.
He said: ‘Hands up if you’re keeping this dance alive.’
Current food mood pic.twitter.com/HuHMwdqt2S
— Helen Chamberlain (@HellsBellsy) March 30, 2020
Lovejoy (pictured at Glastonbury in 2008) and his team produced a popular segment with the annual dance-off off the back of him strutting along the catwalk
Third eye
Now any small thing that can happen at a sporting event can be picked up in a second on social media and be on everyone’s phone within minutes.
After all it only takes on eagle-eyed viewer to spot something unusual and as long as they have a smartphone, it’s instant video content that can be enjoyed by many.
Soccer AM, though, with Lovejoy and Chamberlain at the helm, had all of these already down to a tee with its ‘Third Eye’ feature, where they would take clips from football matches and spot the quirky elements of it you may have missed while watching it live – or if it was broadcast to the public at all.
Some of the classics included Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan scaring boss Sir Alex Ferguson by popping a stray balloon during a Manchester United game at Chelsea. Another also saw Rafa Benitez appear to spawn a Sky Sports graphic simply by making a tactical gesture with his hand.
Crossbar challenge
A very popular long-running feature of Lovejoy and Chamberlain’s era and with good reason – it was brilliant TV.
Not only did it show that even the best technical players could make fools of themselves on camera, but it would also give an unsung hero at the club the potential to look like a genius within the same time frame.
The premise was simple. Turn up at a team’s training ground and offer a team’s stars the chance to hit the crossbar from the halfway line.
Kevin De Bruyne didn’t fare well on the crossbar challenge during his Chelsea days
The teams clearly loved the element as well and it was often amusing to see their cackled laughter or group celebration pile-on depending on whether their team-mate fired one onto the nearest motorway or even just clipped the underside of the bar.
There was always at least one person that managed to do it, and often even some of the biggest names got it wrong. Looking back now it can be amusing to see that Chelsea’s Kevin De Bruyne was absolutely useless at it. No wonder Jose Mourinho sold him…
SOCCER A-Z launched 4th September. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or on the Mail Sport YouTube channel now.
