Andy Goldstein recalls moment he thought 'this is awful' as he presented Soccer AM
Former Soccer AM host Andy Goldstein has admitted he is not particularly sad to see the programme axed.
Soccer AM has been a fixture of weekend football television for almost 30 years - almost as long as the Premier League - but it will soon be a thing of the past.
The show will air for the final time on Saturday after Sky Sports took the decision to axe the programme.
Goldstein, now a radio presenter at talkSPORT, hosted the show for a brief period between 2007 and 2008.
Advert
He replaced cult presenter Tim Lovejoy - who had presented the show alongside Helen Chamberlain since 1996 - but admitted that the show lost its magic without his predecessor.
Asked on talkSPORT whether he’s sad to see Soccer AM go, Goldstein replied: “Erm… no, not really.
"I mean, I was honoured to be part of it. I much preferred the Friday night show [Soccer AM spin-off 'All-Sports Show'], I did four years of that.
"The problem was that when I took over [on Soccer AM] from Tim, it was a little bit like David Moyes taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson – you’re on a hiding to nothing.
"But when Tim left he also took all the writers with him, so I turned up and there was just blueprint whosoever left of that show, and I didn’t really enjoy it.
"I remember about four or five weeks in, I was sitting on the couch just thinking, ‘This is awful’, which is really sad because it was just such a phenomenon.
"Tim and Helen were just unbelievable doing that show, and then there was me sitting on the famous orange sofa with the dream job thinking, ‘Oh, it’s not as good as when I used to watch it’.
"I was really honoured to be part of it. I made lots of friends and I still speak to the gang - Tubes, Rocket and Adam as well.
"I'm really honoured that it’s on my CV, but I haven’t watched it for years. And not for any other reason other than I just don’t have time to sit in front of the telly on a Saturday morning.
"But yeah, sad that it’s finished because it was an unbelievable show and we all grew up with it.”
Topics: Sky Sports, Premier League, Pep Guardiola
Alex Brotherton