Jelleyman’s Thrown a Wobbly: Saturday Afternoons in Front of the Telly

The redoubtable Alastair Campbell doesn't need me climbing aboard his bandwagon, but I couldn't help noticing that he wrote a letter to the Guardian this week in which he all but called for Jeff Stelling, the presenter of Sky's Soccer Saturday, to be canonised. Apparently, Campbell was asked a whimsical question before the last general election in 2005: if the New Labour campaign were a person, who would he like it to be? He said, ‘Jeff Stelling,’ to the consternation of those who didn't know Soccer Saturday from a row of onions. For what it's worth, I'm with him all the way. Stelling is a genius. And a cheerful genius, which makes him an even rarer animal. Soccer Saturday has to be the most difficult programme of all to present, but he makes it look a doddle. I'd canonise him, give him a peerage, and make him Rear of the Year.

BRIAN VINER, THE INDEPENDENT

[Soccer Saturday] sidekicks have included Rodney Marsh – who once drank 23 bottles of champagne in one session with Malcolm Allison – and George Best, who once took Miss World back to her hotel room, threw £25,000 up in the air and was asked: ‘Where did it all go wrong?’ They were playmakers and playboys, legendary hell-raisers who wouldn't be tamed. Until they met Jeff Stelling.

DAILY MAIL

Jeff Stelling, a man of almost average height and equable temperament, is charged with holding [the show] together.

BILL BORROWS, THE INDEPENDENT

Sky's Soccer Saturday, said one of the backroom boys, is a bit like the proverbial swan: all calm on screen while everywhere out of shot, people paddle frantically to keep Britain's longest weekly programme afloat.