Soccer Saturday Drops Matt Le Tissier, Phil Thompson & Charlie Nicholas For 2020-21 Season

SKY

Saturdays will never be the same again! News broke yesterday that SKY have dropped Matt Le Tissier, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas have been dropped from Soccer Saturday.

Unbelievable Jeff!

That’s 3 out of the 4 of the regular panel who will not be doing the punditry from this coming season. Paul Merson is the last man standing, along with host and presenter Jeff Stelling – Although according to some media, he’s considering leaving.

It’s sad times indeed. I can’t even tell you the first time I watched Soccer Saturday, it was such a long time ago. It’s seen a ton of pundits come and go, but for longer than I can remember the main 4 pundits have been Paul Merson, Matt Le Tissier, Phil Thomspon and Charlie Nicholas, being anchored by Jeff Stelling.

It has become a Saturday ritual for myself any so many others. The day of football usually starts with Soccer AM on a morning, Football Focus on BBC follows and then it’s Soccer Saturday until 5PM.

On Twitter all of the guys have confirmed their departures, all with positive messages.

One of my saddest days ever at Sky Sports with the departure of three of my best mates. They have been part of a team that for me was the best.

— Jeff Stelling (@JeffStelling) August 26, 2020

Who’s going to replace them? Nothing has been announced as of yet. I liked watching the guys, they have good chemistry. It’s like all of your mates talking about football, but it’s on TV. It’s hard to get this kind of chemistry on a show, it worked well so it’s strange to try to change that.

You can look at a show like Top Gear which has had it’s ups and downs since Clarkson, May and Hammond left – Lots of changes of presenters has happened since and it seems to have got some kind of stability. The people make the show, not the name.

Chris Kamara also tweeted, so I guess he’ll still be at the games giving analysis, and hopefully Bianca Westwood and the rest will be too.

I hope that Soccer Saturday is as good as ever, but there’s a chance it just won’t be the same.

Maybe this will mark the end of watching the show? We’ll have to wait until the start of first show to see.

Related: You can check out the best dressed pundits here, and the sky sports news presenters here.