Cult football programme Soccer AM is being cancelled by Sky after almost 30 years on air. The broadcaster has made the decision due to failing ratings.
The show will run until the end of the season with just a few episodes remaining. Staff were told on Tuesday that the 90-minute comedy talk show would be getting axed, The Mirror reports, along with a round of redundancies taking place.
Sky will replace Soccer AM with the programme Saturday Social, which was previously broadcast at 9:30am but will now go out an hour later. A spokesperson for Sky said: “Soccer AM has played an important role in our coverage of football for the past three decades, and we continually adapt to the evolving needs of our customers.
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"We now go into a period of consultation to discuss the proposed changes with our people. We are unable to provide more detail while these consultations are underway.”
It’s believed the decision has not gone down particularly well with figures at the channel. Current hosts John Fendley and Jimmy Bullard are reported to be "fuming" at the announcement.
A source talking to The Sun said: "It was a complete bombshell. Morale is at an all-time low, they are raging. It's going to be an interesting watch over the next few weeks."
Soccer AM was originally launched back in 1995 with Russ Williams and Helen Chamberlain appointed as the original hosts. Tim Lovejoy replaced the former just two years into the show's run.
Since then Andy Goldstein, Max Rushden and Lloyd Griffiths have all stepped into a presenting role - with Chamberlain herself hosting until 2017. The current team accompanies Fendley and former Premier League midfielder Bullard.
A number of regular features on the programme became cult offerings such as the Fans of the Week, the Car Park Game and the Soccerette. The segment was dropped in 2015 after facing severe criticism.
Another popular segment was the Crossbar Challenge where teams were visited in the build-up to Saturday's broadcast with a number of professionals attempting to strike the crossbar from distance. Celebrity guests were also a regular feature whilst popular host Tubes - real name Peter Dale - found fame on the programme.
Speaking to Mirror Sport, current host Bullard revealed how testing it was to keep the programme relevant in an ever-changing landscape. He said: "It's hard trying to refresh a show every single week with all the new material. We also sling in there a bit of comedy and also us being serious doing nice chats so putting it all together is not easy.
"What you have to remember is that the show is the start of a lot of people's mornings on a Saturday. For the show to last more than 25 years is phenomenal really."
Despite huge popularity, interest in Soccer AM has dwindled over recent years. Ratings have decreased, whilst the average broadcast time has also gone down. Between 1995 and 2001, the programme broadcast for an average of 240 minutes but that has dropped steadily since then with a 90-minute broadcast on offer now.
Former host Lovejoy previously revealed that he rarely tunes in anymore since his own departure. Speaking in an interview with The Athletic in 2020, he said: “I stopped watching it when I left, it was too hard to watch it. I tune in every now and then because Fenners is on it and I want to support him.
"Again, another crap analogy, it’s like watching your old girlfriend with another man. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t watch it. So I stopped watching it totally. And then I started tuning in again to watch Fenners, because obviously I worked with him for years and he’s a top bloke.
“It’s too hard for me because I watch it all and I want to join in with it. I’d really like to input on the show and put stuff on there and I find it too hard.”
The decision to axe Soccer AM is just the latest in a long line of calls made by Sky bosses over recent years. Programmes such as The Sunday Supplement, Goals on Sunday and The Debate have all been taken from screens.
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