SOCCER AM is one of Britain’s most loved football programmes.
The show ran from 1994 to 2023 on Sky Sports and became a cultural phenomenon.
James Long – better known as Rocket – spent 19 years on it and was the brains behind Skill School, as well as producing Crossbar Challenge.
And he wants to relive the glory days with a new show called Soccer PM, which stands for Soccer Programme Memories.
He told talkSPORT: “The show’s been off air for a whole season now. And I think a lot of fans, especially myself, missed it.
“I left when Helen [Chamberlain, a former presenter] left. So that was about seven years ago.
“But I just feel like there’s a void in our lives on a Saturday morning. Without seeing either Helen, Tim [Lovejoy], Max [Rushden], Fenners [John Fendley], [Jimmy] Bullard, whoever it was that presented the show. Now it’s gone.
“This show is very much a look back at the glory days of Soccer AM and what people loved about it.
“So the plan is to interview old Soccer AM crew members, presenters, guests, regular guests that were on the show, maybe chat to some old Soccerettes that have gone on to be CEOs of companies or fans of the week that have got a funny story to tell about their time on the show.
“So it’s just a trip down memory lane, a bit of nostalgia and ultimately a bit of fun.”
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Rocket shared some of his experiences of life behind the cameras on Soccer AM.
He added: “Back in the day, the show was four hours long when it first started.
“I went in as a 15-year-old on work experience and some of the things that you’d see, just going on behind the scenes… because you’d have up-and-coming bands, bringing in groupies, you’d have fans of the week, just getting dressed naked in the corridor, Scottish fans with their kilts, and you’re just like, what is going on? This is just mad.
“But it was great. It was what made the show what it was.
“The excitement, the buzz, and everyone was excited to be on TV. And I just want to try and tap into the people that were involved.”
Rocket went out on the road filming with players – an area where Soccer AM was ahead of its time.
He remembered: “I once got chased out of Luton by the players because we were filming the Crossbar Challenge and one of the players came up to me and went, ‘Rocket, we’re going to debag you after this’.
“But the Skill School was different because that was my concept and that ran for about six years and managed to get in clubs where Jordan Henderson was an academy member at Sunderland.
“And then you had Raheem Sterling. We had Tyrone Mings and I used to love rocking up to the academies because all the boys would be buzzing.
“I loved doing those. I loved getting into academies and football clubs and I think that’s what we want to try and do a little bit of as well.”
