Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Stelling it like it is – Jeff is one of us
The tributes have been rightly rolling in for the much-loved Jeff Stelling, who, after 25 years of doing incomparable live broadcasting on Sky’s Soccer Saturday, has called it a day. Jeff has been much loved because he feels like one of us. I’ll never forget this epic rant in 2007 after Middlesbrough was labelled the worst place to live by snobs on Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location.
“The people who compile this tosh are the type who only go north of Rickmansworth to visit the Edinburgh Fringe and think everyone in the north of England lives in Coronation Streetstyle terraces.
“The type who buy skinny lattes and call their mushy peas guacamole.
“The type that go to the Ganges on holiday so some bearded bloke can sit them cross-legged and teach them to relax. The sort that use their Blackberries on silent carriages on British Rail. They’ve never even been to Middlesbrough,” Jeff said, before listing its attractions and concluding: “OK, it’s not as nice as Hartlepool, but I tell you – Middlesbrough is a darn fine place to live.”
And you are the finest of sports journalists, Jeff. Good luck in whatever you do next.
Watching footage of the annual cheese-rolling festival in Brockworth, where dozens of people hurtle foolishly downhill to capture a seven pound wheel of double Gloucester, I was struck by this thought: If Ann Widdecombe was in power would she be holding this as a weekly event across the land to prove that everyone has the chance to make a cheese sandwich if they will only get off their backsides and chase one?
PHONE’S ROLE IN PARTYGATE
What’s that noise? Ring Ring? Isn’t that an Abba song? Great theme for a drunken shindig