No Soccer Saturday, nothing to focus on or look forward to, it’s getting so hard for everyone... even H’Angus the Monkey has been furloughed

JEFF STELLING is a wonderful football institution every Saturday afternoon.

But for the last month, no Soccer Saturday has been a stark reminder of just how much the nation has been missing football. Lifelong Hartlepool fan Stelling, like the rest of us, has been lamenting the absence of the beautiful game and says even his club’s mascot, H’Angus the Monkey, has been put on furlough. “Lower league clubs, they are the heartbeat of the community,” said Stelling. “Saturday afternoons and Tuesday nights are the focus of the whole community in the way it brings everyone together, and time people situation.

“There’s a focus, a reason for being. The number of people who have come up to me – before self isolation, I must say – asking, ‘What will we do on Saturday now? No football, no Soccer Saturday’.

“Sometimes it’s hard to it’s the only get in that keep track of the days. I look forward to Saturday because of football. Sunday has games as well, and now there’s nothing to set them apart. There’s no focus any more.

“Within those communities, in terms of jobs and the burger sellers, the stewards... H’Angus the Monkey is our mascot and even he’s been put on furlough.

“Football gives you something to look forward to no matter how rotten your side may be.

“It gives you something to look forward to no matter how miserable you may be feeling.”

Stelling is a brilliant TV presenter. How he has made it so entertaining to watch a group of blokes screaming at games the rest of us cannot even see is anyone’s guess.

But it is just part of the fabric of football that we are missing because of the coronavirus. Stelling has put himself in lockdown at his home in Hampshire, away from his TV pals like Phil Thompson, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson and the rest.

He has been presenting the show for 26 years, first as Sports Saturday and now Soccer Saturday.

His quips, his love of Hartlepool and the connection he has with the others