Chris Kamara agrees with long-time friend and colleague Jeff Stelling on the iconic presenter’s most embarrassing gaffe. Kamara, as match reporter, and Stelling, as host, were a legendary combination on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday.
Drama and hilarious moments were in equal supply as the pair combined to conjure up TV gold. Once, Stelling was left red-faced after he was corrected by Kamara for momentarily forgetting that West Ham had moved to the London Stadium from Upton Park. Stelling light-heartedly dubbed it the “lowest point” of his media career. Kamara agrees with his great friend, telling the Daily Star: “Yeah, it’s true, it probably was the lowest point in his career!” But the 67-year-old added: “We had so many laughs along the way, too many to mention. What a great time we had, the best of it all.
“And those memories and the way people treat myself and Jeff these days, they obviously enjoyed it as well. So that’s a great thing.”
Kamara also expressed gratitude for the public’s affection towards his catchphrase, “Unbelievable Jeff!” He revealed that even now, people continue to reference the phrase. He said: “If I go out every single day, somebody will say, ‘Unbelievable Jeff’. And they go, ‘You must be fed up with that?'”
However, that isn’t the case. He added: “No, I’m not, not at all. I’m proud of it, if I’m honest, to have a catchphrase that’s got longevity. Don’t knock it.”
Kamara also opened up about his emotional return to television after leaving Sky due to his battle with apraxia of speech, reuniting with Stelling on Amazon Prime Video’s Boxing Day coverage for Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham.
“That was great, absolutely great. I couldn’t believe it,” said Kamara, who continues to manage his apraxia symptoms, which affect sufferers’ ability to plan and coordinate the movements needed to produce speech.
“I thought it was a wind-up when I got the call from Amazon. They said, ‘We’ve got an idea. Because it’s our last round of games, and Sky have got all the future Christmas games and stuff… we’ve got an idea, we’re going to get you reporting with Jeff in the studio.’
“I said, ‘Are you sure you want me back?’ And he went ‘Yeah, yeah we do.’ Nottingham Forest laid out the red carpet for me, put my picture on the big screen, ‘Welcome back, Kammy.’ They gave me boardroom tickets.
“It was just wonderful, and I said there and then if that is my last game, then so be it. The last game I did before that for Sky was when my condition was really bad, Rotherham versus Shrewsbury.”