Jeff Stelling says 'I don't understand why' as he's perplexed by Sky Sports show axe

Sky Sports stalwart Jeff Stelling remains puzzled by the broacaster's decision to scrap fan-favourite football programme Goals on Sunday. Launched in 2000 with Chris Kamara at the helm, the beloved show aired for two decades and featured a variety of high-profile guests weekly.

Regularly graced by Stelling himself, the show also included the likes of Ben Shepherd from 2010 and up-and-coming presenters such as Laura Woods and Alex Scott towards its latter days, amongst others.

Yet, in a move that shocked many, Goals on Sunday fell victim to Sky Sports' cuts in 2020 - which included other segments such as Sunday Supplement and The Debate - pushing Kamara to cover live matches across the lower divisions instead.

Still baffled, Stelling laments in his memoir Saturday Afternoon Fever about the bewildering choice to axe the programme without an evident substitute. "From out of nowhere, it all began to go wrong for Kammy," penned Stelling.

"Sky axed Goals on Sunday, though to this day, I don't understand why. They certainly had nothing to replace it with. They kept the name alive for a segment shown on Sky Sports News but it bears no resemblance to the original.

"Previously, Kammy would always have been at the biggest in-vision game of the weekend, but now he found himself being sent to Championship or League One fixtures. He covered them with the same enthusiasm as he covered every game."

Kamara departed Sky in 2022 after a remarkable 24-year tenure, having faced challenges with apraxia, a rare neurological condition impacting his speech and coordination. Diagnosed in 2021, a year following his departure from Goals on Sunday, Kamara has been candid about the strain the disorder has placed on him.

"I apologised to my family, who were 100 per cent behind me, and they knew what was going on," Kamara confessed on This Morning. "But, inside your own head, you worry. You think you're going to be a burden. You think the worst things in the world. Once you get those out of your head, the only way you can do that is by talking to people, and people will reassure you."

Two years post-hiatus, Kamara is gearing up for a television comeback alongside his former co-host Shepherd in a new travel series. The show aims to reignite the chemistry they shared on Goals on Sunday, with Kamara expressing his readiness for the venture.

"The reaction I had was amazing. I thank every person out there who seems to get in touch and give support. I'm doing great, I've got everything back apart from the speed in my voice. I've got the fluency, the brain when you want to talk, it's not interrupted anymore, it's fluent," Kamara added.

"If you had met me before, you would think I always talked like this, but as he (Ben) knows, I would speak at 300 miles an hour and not stop to think about what I'd said, but now I have more time! But, that's alright I'm quite happy with that. I can get by. There's always someone worse off than you."

Saturday Afternoon Fever by Jeff Stelling (Headline, £22)