Simon Thomas says following Jeff Stelling was ‘like replacing Fergie at United’
By Jonathan Veal, PA
Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday presenter Simon Thomas has likened him replacing Jeff Stelling to David Moyes following Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
Thomas took over from the hugely popular Stelling for the start of the 2023-24 season when the veteran broadcaster stepped away from fronting the Saturday afternoon results show after over 25 years in the chair.
Thomas, who took a break from presenting following the death of his wife in 2017, initially wanted to turn the job down, fearing he would have an “impossible job”, much like Moyes did at Old Trafford when he took over from the Scot in 2013.
“It was a little bit like replacing Fergie at United,” the 52-year-old told ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast. “You almost want to be the one after David Moyes.
“I’ll be really honest, I wanted to say no initially because I thought this is the impossible job. I remember when he announced he was leaving, everyone was saying good luck to whoever replaces him.
“But how can you turn it down?”
Thomas, who admitted he struggled with anxiety when returning to work following his wife’s death, fronted a rebrand of Soccer Saturday and admits he struggled in his first season.
“When I came to do Soccer Saturday, I knew I was in a better place but I’d say a lot of the first season I had a real struggle,” he said.
“There was a period when I thought ‘have I made a massive mistake here?’.
“It’s hard enough replacing Jeff, it’s massively hard taking on a show that’s six hours long and on a busy week you’re keeping across 71 games over six hours.
“It screws with your head and I did struggle a lot with it. I had to ride the storm and say this first season is going to be hard, I’m going to have to ignore all people that say ‘it’s rubbish now Jeff’s gone’ and ‘he’s not as good as Jeff, he’s not funny, he’s not this’.”
