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Sport

01st Oct 2016

Dimitri Payet does some stepovers and Phil Thompson loses his shit on Soccer Saturday

Oh Jeff, you won't believe it

Rob Burnett

Ah, Soccer Saturday. Jeff and the lads. Kammy. “Tizz”. Merse. Unbelieveable Jeff! Hartlepool.

It’s all about the #bantz on Sky’s flagship Saturday afternoon football show with absolutely no football in it.

But somehow it works. Yes, in recent years it has turned into a slightly nauseating mix of overly familiar laughing punctuated only by louder and louder exaltations of “GOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!!” from one of the ‘lads’ – who must be off camera when shouting (it’s just the rules), but what else are you going to do on a Saturday?

Phil Thompson is one of the chief ‘lads’ and usually squeezes his anecdotes about being Gerard Houllier’s assistant at Liverpool 15 years ago in between Charlie Nicholas’s incessant use of the phrase “and you’re sitting there thinking to yourself”.

Today Tommo (Jeff and the other lads call him ‘Tommo’ cos they’re all such great mates), got a little over-excited while he was watching West Ham’s match with Middlesbrough.

As Jeff was reading out some score from League Four or whatever, ‘Tommo’ could be heard in the background (off camera, as per the rule mentioned earlier) saying “Stepover! Stepover! Stepover!” at an increasingly higher volume until Jeff was forced to cut to him.

He continued: “Stepover! Stepover! Stepover! Stepover! Stepover… Ah! What a goal!”

Dimitri Payet had scored. And ‘Tommo’ loved it.

Top punditing, ‘Tommo’.

Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live right here…