Simon Thomas says Sky Sports offered him ‘impossible job’ that he wanted to turn down

Simon Thomas has opened up about the difficulties of succeeding legendary Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling after two seasons of hosting the popular football scores show

Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday host Simon Thomas has described replacing Jeff Stelling as an “impossible job”. Thomas even likened stepping into his current role after the legendary presenter’s departure to David Moyes having to follow Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

Moyes was famously handpicked by Sir Alex after the latter retired as the manager of the Red Devils in 2013. The Scotsman had led the club for 27 glorious years, winning 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.

Yet, Ferguson’s chosen successor and compatriot would struggle to fill his great shoes and was ultimately sacked before the end of his first season in charge after failing to inspire his United side to good results.

In the same vein, Stelling had fronted the Saturday afternoon football results show for 25 years before announcing he would leave at the end of the 2022/23 season.

The veteran, who had provided so many iconic moments in those years, walked away amid an array of other significant changes to the show – including many of his close on-screen friends being moved on – and leaving successor Thomas feeling enormous pressure.

The 52-year-old told ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast: “It was a little bit like replacing Fergie at United. 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 says he struggled with anxiety when he returned to work following his wife’s tragic death in 2017, and admitted his first season fronting a rebrand of Soccer Saturday was difficult.

He explained: “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.

“There was a period when I thought, ‘Have I made a massive mistake here?’”

Stelling, 70, had initially said he would step down a year earlier, only to continue his iconic role for another year. From December 2023, he began presenting talkSPORT’s breakfast show alongside Ally McCoist.

Thomas went on to add: “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.’”

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