To the untrained eye, Winchester's motorway service station, positioned as it is on the M3, is just a run-of-the-mill stop-off point: a loo break for passing travellers; a lunch haven for weary truckers travelling towards the south coast with a consignment of Kerry Katona-endorsed frozen lasagnes. Inside, there's not much more to pass the time than a Wimpy, some fruit machines, a WHSmith's and, in one corner, a modest branch of Costa Coffee. But despite these modest surroundings, it's from this very spot that most of my research for the well-oiled Soccer Saturday fact machine takes place.
Every week, with a stack of newspaper cuttings, stat packs and material downloaded from the World Wide Web (no, not that kind - not unless I'm researching a piece on Dwight Yorke's ex-girlfriends anyway), I'll load up on caffeine and absorb reams of info, figures and snippets of useless trivia. This is quite a down-at-heel environment in which to work, I know, and this revelation may come as a shock to some fans of the show, who, for reasons I cannot fathom, seem to think that I have a glamorous office at home, surrounded by up-to-the-minute data and TV screens playing sports bulletins and non-stop football. I wish. In fact, I have fantasized on many occasions about ‘The Stellodrome’ - an underground compound similar to the one used by Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man, its high-tech interior consisting of a cavern of HD plasma-screen TVs, with banks of blinking computers downloading the latest Opta Index stats. In one corner, a ‘Bat Phone’-style communications link even patches me through to the offices of Sir Alex Ferguson, Fabio Capello and Chris Kamara. Well, Chris Kamara at the very least.
The truth is far less glamorous. I can usually be found staring dolefully into a car park, the rain drizzling down the service station windows, as my latte turns cold. Kammy might ring on the mobile, and sometimes, if I'm feeling racy, I'll head into Winchester and take a corner in Caffè Nero. But generally much of the studio magic and preparation takes place from a plastic table in the corner of a food court, my thoughts interrupted only by the sound of a jackpot on the nearby ‘fruity’.
Why a service station, I hear you ask? Well, firstly, I live nearby, which means I can take a drive out there whenever I want, but I mainly visit this modest spot for a bit of peace and quiet. When I first started working on the show, my kids weren't quite school age and so doing any homework became problematic, especially as I found much of my research screwed into paper footballs and covered in a charming shade of pink crayon when my back was turned. Since then, Winchester Services has become a rather familiar makeshift office, though any ‘Stelling-ettes’ planning on mobbing me as I scan the sports pages of the South London Press should note that I tend to switch between the northbound and southbound stations, just to keep the stalkers on their toes.
Generally, I'm left to my own devices. Well, who would want to approach a man surrounded by bags stuffed with local newspapers and magazines? Occasionally people will recognize me, but they'll usually pass me off as ‘someone who looks like that bloke from the football show on the telly, only he's a lot shorter’, which suits me fine. I have a week's worth of news to go through, not to mention all the results, league tables and goalscorers from the previous weekend, so the less hassle the better.
In reality, this is probably the hardest part of the job - I get the groundwork done in the week so I have all the info at hand when it comes to Saturday afternoon. A lot of people have asked me whether I memorize the stats and information I present on the show, but the truth is that, while I do have a certain amount of knowledge that I can bring to Soccer Saturday without any assistance, I also have a set of papers positioned discreetly on my desk, so I can refer to them at all times. Each sheet has statistical info on all the games being played that day, along with interesting facts and figures on the teams involved, and all the vital info including league positions, numbers of games won and top goalscorers.
OK, I think I know what you're thinking at this point: ‘Oh, I thought he properly memorized all that stuff. What a disappointment. To the BBC and Final Score!’ But hang on, no anchorman worth his salt could memorize all that info. And as they say in showbiz, it's not what you say, it's the way that you say it. So yes, I'll have the basic facts and figures to hand, but I'll also research pages of human interest stories and funny news to throw out to the panel. How else would we have covered The Good Doctor and Granny Mae (see Chapter Four), or uncovered Total Network Solutions in the Welsh Premier League?
Now, managing all of this on a regular League day can be a tricky business. Handling this data during the closing weeks of the season, when champions are crowned and teams are promoted and relegated, can be a bloody nightmare. Throw in UEFA Cup and Champions League qualification and you have yourself a plate-spinning act that even Paul Daniels would struggle to orchestrate.
Then, of course, some clubs are hoping for an Intertoto place or looking to sneak into Europe with an exemplary disciplinary record. Others are chasing the play-offs, so you have to be aware of all the possible combinations of results and their implications. So, for example, on the last day of 2007/08 a lot of interest focused on Bournemouth. They needed to win to stay up and would have done so, just as long as Gillingham didn't win. Obviously, I mentioned those facts. But I also looked for human interest stories to liven up the show – in this case, Bournemouth were in financial trouble at the time and their players had been on half pay, but they still managed to win their last six games under manager Kevin Bond, which was their best run since 1971 when John Bond – Kevin's dad – was their manager. Phew! I'm getting flustered just thinking about it now.
It's a tricky business to manage all this information, so I guess it can be a blessing that Scotland has usually closed for business by the end of the season. Before the Sky mail office starts getting bombarded with angry letters from north of the border, remember that many of the champions and relegated teams have been decided long before the season's close. Still, you try to pay the Scottish leagues lip service, but the relevant stats are more of a challenge than the English ones because very few websites feature the names of first-team players, let alone squad players. A lot of the teams outside of the Premier League will even have A. Trialist and B. Trialist on their books, unnamed players who are literally trying out for the team. I remember when one team even had ‘A. Trialist’ and ‘B. Trialist’ on the scoresheet, though I don't think they were related.
Generally I collate my own figures, but we also have a stats man from Sky who will give me an info package. There's a lot of stuff on these weighty stacks of paper – some of which I'll use, some of which I won't use, but I'll never take these stats packs into the studio because there's simply too much info on there. I'll sift through them during the week and maybe pick out anything I'm interested in. The fact, for example, that at one stage during the 2007/08 season Aston Villa scored 46 of their 69 goals in the second half of games might come in handy at some point, though I can't imagine when.
When I'm not at the Winchester services, the remainder of my research takes place in the office at Sky. On a Friday, I'll trawl the websites for new information and news stories. I'll keep up to date with injury news, transfer speculation, and all the topical information at each club. I'll also go through the papers again. From Sunday through to Friday I'll always read a handful of publications to grab a cross-reference of stories - The Times, the Sun and the Mail for news, the Racing Post because it's great for statistical information, and the Daily Record for Scottish stories.
When it comes to websites I'll look at the reputable ones. I won't bother with official club pages because they tend to be a bit too politically obtuse - they certainly won't give the gory details on any negative stories. I remember for the Aston Villa versus Wigan game at the end of 2007/08, the big talking point was whether Gareth Barry was going to Liverpool. The news sites were full of quotes and comment, but the official websites for both Liverpool and Villa were bereft of any info. Still, by going through all the available sources, I can throw the subject open to the panel on the Saturday for a serious debate and enter my own opinion, if necessary.
Generally, this is the way I plan the conversations for the show's build-up - the first three hours before the games kick-off. I'll decide where we want to go in terms of discussions