Liverpool legend Phil Thompson has opened up on how he misses being part of the “band of brothers” on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday after his shock sacking.
Despite clocking up almost half a century of service between them, Thompson was axed last August along with Matt Le Tissier and Charlie Nicholas, leaving the show’s long-time anchor man Jeff Stelling devastated.
Kirkby-born Thompson insists there is no bitterness from himself over the decision but admits that not being on the show has taken some coming to terms with.
Celebrating his 67th birthday today, the former Reds captain, assistant manager and caretaker boss, reveals that he’d been in discussions with Sky about being eased out of the programme for 18 months.
Thompson told the Daily Mail : “It became a way of life so taking that away... I miss it. Yes, I miss it.
“We were a band of brothers. But you do know that change has to happen.
“They wanted to do it sensitively rather than one day you're gone.
“They said until we find somebody who is better it might continue.”
It did, until Sky's head of football, Gary Hughes, called Thompson one morning and asked for the meeting that lunchtime at which Thompson would learn he was being axed.
Selflessly, it seems that it was the removal of his younger colleagues (Nicholas was 58 at the time and Le Tissier 51) that seemed to hit Thompson harder.
He said: “It was three parts of a midfield. The others could have continued.”
Previously working alongside the likes of the late George Best and Rodney Marsh, Thompson looks back on his time as part of the Soccer Saturday team with great fondness though.
He said: “We did it for 14 years. Even though people didn't remember us as players, they knew us as Soccer Saturday. So it was part of their life.
“It even became a cult thing. There was a Jeff Stelling university drinking game! (A shot of spirit every time Stelling said 'doom and gloom' and another when Chris Kamara screamed: 'Unbelievable, Jeff.')
“It took on its own life. I think people could relate to us.
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“I'm not saying everybody loved every one of us. You only had to go on social media to see that. But we knew what we were and that was the biggest thing.
“We didn't want to be like Super Sunday, where they would analyse things to death.
“That was the great thing about Sky. They mixed things up. They created new programmes. They pushed the boundaries.”
