How do you know that the new season is ready to kick-off? THE RETURN OF SOCCER SATURDAY.
One of the most popular ways to consume football in this day and age is to watch a panel of former greats mispronounce names, show their clear bias to their old teams, and shout whenever goals go in.
And it's the best. Here are five reasons to be delight that Soccer Saturday is back.
Paul Merson's rare-but-incredible rants:
Last season Merse went viral for his incredible rant against Roberto Martinez and John Stones, because when he gets it right there are few as entertaining.
Also, his constant battle with non-English player names will never get old.
Phil Thompson's reactions when Liverpool are losing.
Pretty much every non-Liverpool fan's favourite moments are when Thompson must react to Liverpool going behind. It helps that the other lads enjoy it so much too.
Charlie Nicholas sitting there thinking...
Watch out for this, because once you've seen it you can't miss how often he says it.
The unique language of the show.
With so many characters you're always going to get the casual slang that the likes of Merson and Thompson absolutely love to confuse us with, until you think about what they've said and it starts to make sense. Examples:
Top Bins = Top Corner
Desmond = 2-2
Diag = Long Diagonal Pass
The Demba = The Crossbar
The Beans On = The Post
Jeff Stelling.
That's his "season review" of Aston Villa.
Nobody does it better, Jeff is an incredible professional who leaves his colleagues in awe and always has a ridiculous stat ready to go for whatever happens. A legend of televised football coverage.
Welcome back, Soccer Saturday. We've missed you.
