THE year was 1990, Alex Ferguson was clinging desparetely to his Man United job, Liverpool were the league champions and the north-west of England was the epicentre of a musical and cultural revolution – not that a bunch of electro-dance purveyors from Gloucestershire paid much attention.
One-and-a-half hit wonders (I vaguely remember I Believe) EMF were stamping their Asics trainers all over pop history with 'Unbelieveable'. The big mistake they made was not trademarking the title of their biggest hit, otherwise Chris Kamara would owe them a clean fortune.
'Kammy', the clown prince of Sky Sports' football coverage, has got significant mileage out of the phrase (edited down from 'Unbelieveable Jeff' when Jeff's not around) including and a frankly disturbing Ladbrokes ad in which he plays multiple roles in a terrifying twist on a scene from Being John Malkovich.
However, Kammy is a bit more subdued for Goals on Sunday where he chills out with Ben Shepherd and a couple of special guests to mull over the previous day's action and have a cosy chat.
The thing about Goals on Sunday is that it's not really about goals anymore. Download the Sky Sports football app and you're bombarded with alerts from about Saturday lunchtime about instant highlights and clips of goals. Then they have their early evening Game of the Day and if you've missed that, then there's always trusty Match of the Day on BBC1.
Goals on Sunday is more like breakfast TV with a bit of football thrown in, which is just as well given Ben Shepherd's experience as an early riser. Kammy is slightly more sedate on the Sunday sofa, although he still can't resist the occasional slap of Ben's thigh.
Yesterday's guests were Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and his dad and former Portsmouth (amongst others) player Mark Chamberlain.
Initially, Alex had that bored look on his face when your dad is talking to one of his old mates as Mark and Kammy engaged in predictable banter, but the Ox proved himself to be an engaging guest and was quizzed about his upcoming appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox. That segwayed, as breakfast TV often does, into a discussion about snacks and the chance for Kammy to bring a bit of comedy with some cashew (or kaa-shoe as he strangely pronounced it) nuts and grapes – the Ox shrewdly revealing the his TV viewing nibbles were healthy ones just in case a berobed Arsene Wenger had tuned in on a lazy Sunday morning. Kammy munched the snacks and made an exaggerated sound of satisfaction to muted hilarity.
There was still a decent bit of analysis as they pored over the goals from the draws between Man City and Everton and Spurs and West Brom, but the strength of Goals on Sunday is the way they reveal little nuggets of information about their guests such as the fact the Ox and his dad were the only father-son team to score for England and Alex could even have turned out to be rugby having shown some prowess with oval ball when he was younger.
Goals on Sunday is, as they musical sting at the ad break suggest, easy like Sunday morning and is you like you Kammy a bit dialed down a touch, recommended viewing.
