Soccer AM star Rocket claims Tim Lovejoy wanted to be called into head office for 'pushing it too far or something inappropriate'

The tragic news was announced this week that Soccer AM was being cancelled after almost 30 years on our screens.

If you aren't that familiar with it, the hit weekend football series saw guests from the world of sport and entertainment sit down on the orange sofa, or more recently, metal crates, for a chat and a laugh.

For many of us it was a weekly ritual, and will be sorely missed.

One of the staples of the show until a few years ago was producer Rocket - real name James Long - who regularly appeared in sketches and was often the butt of the joke.

Looking back at his time on Soccer AM, he said former host Tim Lovejoy - who presented the series for many years alongside Helen 'Hell's Bells' Chamberlain - was always looking to 'push boundaries' and to get in trouble with bosses at Sky.

Sky

"Every week Tim would say, 'If we are not pushing the boundaries we are not doing our job'," he said.

"He wanted to be called into the head's office every week for something that had been inappropriate or he pushed it too far.

"But he said, 'that's when you know you're doing a good job'. That was the mentality of the show."

Rocket went on: "Sadly, I don't know if that show can exist now because if there's a reason to complain about something, generally someone will. They'll take offence.

"There's so much you could have taken offence at. We pushed it to the line a lot of the time."

Sky

Despite some of the criticism the show may have come in for in recent years with regards to the old sketches and segments - 'Ooh, good age' - Rocket says they were just having a laugh.

And he knew that he could always count on the rest of the team to pick each other up if they were going through a tough time.

"We did have a laugh. I think that's what made Soccer AM what it was," he said.

"We were a bunch of blokes just messing about on a Saturday morning. I think all we wanted to do was make people smile.

Sky

"If you were having a sh*t day at work, or a sh*t week at work, or you'd fallen out with your missus, or the kids are driving you mad, for those three hours we wanted to entertain you, we wanted to make you smile and forget about your worries.

"If I made a fool of myself, so what, who cares?

"I'm trying to entertain and make people forget about their lives if they're having a rough time or whatever."

Rocket's comments come after Sky announced that it was planning to make changes to its Saturday morning schedule, with Soccer AM being axed.

Topics: Football, TV and Film, Soccer AM

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom