JEFF STELLING is used to people shouting all sorts at him when he walks down the street.
“Unbelievable Jeff” is a classic example — the phrase made famous by his old Gillette Soccer Saturday pal Chris Kamara in their TV heyday.
Jeff Stelling starts his new talkSPORT Breakfast host role on MondayGetty Images – Getty
But since ending his 29-year stint at Sky Sports in May, the iconic 68-year-old presenter has heard fans holler something far more concerning: “Have a great retirement!”
Stelling — who begins his new role as talkSPORT Breakfast host tomorrow — told SunSport: “I want to say to people that I am not retired.
“I am just doing something a bit different. My sons, who are 25 and 23, keep collecting fliers from the care homes in Winchester, adverts for stairlifts and things like that.
“They leave them on my desk at home. They take the mickey out of me non-stop. A subtle hint maybe, but I want to show them there is still a bit of life yet.”
He continued: “Everyone has welcomed me with open arms.
“The only slight concern is that people have been saying: ‘Ah brilliant, you’re going to be fantastic!’
“I hope I am! It is so different to what I have been used to for the last 30 years or so. I want to repay people by living up to expectations.
“I still get those nerves. It is a cliche but it makes you try harder and prepare for it more.”
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Stelling began his career as a local newspaper journalist at the Hartlepool Mail before a chance incident in Middlesborough changed his life forever.
He explained: “I dreamed of being a journalist, not TV or radio at first. A job came up at Radio Tees as a news reporter. I had no experience.
“In those days most people didn’t because it was a new-fangled thing.
“I had been there for a week learning how things work when the Middlesborough reporter was taken ill on the day of a top-flight game at Leeds.
“I was suddenly asked to broadcast live there. That was really special — thrown into the deep end. It changed the course of my life.”
Stelling went on to cover a variety of sports such as horse racing, greyhound racing, snooker and darts before landing the Soccer Saturday gig in 1994.
Back on the airwaves, that variety returns — something which excites the broadcasting legend — even if it is primarily football he cannot wait to get stuck into again.
Stelling said: “I have missed talking about football.
“My kids will say they can’t stop me talking about it.
“They can’t watch football with me because I still think I am on the TV speaking non-stop through it, and they probably have a point.
“But, of course, I have missed getting stuck in to some of the big incidents, the big boys and the big controversies, whether it be VAR decisions or Andre Onana’s howlers.
“You cannot help but think: ‘How would I have covered that? What would I have said?’
“But that is the joy, you never quite know what is going to turn up or happen.
“There hasn’t even been a Premier League manager sacked yet! It is never the same old same old.”