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Jeff’s spelling?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by

Is Jeff Stelling really going to inherit the Countdown presenter’s chair from Des O’ Connor?

Various news sources are today reporting that the Soccer Saturday host is in line to take over the job, and while his name seems to have come right out of left-field I have to admit that I can’t think of a better candidate. Jeff has been absent from the screens of terrestrial viewers for some time, but has earned himself a cult following on Sky Sports News’ regular footy fix. Most of the viewers of Countdown probably have no idea of who Stelling is, but his combination of witty banter, repartee with co-presenters and his natural television presence should serve the show very well indeed. But who can pick the numbers and letters now that Carol has gone?

Comments

9 Responses to “Jeff’s spelling?”

  1. MartS on October 14th, 2008 1:40 pm

    Jeff presenting ‘the down’ would only really work if Chris Kamara was sitting in dictionary corner.
    “He’s got a 9 letter word? Unbelieveable Jeff…”

    As much as I like Jeff and wish to see presenting skills demonstrated to a wider audience, I would hope if he did take up the Countdown gig ,it would still mean he makes a semi-regular appearence to steer the good ship Soccer Saturday.

    Even though Ed Chamberlin is a lot better than Ian Payne and Rob ‘bangs pen on desk constantly’ McCaffery who were the regular stand-ins, Stelling makes that programme, with all that is going on the screens of text just off camera, man shouting in earpiece, and ex-footballing legends going “Uoooghhha” at random intervals, look so easy that anyone could do it. And that is the sign of a true broadcaster.
    Countdown’s possible gain would be Sky Sports huge loss.

  2. Iain Griffiths on October 14th, 2008 2:26 pm

    As Countdown only records a few weeks of the year I reckon Jeff is likely to remain at the helm of the good ship SS Gillette Soccer Saturday for a while.
    Sounds a good choice to me, genial and quick witted. Be interesting if he can come up with some word stats: “and that’s Richard Digence’s 35th 8 letter word since he first appeared, way back in 1987″

  3. Chris Hughes on October 14th, 2008 2:29 pm
  4. Chris Orton on October 14th, 2008 2:41 pm

    Ha! Excellent – superb standard of journalism there!

    Thankfully I don’t think that Jeff plans to give up Soccer Saturday.

  5. Rob Williams on October 14th, 2008 4:06 pm

    “And I’m hearing there’s a nine letter word… Paul Merson…” It would great for Jeff to get a job like that… Though there could be a job swap… Matt Le Tisser to Dictionary Corner and Ken Bruce reporting on Wigan v Luton….

  6. Simon Tyers on October 14th, 2008 4:44 pm

    Surely a fastidious attitude to smart ties and a love of knowingly poor puns about other people’s surnames makes him Whiteley’s true successor.

    Apart from the sports presenters Weakest Link he won, I can’t think he’s been on terrestrial since the Channel 4 Daily.

  7. Chris Orton on October 16th, 2008 9:54 am

    Sigh…. apparently Jeff has turned the position down. Alexander Armstrong is supposed to be in the running now, but I can’t see him wanting to commit to the series for years on end.

  8. David Bodycombe on October 16th, 2008 11:19 am

    Amazing how many people “turn down” this role, but equally amazing how many ludicrously unrealistic names are mentioned in these filler news articles. Could anyone realistically see Paul Merton hosting Countdown? Rory Bremner? Really?

  9. Chris Orton on November 21st, 2008 4:30 pm
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