Product Code Database
Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He presented Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports from 1994 for 29 years. He hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also presented the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown (2009–2011) and ITV game show Alphabetical (2016–2017). Stelling left Soccer Saturday on 8 May 2023.
Since 4 December 2023, Stelling has been a presenter on Talksport's breakfast show every Monday and Tuesday (6am to 10am) alongside Ally McCoist.
He later spent time as a sports newsreader at TV-am, Channel 4, Eurosport and British Satellite Broadcasting before moving to Sky in 1992 to present coverage of horse racing, greyhound racing, snooker and darts. In 2003, he won a sports presenter special edition of The Weakest Link. In 2004, Stelling was offered but rejected an offer from the BBC to front Score—their new Saturday results service. The job was given to Ray Stubbs.
In May 2013, Stelling joined twentyfour7 Football Magazine and wrote columns for the magazine's Dream Team. twentyfour7 Football twentyfour7 sign Stelling and Balague He has also been featured in the in-game presentation work for EA Sports' FIFA 14 and FIFA 15.
At the start of the 2005–06 Premiership football season, Stelling replaced Ian Payne as the host of Sky Sports' Monday Night Football programme. However, Stelling's appointment coincided with a new, shorter format of the programme, with Stelling presenting the show live from the ground of that evening's game. Previously, the show had been presented from a studio, and had featured some coverage of the prior weekend's games. Moreover, in previous years on Monday nights without a live game, a Monday Night Football Special would be broadcast, which included only the analysis from the weekend's games. This appears to have been dropped from the 2005–06 season, indicating that Stelling's appointment is to a smaller role than that held by his predecessors.
In 2011, Stelling replaced the departed Richard Keys as the main presenter of Sky's live Champions League coverage and hosted between 2011 and 2015.
Stelling left Soccer Saturday at the end of the 2022–23 season after 25 years as host.
In August 2016, Stelling presented a new 10-part daytime game show for ITV called Alphabetical. The show returned for a second series of 20 episodes in October 2017.
Stelling was named Sports Broadcaster of the Year for four successive years by the Sports Journalists' Association, based on a poll of its members.
On 12 March 2010, he was granted the title of honorary freeman of his home town of Hartlepool, along with the town's former MP Peter Mandelson. The Daily Telegraph, Lord Mandelson and Jeff Stelling made honorary freemen
Stelling was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to sport, broadcasting and charity.
In 2015, Stelling was appointed president of Hartlepool United after accepting a request from the club's owners. Jeff Stelling will have active Hartlepool United role but Sky Sports panel must call him ‘el presidente’ Hartlepool Mail, 12 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
In 2016, Stelling walked 262 miles from Hartlepool United to Wembley Stadium over 10 days raising over £420,000 for Prostate Cancer UK. He walked with his friend Russ Green, who was the Chief Executive of Hartlepool United at the time, and was joined by over 400 walkers including his friends from Sky Sports and the football world such as Chris Kamara, Matt Le Tissier, Charlie Nicholas and Paul Merson. On Day 3, Ian Botham arrived to lend his support and walked with Stelling to Glanford Park, the home of Scunthorpe United, one of Botham's former clubs from his football career.
In 2017, Stelling again pledged to walk to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.
In his book, "I've Got Mail" published on 17 September 2020, Stelling revealed he had been subject to a blackmail attempt via two letters sent to his home. The letters demanded a £50,000 payment in return for bogus accusations of sex assaults to be kept quiet. In a radio interview on BBC Radio 5 LiveBBC Radio 5 Live Interview, Wednesday afternoon show 2 December 2020. on 2 December 2020, Stelling recounted sharing the letters with his wife and together, through a family friend's contact at Scotland Yard, they learnt others had also been targeted by the same scammers.
|
|
