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When Soccer Saturday first went on air, very few people could have foreseen just how firmly it would become part of British football culture.

The long-running Sky Sports programme went on to transform the way supporters followed the game, with a studio panel of pundits watching television screens soon turning into must-watch Saturday afternoon viewing.

However, when the idea was first put to one of the show’s most recognisable figures, he found it hard to imagine that it would eventually secure such a lasting place in football history.

Chris Kamara quickly established himself as one of the programme’s most popular personalities, with his on-screen rapport with Jeff Stelling becoming central to the show’s appeal.

That, though, only happened after some early doubts from the former Brentford and Leeds United midfielder.

“It didn’t sound like an idea that had legs, I must admit!” Kamara told FourFourTwo. “I said, ‘Are you sure about this?’

“But they were right. It soon turned into a hit,” he said, recognising how significant the programme rapidly became for generations of football supporters.

Kamara’s touchline appearances soon made him a favourite with viewers, although his famous catchphrase crept up on him without him really noticing.

“One Christmas, I switched on a TV bloopers show,” he recalled. “It was a montage from Soccer Saturday and it was just me, again and again, shouting, ‘Unbelievable Jeff!’ at different matches.

“I genuinely had no idea I’d been saying it, never mind saying it so often. It hadn’t even crossed my mind.”

Kamara also soon discovered that it was not only supporters at home on their sofas who were watching, after hearing that a group of students had created their own drinking game around the programme.

“I remember one day, we received a letter at the studio from some students saying they had been playing a Soccer Saturday drinking game. They would all get together in the students’ union and had to drink every time something specific happened.

“They’d drink when Jeff went off on one of his rants or when one of the other pundits got a footballer’s name wrong. Whenever I said ‘Unbelieveable Jeff!’ they all had to down their full pints.”