![Saturday Social is presented in a muted studio which is half shabby chic, half JD Sports stockroom](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2023/09/03/TELEMMGLPICT000347878735_16937615136730_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqDOIUKnKxU7_Zg16ha_slnlhe3LWLBHGTcU40ZSmryhQ.jpeg?imwidth=680)
![Saturday Social is presented in a muted studio which is half shabby chic, half JD Sports stockroom](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2023/09/03/TELEMMGLPICT000347878735_16937615136730_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqDOIUKnKxU7_Zg16ha_slnlhe3LWLBHGTcU40ZSmryhQ.jpeg?imwidth=680)
You can howl at change, tune it out or give up entirely, but shall we at least try to give it a chance? Saturday morning on Sky Sports was once bestrode like a colossus by four hours of Soccer AM. Now it is home to Saturday Social which, it must be said, did not sound promising when describing itself. “Hear about football’s hot topics on social media and look at footballers’ lives off the pitch, with YouTubers and more offering their view.”
In a muted studio which is half shabby chic, half JD Sports stockroom we meet competent hosts Adam Smith and Joe Thomlinson. They are joined by YouTube elder statement Robbie Lyle, the amiable man asking questions to furious fans on “Arsenal Fan TV” since 2012, plus newer face Lyés Bouzidi. Both were well-briefed but vanilla. Asked to name underdogs or dark horses for the Champions League, Bouzidi said PSG, Lyle bravely stuck his neck out for Bayern Munich.
I found Bouzidi a little too fond of laughing at his own demi-jokes but he later revealed it had been his live TV debut, which recast his work as remarkably assured. You can understand why he is thriving in the vibe-shifted football YouTube landscape, no longer dominated by KSI-types screaming as they open Fifa Ultimate Team packs.
Instead, today’s “like and subscribe” heroes are clued-up and neatly-haircutted young men, seemingly all graduates from a university churning out elite sons-in-law. It is easy to imagine having a pleasant time hanging out with them, harder to adjust to the current style of making uncontroversial statements as if they are the edgiest bits from Irvine Welsh novels.
Before a joint Manchester United vs Arsenal XI is debated, Thomlinson promises “this is going to be fireworks.” It is not fireworks. Catch those on the Bonfire Night Years, repeated hourly over on Sky Fawkes. Instead it was the sort of argument you would be turning up your headphones to drown out on public transport.
Even at its laddy worst, zombie Soccer AM provided energy. Saturday Social lacks it and compares unfavourably with other ghosts of Sky’s past. More sedate than Sunday Supplement and less illuminating than Goals on Sunday, which is saying something for a programme featuring Chris Kamara. Some of its issues are down to budget which seems to have stretched only to a whiteboard and some magnets. Other problems are not matters of taste.
The guests put every Premier League team’s transfer window into graded tiers, a beloved YouTube device. The timing clearly went awry, meaning alphabetically unfortunate West Ham and Wolves had a fraction of the discussion time of Arsenal. There was too much talking over one another, which you could call organic but felt slapdash. And might it have been good to include a woman? The only concession seemed to be a yellow t-shirt from the “Her Game Too” campaign in the background, set dressing for the men to have their earnest manly fact-chat. It was like watching a podcast.
Of course, linear TV is only a part of the content buffet these days. Saturday Social is made to be trimmed, cropped and punted on to a variety of social networks. Clearly something is working, as its YouTube viewing figures are generally in the low hundred thousands, not miles behind the equivalent from the shinier and more expensive Monday Night Football.
If you are over 30 you are not the target market for this programme. This is the way of things and always has been. Bruce Forsyth probably seemed crass to those reared on Cliff Michelmore.
It is harder to understand how a programme showcasing new talent ends up so lifeless. Sky needs to find its next generation of paying customers, but it is going to take more than booking guests with large followings and asking them to serve this thin gruel.
Sky Sports’ life without Soccer AM serving up thin gruel with Saturday Social
If you are over 30-years-old you are not the target market for this YouTube-influenced programme