{"id":300440,"date":"2023-11-25T12:24:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T12:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=300440"},"modified":"2023-11-25T12:24:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T12:24:56","slug":"simon-thomas-to-miss-soccer-saturday-due-to-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/simon-thomas-to-miss-soccer-saturday-due-to-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Thomas to MISS Soccer Saturday due to Covid"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Simon Thomas to MISS Soccer Saturday this afternoon due to Covid with Caroline Barker stepping in to replace him on Sky Sports&#8217; flagship football show<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Simon Thomas replaced Jeff Stelling as Soccer Saturday host over the summer<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>He is set to miss today&#8217;s show after his family were hit by Covid this week<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Inside Ange&#8217;s Spurs: Listen to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off on how he transformed the club<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Simon Thomas will be absent from Soccer Saturday this afternoon due to illness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Thomas &#8211; who replaced Jeff Stelling as host of Sky Sports&#8217; flagship football show at the start of this season &#8211; revealed on X, formerly Twitter, his family had been hit by Covid and that Caroline Barker would replace him.<\/p>\n<p>He posted: &#8216;Sadly no #soccersaturday for me today &#8211; #Covid has hit the Thomas household. @CarolineBarker\u00a0is in the hot seat today. Go well CB &#8211; you\u2019ll be brilliant. See you next week.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Barker already works across Sky Sports, with her regularly seen leading their WSL coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport reported in the summer how she was in the running to replace Stelling,\u00a0who had fronted the iconic show for 25 years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/11\/78223903-12789975-image-a-37_1700910970198.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Simon Thomas is set to be absent from Soccer Saturday this afternoon due to illness<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/11\/78224055-12789975-image-a-30_1700910509008.jpg\" height=\"228\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He revealed his family had been hit by Covid and that Caroline Barker would be replacing him<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>She also presents for BBC and Premier League productions, while she hosts The Non-League Football Show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Thomas is a former Blue Peter presenter who joined the company originally in 2005 as a presenter on Sky Sports News.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After six years, the Norwich City fan was given the job of presenting Sky\u2019s Football League and League Cup coverage and was given Premier League matches three years later.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u00a0stepped away from full-time broadcast work to look after his son, following the sudden death of his wife Gemma six years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Gemma tragically died in 2017,\u00a0just three days after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.<\/p>\n<p>When his appointment was announced in the summer, Thomas, who had stepped in for Stelling on a few occasions over the past year, said it was an honour to succeed the broadcasting legend.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/11\/78224053-12789975-image-a-34_1700910602748.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Barker (centre) presents on the BBC and Sky Sports and leads the broadcaster&#8217;s WSL coverage<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/11\/73250871-12789975-Thomas_succeeds_Jeff_Stelling_after_he_quit_as_presenter_followi-a-31_1700910581522.jpg\" height=\"359\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Thomas succeeded Jeff Stelling after he quit as presenter following 25 years on the show<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;When I left Sky in 2018 for very personal reasons; it was always said the door would be open if I ever wanted to return,&#8217; Thomas said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I never expected that Gillette Soccer Saturday would be the door that would open.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Being asked to present this iconic show and follow in the footsteps of Jeff Stelling, an absolute giant of sports broadcasting, is a massive honour and one I simply cannot wait to get started on.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had made an impressive start to life on the show and earlier this month he helped to lead\u00a0a moving discussion on mental health struggles within football with Paul Merson, Clinton Morrison, Kris Boyd and Mike Dean.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12789975\/Simon-Thomas-Soccer-Saturday-Covid-Caroline-Barker-Sky-Sports.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simon Thomas to MISS Soccer Saturday this afternoon due to Covid with Caroline Barker stepping in to replace him on <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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