Former Portsmouth, Stoke, Leeds and Bradford favourite Chris Kamara responds to Sky Sports departure reports

Just like Antony Vanden Borre’s red card for Pompey against Blackburn in 2010, it appears Chris Kamara was taken by surprise by news that he was quitting popular Sky Sports show Saturday Soccer.

But unlike the famous clip of him failing to spot the then Blues defender’s dismissal for a second bookable offence at Fratton Park that day, the popular pundit and presenter was able to shed light on the developments.

Indeed, to avoid any confusion, he said, via Twitter, that news of him looking to leave the long-running show was ‘news to me’.

The 64-year-old – who began his career at Pompey – made the denial after claims he had seen the ‘writing on the wall’ amid a shake-up of the programme’s line-up and long-running host Jeff Stelling also exiting.

Yet reaching out to his 1.8m followers in Twitter, Kamara said he was looking forward to being back on screen ‘after a few weeks off’.

He tweeted: ‘Today’s story is news to me (adding a shrugging shoulders emoji) even though some of you have noticed that I’ve had a few weeks off sky sports I’m back on the 12th March.

‘Looking forward to seeing Jeff and the Soccer Saturday gang again’.

No doubt, that will please a huge number of football fans, with the former Leeds and Bradford midfielder’s upbeat reports and famed ‘unbelievable Jeff’ catchphrase marking him out as a favourite over the years.

The clip of him being asked about Vanden Borre’s red card by Stelling live on air has been viewed millions of times online and made him a household name.

The former Royal Navy man started his playing career at Fratton Park, making 84 appearances and scoring 10 goals between 1974 and 1977 and later in 1981.