Alex Scott fought back tears as the curtain fell on Football Focus, bringing an emotional close to a programme that has graced Saturday afternoons for 52 years.
The BBC announced last month that the long-running show would be axed at the end of the season due to declining viewing figures, sparking debate across the nation. On Sunday’s final episode, Scott was visibly moved when handed a photograph of herself with Bob Wilson, the programme’s first-ever host who presented from 1974 to 1994.
“That’s got me,” she said, holding the framed image which read: “Alex, congratulations for all you have achieved.”
Scott reflected on the legacy of the show: “Thank you Garth [Crooks] for being here today. For 52 years, week in, week out, this show has brought football into your Saturday afternoons — from Bob Wilson in 1974 to every brilliant presenter who followed. The one thing that never changed was you, the fans.”
As Scott choked back tears, she added: “I won’t pretend this isn’t hard — as you can see — but football doesn’t stop. The goals, the drama, the heartbreak — it just finds a new home. To everyone who has worked on Football Focus, thank you for making Saturday lunchtime something to look forward to. It has been an honour. This is Football Focus for the very last time.”
The final moments included a heartfelt tribute with appearances from former presenters including Dan Walker and a montage of the show’s most memorable moments. Bob Wilson, now 84, returned for the finale and closed the programme with a warm message: “Alex, thank you so much — all good things come to an end. Thank you to everyone at home for watching Football Focus for 52 years, we’ve had a ball.”
Yet, not all fans were sentimental about the show’s ending. Social media was awash with criticism, with viewers branding the final edition as “utter woke nonsense” and claiming it had “died a woke death.” One user commented: “Football Focus… A great example of what happens when a long-standing programme goes woke.”
The show’s axing comes amid a decline in viewers, with pre-pandemic audiences averaging 957,000, peaking at 1.12 million in 2020-21, and dropping to just 687,000 by the 2022-23 season. Critics had described the recent version of the programme as “pedestrian, vacuous, uninspiring and uninformative,” reflecting a shift in tone that alienated some of its traditional audience.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
