Big Interview: Chris Kamara a success story on the pitch and our screens

But it is his work as a football pundit that has put Chris Kamara on the path to becoming a national treasure.

The 62-year-old entertains supporters up and down the country every weekend with his wonderfully unique reporting style.

But football punditry is something Kamara himself admits he ‘fell into’.

And he could never have imagined that winning a manager-of-the-month award would actually end up with him leaving the dugout for a life on television.

It was while he was in charge of Bradford that Kamara came on to the radar of producers at Sky Sports.

“We started the season brilliantly at Bradford and at the end of August I was manager of the month,” Kamara said. “Then in September, Sky took over the coverage of the Football League.

“Because I was the current manager of the month, they asked me to work on their first game, which was Sheffield United versus Sunderland.

“I went down to the studios in London to do it.

“It was actually a double-header and Gerry Francis was due to come in and replace me for the second game.

“But he got stuck on the motorway and they asked me to stay on.

“I ended up doing six hours of TV and from that point on I was one of their go-to-guys.”

Kamara’s flair for broadcasting makes it easy to forget just how successful he was as a manager.

He was appointed Bradford boss in November 1995 with the sole purpose of keeping them in Division Two.

But a blistering run of form saw them first gatecrash the play-offs before winning them.

The following campaign Kamara ensured survival.

And by year three the former Swindon midfielder had his team competing for a place in the Premier League.

But despite all that hard work, Kamara walked away from the club when chairman Geoffrey Richmond tried to call his bluff over cost-cutting measures.

“We had just lost to Man City at the start of January,” Kamara said. “We were four points off the play-offs, but the chairman said we weren’t going anywhere and we needed to cut some costs.

“He told me to sack a member of my staff.

“This happened straight after the Man City game.

“I got on the bus, spoke to all my staff. I told them the chairman had asked me to sack one of them and I had to give him a decision by Monday morning.

“But I felt we needed them and that there was no reason why we couldn’t make a push to get to the Premier League because we had great players.

“Mark Schwarzer in goal. Peter Beagrie. Players who would have loved to play in the Premier League and who went on to play in the Premier League.

“Monday morning came around I went into the chairman’s office and he asked me for the name of the person I was going to sack.

“But I said I needed them all. He then asked me to go and see him after training. I went back and he said if you don’t want to sack anyone then I’m afraid you’re going to have to go.

“I said ‘no problem, no worries, not a problem’.

“He then backtracked and said perhaps he’d been a bit hasty.

“But I was always confident, because of the job I had done, that I would get another job.

“I said you can’t threaten to sack me one minute and then keep me on the next.”

Kamara did get another job – at Stoke.

He inherited a team in a relegation battle and almost immediately fell out with chief executive Jez Moxey.

Just 14 games later he was sacked.

Not for one minute, though, did Kamara think that was his managerial career over.

“I wanted to carry on in management,” he continued. “I was disappointed with the ways things went at Stoke.

“I took over at the wrong time, but you look at it from the outside and think you can go in and turn things around.

“I quickly realised that things weren’t as good as I thought they were.

“I made a few mistakes – I’ve got to hold my hands up for those.

“But it’s all history now. I fell into Sky and I’ve got no complaints.

“You can’t change the course of history.

“I would have loved it to have gone better. I was only at Stoke for 14 games.

“But now I have had a 20-year TV career.”

It’s Kamara’s charming nature that has kept him on our screens for so long.

And it means he can get away with things other reporters can’t.

Catchphrases – such as ‘Unbelievable Jeff’ – are known in households all over the country.

When he comes up with descriptions such as ‘they are defending like beavers’ – people simply laugh and accept it as Kamara magic.

And even when he makes mistakes he does it in an entertaining way – like the infamous time he failed to notice Anthony Vanden Borre had been sent off while he was covering a game between Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers.

“Nobody at Sky has ever said don’t do this or don’t do that,” Kamara added. “I like to have fun, I like to enjoy myself and I think that’s why it has worked after all these years.

“With Jeff (presenter Jeff Stelling) and a lot of the lads, the chemistry has been natural.

“We got on immediately.

“It was a treat for me working for Sky in the first place.

“I did commentary work and then the producers asked me to come in for the occasional appearance on Soccer Saturday.

“I ended up working with Rodney Marsh, George Best, Clive Allen, Allan Mullery.

“George was an icon of mine. Then you find out he’s a great person too. That was great.

“Then the producers at Sky came to me and said they had decided to start sending people to games rather than just having a person in the studio watching them.

“I thought I’ll give it a go.

“My first game was Oxford versus Walsall and Kamara Cam was born – whoever goes out these days it’s actually called after me which is a lovely tribute.

“It’s wonderful. I enjoy just as much now as when I started 20 years ago.”

For the past three months, football fans have been left twiddling their thumbs after the game was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But to keep himself busy, Kamara decided to get back in the commentary box and get involved in the marble craze sweeping the internet.

The MarbleLympics – essentially the Olympics for marbles – is watched by millions of people around the world.

And long-lasting milk brand Arla Cravendale has created their own spin-off version, with Kamara the commentator for their Last Marble Standing Games.

The competition can be watched on Arla Cravendale's social media channels.

And Kamara has loved taking part.

"I used to play marbles when I was a kid," he said.

"It was one of the cheapest forms of entertainment for a family that didn't have a lot of money.

"I was approached by Arla Cravendale to see if I would like to be the ambassador for their marble games.

"I spoke to my son Ben to see what he knew about marbles.

"He said: 'It's mega Dad, it's massive, get involved because it's got a really big following.

"So I looked into and it decided I'd love to be the ambassador.

"I used to do commentaries for Sky, which I really enjoyed.

"So when the opportunity arose with Arla Cravendale and The Last Standing Marble games, I thought brilliant - here's a chance to get back in the commentary box.

"And I have loved it and I can see why it has got such a big following.

"It's captivating. It's exciting. And it's been thought through really well.

"My only wish is that we did it a bit earlier because the football is coming back.

"But our final is today so we have got it in just in time."

For more information on The Last Marble Standing tournament visit: https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/brands/arla-cravendale/last-marble-standing/