Charlie Nicholas has a way with words. It’s not necessarily a good way with words, but still.
Soccer Saturday on Sky simply wouldn’t be the same without him. No one combines verbal trip-ups with an absolute lack of self-awareness like the Celtic and Arsenal old boy. Most others would laugh at their own cockups in good-natured acceptance of a live blooper. But not Charlie – he reacts with mild irritation when his jocular colleagues take the piss.
Who can forget the classic moment when he produced the worst comeback of all time after fan favourite Jeff Stelling mocked him for getting an offside decision wrong. This hilariously rambling (and clearly peeved) reaction has gone down in meme history as how not to react to a gentle ribbing…
Never forget the worst comeback ever 😁😂 https://t.co/LSpgMqTclQ
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) March 8, 2017
Alas you can’t keep a good man down, and Charlie remains a much-appreciated fixture of our Saturday afternoon viewing. This weekend he produced another gem when West Ham’s Argentine forward Jonathan Calleri attempted a rabona with the Stoke net begging to be disturbed.
Nicholas was clearly disgusted by this attempt at showboating from a player who is nicknamed ‘Calamity Calleri’ by unimpressed Hammers fans. So much so that he couldn’t correctly identify what the player had actually done. His best efforts at saying ‘rabona’ were as bad as the West Ham man’s execution.
The Sky pundit was either recalling an ex-girlfriend called Rabinah, or sneaking in an unauthorised advertisement for a certain blackcurrant-flavoured cordial. One thing’s for sure, we wouldn’t want Charlie to dilute his unique punditry style for all the Vimto in China…
'He tries a Ribena'😂😂 pic.twitter.com/uXrsL9j4Hj
— Jon Denton (@JonDenton) April 29, 2017
