Chris Kamara is finally back reporting on football, and fans are delighted to see him back on their screens.
The former player-turned-popular pundit was forced to leave Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday in 2022 when he was diagnosed with apraxia.
Apraxia is a neurological condition that impacts speech and forced Kamara to stop broadcasting.
However, after over two years away from football, he returned to our screens on Boxing Day to help with Amazon Prime’s coverage.
Kamara has reunited with his old colleague and talkSPORT Breakfast host Jeff Stelling and was assigned to cover Nottingham Forest‘s game against Tottenham.
During his introduction for the afternoon, Kamara said: “Thank you, Jeff.
“I’ve got the best game of the day.
“When Amazon rang me up, I thought they wanted me to deliver parcels, but they said the game.”
Stelling then asked Kamara how he was feeling.
He said: “I am great, Jeff.
“To get that call to say I was doing this game was the biggest fillip ever.”
Throughout the whole thing, Kamara is laughing and extremely positive, and you can just tell he’s delighted to be back.
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It’s clear that his enthusiasm and passion for football have been missed because fans were quick to react to this clip of Kamara.
One said: “Nothing better than this.”
Another added: “He’s one of the best in the business.”
Someone else said: “That’s beautiful Kammy. It’s great to see you back.”
Finally, another added: “Love to see it.”
Kamara didn’t have to wait too long until he was called into action as Nottingham Forest opened the scoring against Tottenham just 28 minutes into the game at the City Ground.
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Morgan Gibbs-White drove into midfield and played a pass in behind for Anthony Elanga, and he coolly finished beyond Fraser Forster.
It’s been a long journey for Kamara, who has openly admitted just how hard it has been to deal with apraxia.
The former Sky Sports man talked about his mental health battles in great detail.
During an interview on Good Morning Britain in 2023, he said: “My apologies to everybody out there who has got a speech condition because it doesn’t define who you are.
“I get upset talking about it, because I was in denial, I was ashamed that I couldn’t speak.”
In another interview, he also revealed how he felt unfit to take part in his role.
He said: “Strange in terms of I feel a fraud now in terms of broadcasting – I don’t bring to the table what I used to.
“So that’s hard. I feel I’m doing these programmes and they’re not getting the best of me, but they’re tolerating me. That’s how it feels.”
But after all that, he’s come a long way.
