JEFF Stelling laid down one condition when asked to become the new presenter of cult C4 words and numbers show Countdown. While he was happy to sit in the chair previously occupied by Richard Whiteley, Des Lynan and Des O’Connor, he was not prepared to give up fronting Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports.

The producers wanted Hartlepool-born Stelling enough to agree to arrange the Countdown shooting schedule around his other commitments.

“There was no way I was going to be leaving Soccer Saturday, which has been part of my life for 11 years,” he says.

“I love football, and my involvement with it, and the camaraderie with the panel that comes on Soccer Saturday.

Desperately keen as I was to do Countdown, that was the one condition I insisted on.”

On Monday, he’ll be in charge of Countdown, but not the only new face, as 21- year-old Rachel Riley will be adding and subtracting in place of Carol Vorderman, who quit over a pay row.

The phrase “poison chalice” comes to mind in association with the Countdown chair. The two Deses have had to try to overcome the shadow of Whiteley, who made the show very much his own.

Stelling knows he’s a hard act to follow, having achieved iconic status, saying: “It’s very important not to try to mimic him or try to be the new Richard Whiteley because he was very much a one-off.”

He acknowledges that some fans of the show are protective to the point of obsession.

“Unquestionably, there’s a core of fans who are absolutely fanatical about it. I discovered that in the first few days of recording the show but, by and large, they’re very supportive,” he says.

“One guy came up to me, who’d never met me before, and put his arms round me and said ‘thanks for saving our show – I’m not a football fan, I don’t know who you are’. That was quite comforting.

“The fans absolutely love it. I wanted to make people feel comfortable and, at the same time, at least put my own stamp on it and attract people who have not watched the show.”

Some fans of Soccer Saturday may well follow him to Countdown. The two programmes already share a devoted student audience.

One of the series’ producers is also a big fan of the football show. “He said he loved the show on Saturday, but I could do so much more in different spheres. He was very persuasive and I was very flattered,”

says Stelling.

So far, he’s recorded 15 episodes of the daily afternoon series, which runs to 220 programmes a year, but has yet to watch himself take charge of the show that was first seen on C4 in November 1982. His approach was shaped by a belief that the format was the real star of the show, being simple enough for people to play on any level of ability.

“My job is just to nudge it along, to try to be myself and bring in a few elements of Soccer Saturday like bad gags.”

He used to watch Countdown in its early days. “It’s one of those things that’s always been part of life. It’s always been there. I never thought for a moment I’d be involved.

“I was very surprised by the offer to present it because it came very much from the left field. Most of the hosts have been from light entertainment and that’s really not me.”

There were Hartlepool United fans in the audience for his first Countdown recordings, so that made him feel more at home.

He moved from the North-East more than 30 years ago, but has never deserted his home town’s football team.

Not that his schedule – and Soccer Saturday show – make it easy for him to see games. He only goes to a couple a year. “I haven’t managed to see them at all this season,” he admits.

His new work schedule means he is not at home with his wife and three children – sons Robbie, ten, and Matt, nine, and five-year-old daughter Olivia – as much as usual. But he is hoping they’ll sit down as a family to watch Countdown.

■ Countdown is on C4, Monday to Friday, 3.25pm.

■ Soccer Saturday is on Sky Sports 1 today, 3pm.