Kammy: The Unbelievable Full Interview

Footballing icon Chris Kamara opens up to Jake Smith about his battle with speech apraxia and the impact the condition has had on his life.

Earlier this week, Kammy appeared at Waterstones in Commercial Road, Portsmouth as part of a book signing tour arranged to promote the recent release of his new autobiography 'My Unbelievable Life'. You can revisit the article explaining what the new publication is about and the details of the event here!

Prior to the book signing, where plenty of Kammy's fans showed up to meet their hero and collect his autograph, Express FM's host of The Football Hour, Jake Smith was fortunate enough to catch up with the former Pompey midfielder, who became a household name not just because of his playing career but his wacky broadcasting antics too.

The 65-year-old was open and honest about his journey through dealing with speech apraxia since receiving the diagnosis in March 2022. He also spoke fondly of his time as a youngster at Fratton Park and the moment he received a letter through the post inviting him to receive an MBE as part of the 2023 New Year Honours.

"My motive for writing this book was all to do with my speech, my apraxia of speech, which I developed during lockdown.

"I'm not that person I was before the apraxia came along and the underactive thyroid. I'm now a different person and I've got to like the new person I am, which was very hard in the beginning.

"Little voices that go off in your head and tell you you're rubbish, you know you can't do tele anymore. Quit tele, what you're doing, you're an embarassment. To try and get those thoughts out of your head was so, so hard in the beginning.

"I was ignorant, I was in denial, I was ashamed. All those things which I apologise to anyone who's got a speech condition. Basically, I was ignorant and I thought my voice defined who I was - I now realise that was wrong, totally wrong."

You can now take a listen to the full, extended version of Jake's interview with Chris Kamara after it featured for the very first time on Friday night's edition of The Football Hour:

Catch Jake Smith every Monday and Friday evening between 6-7pm for your fix of Blues news, previews and more exclusive interviews - The Football Hour is sponsored this season by StageCoach across the South!