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About two weeks ago, one of my first duties as Football Focus man was to go to this season's Premier League launch in some swanky room near in London. At the end of the presentation, there was an opportunity to discuss any concerns for the new season. The vast majority of time was spent asking why it is so hard to get access to players - both before and after games.

It's always nice to hear from a footballer, especially if they are articulate. But last week on Focus we managed to steal an hour with a man who you would think would be almost impossible to track down. Not a footballer but - writer, actor, star of Gavin & Stacey and that brilliant . He took time out of getting Series three of G&S ready for October to meet us at Upton Park and talk about his love for West Ham.

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This is a big moment. My first ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ blog. Where do I start? Do I have to wear a tie while I write this sucker? In fact I am wearing shorts and an England cricket top, but I'll start by telling you how this all came about.

The day I was offered the gig on was a strange one. It was the Thursday of the Open at Turnberry and at 2 pm I looked at my phone - not the done thing on the course - and saw I had two missed calls from the head of television sport at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

I thought he wanted to tell me off for something I had either said or done on the golf course, so I didn't ring him back until 8.15 that night. I can't remember exactly how the conversation went, but I was told that was leaving and there was going to be a bit of a shake-up in football.

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