In recent years Premiership grounds have become a familiar haunt for street-cred seeking pop stars TV personalities and politicians. But as Dave Stanford discovered, swimming with the minnows is a life-long and proud obsession for

television golden-girl Helen Chamberlain

Television presenter Helen Chamberlain's dedication to Torquay United and football in the basement division knows no bounds.

After rising at 4am on Saturday morning to co-host the controlled chaos that is Sky Sports' Soccer AM, Helen can follow the four-hour live show with a 250-mile drive to Plainmoor to watch The Gulls in action.

With City set to entertain Torquay tomorrow at the wrong end of the Division Three table, Bootham Crescent is perhaps a too-far-flung football outpost for even a die-hard like Helen.

But rest assured, the self-confessed football addict, who recently guest-presented Channel 4's The Big Breakfast alongside Johnny Vaughan, will be keeping close tabs on how her highly-cherished Gulls fair.

And despite Soccer AM playing host to the game's biggest superstars every Saturday morning, Helen remains adamant following the fortunes of so-called minnows is what football and Saturdays are all about.

"I started supporting Torquay when I moved to Devon in my early 20s," she recalled to the Evening Press.

"I'd always been a big football fan, my mother got me into it when I was a kid.

"My grandad used to take her to watch Yeovil Town play when she was young.

"Thinking back she was probably bracing herself more for 'Mum, what's offside' than "Mum where do I come from?".

"And so the love affair started. I remember going to Plainmoor for the first time and finding it amazing that you were so close to the pitch."

According to Helen, that closeness to the action serves only to foster ties between fans and their clubs that refuse to wither despite the lure and glamour of the Premiership.

"It is so true what fans say about the whole lower league thing being 'real'," she reasons.

"Yes, we do miss out on filling Wembley to the rafters, silverware, 40,000 singing voices, national television coverage and international superstar players.

"But what we do get is the community feeling, 11 of you braving Carlisle on a Tuesday night - you feel almost a sense of responsibility - if you don't go no-one else will.

"I quite often make comparisons to the Premier League on my travels around Division Three.

"Last season I was at Peterborough buying a ticket for the away end just ten minutes before kick-off when suddenly a voice boomed out 'don't let her in' and then my feet were off the floor in a huge Barry Fry bear hug.

"Now can anyone imagine Arsene Wenger doing that?

"It's very difficult to put into words the protective way we feel about our 'little' clubs, like it's very difficult for those who follow big clubs to understand us, but we all know it's something special and we wouldn't swap it for the world.

"We all want success for our clubs, and we all have the 'if I won the Lottery' dream'.

"But for now a good Auto Windscreen run and to finish above Exeter in the league is enough for me."

Even that's looking unlikely for United this year.

But rest assured even if the Gulls plummet into the Conference, Helen will still be flying the flag for Torquay and thousands of die-hard fans who favour grim reality over the pampered Premiership.

Soccer AM is broadcast on Saturdays from 8am to noon.