Mark Lawrenson provides new theory on BBC sacking him as he sets record straight

13 June 2024 , 12:28

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Mark Lawrenson has opened up on his exit from the BBC (Image: PA)

Mark Lawrenson says there is one problem with how he was let go from Match of the Day and Football Focus - the BBC didn't tell him straight.

The 67-year-old professional footballer-turned-presenter enjoyed a long-standing media career with the BBC in his time as a pundit, presenting MOTD between 1997 and 2018 and continuing with Football Focus before retiring at the end of 2021/22. But he claims that his exit from the corporation was far from mutual, alleging that he was forced out due to his age.

When asked about if he was actually sacked by the BBC by Rob Moore on his Disruptors podcast this week, the Liverpool legend said: "Well, I was. So basically what happened was, Dan Walker left and he found out that he wasn't going to be kept on through his agent I think. So I suddenly thought, 'Well if he's going, I'm probably next because of my age' and low and behold, I was.

"The thing with the BBC for me was just the way that they did it really as much as anything. When I stopped doing Match of the Day as opposed to Football Focus, I met the head honcho in terms of football - and I think they'd moved to Manchester then. They said, 'Come on, let's come and have a lunch' and all that and I'm thinking, 'Oh this is good' because normally when someone asks you to come and have lunch you're having a good time.

"He's asking me to come to the lunch and he's telling me that I'm not doing Match of the Day anymore. And do you know what the worst thing was? We sat down and hadn't ordered or anything and he said, 'Oh you know, we're going to change it - you're just going to do Football Focus'.

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"What I ordered he ate. Brilliant." While Lawrenson admitted that it was funny looking back, he was far from amused at the time. When asked by Moore if he thought that he was told the real reason why he was being cut from Match of the Day, Lawrenson added that he thinks the sentence used was, "We're going to change a thing round", which came as a shock to the presenter. He also said that he received a phone call about Football Focus just before the 2021/22 season concluded.

Mark Lawrenson believes he was sacked due to his age (PA)

He added: "They rang me up in March time and said, 'Oh Lawro we're going to take Football Focus on the road and we don't think you'll want to do that' and I went, 'Well it would have been nice to have been asked, wouldn't it?' And they said, 'Well you know what it's like' and I said, 'No, not really'.

"So then obviously I knew that I was going. But I think one of the problems with the Beeb was that they don't really understand things like you've been a footballer, and sometimes you get left out - and you get taken off the pitch. And it's as though they can't tell you the bad news - they can't say, 'Look, you've had a fantastic run but we're going to change it all around and thanks very much but no thanks'. So that for me was a problem really as much as anything."

Mark Lawrenson pictured as it was announced that he would be leaving the BBC live on Football Focus

When asked if he ever found out why the BBC officially decided to let him go from MOTD and Football Focus, the presenter admitted that he Never asked and that he "just left them to it" but he still thinks that it came down to his age. He claimed that the instance soured a 20-odd year stint with the network. He added: "I'd been around the world either in front of the camera or working in terms of commentary and all those kinds of things, and I loved it to death.

"And it's always a shock when it's something like that but yeah, they could have dealt with it so much better." However, Lawrenson also considered that the BBC could have been trying to have more diversity in letting certain presenters go, stating that it aiming to be more inclusive is "absolutely fine".

He added: "It got to me the way that they did it," before continuing: "I didn't think that I should have lost my job. And whether I was six or 60 it shouldn't have made any difference. In fact, if I'd have been six I probably would have spoken more sense."

The BBC has so far not responded to Lawrenson's comments.

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Aaron Morris