Daily Mail: Lawrenson claims he was sacked by the BBC because he is a 'white male'

Story from Daily Mail:

Mark Lawrenson has said he thinks his departure from the BBC was down to him being '65 and a white male'.

The former Liverpool defender had spent three decades with the corpoation, including 25 years with Football Focus, before being told of the show's format changes in March.

Lawrenson told The Sunday Times: 'The Beeb are probably the worst at giving you bad news. It was just, "We are going on the road next season with Focus. We don’t think it is really something for you."

'I haven’t watched the programme since to see if they have gone on the road. They forget you are an ex-footballer and could get subbed or dropped or transferred. Somebody could say to me, "I’m sorry, it’s not good news.’ And I would say, "OK, just tell me what it is."

'I just wish they had said to me at the start of my contract last year, ‘You’ve had a great run, thanks very much and you are not working next season."'

Lawrenson revealed he should have thought about leaving the show when host Dan Walker left his hosting duties after 12 years in 2021.

While initially vexed with Walker's replacement, ex-England and Arsenal player Alex Scott, he came around to supporting her.

'Alex was just thrown in, so from the outset we were trying to make the programme as easy as possible for her,' he said.

'It was a little bit frustrating because she would ask you a question and then move on to the next person and I would want to say something I had just thought of, but I just had to shut up because she was just learning.

'She has done well in fairness to her and she is a lovely kid. It’s a tough gig, because Dan was so good. Some people just don’t want her to be any good, but she has gotten better and better.'

He hit out at criticism for using brand names like Greggs while on the BBC, and when as a radio co-commentator in the wake of Princess Diana's death in 1997, he was told to avoid any reference to free-kick 'walls', in case somebody would have been offended by the language used.

He said he became 'anti-woke', and rebelled against the BBC's very safe culture, often driven by much younger co-workers.

Lawrenson revealed: 'In all my time at the BBC, nobody ever said you can’t say this or that, but the woke thing drives me bonkers.

'Whereas normally you would say the first thing that comes into your head, you’re now thinking, "If I say that will I get into trouble?" It was a bit like playing with your legs tied together.

'The BBC is the national broadcaster and I get that, but they are frightened to death of upsetting anybody.'

The BBC and Sky Sports have both had large changes in their on-screen personalities in recent years. Lawrenson's friend and former Liverpool teammate Phil Thompson was axed from the latter's Soccer Saturday programming.

Lawrenson said: 'I spoke to Tommo and it caught him completely by surprise. Is the show any better? No. Not as good? Yeah. It was just a strange, strange thing to do. Now they go around and do theatres and they’re packed out.'

Lawrenson is set to enjoy a farewell lunch with the BBC and 20 guests, something he is keen to embrace after his love of his three decades with the corporation.

BBC declined to comment on the matter when approached by Sportsmail.