“Top of the woke League” - Mark Lawrenson claims BBC fired him because he’s ‘65 and white’

Cardiff City v Queens Park Rangers - npower Championship
Mark Lawrenson claims BBC fired him because he’s ‘65 and white’

Mark Lawrenson has claimed that the BBC fired him from their punditry team due to his age and race.

Lawrenson once played as a defender for clubs like Preston North End, Brighton, and Liverpool, in a career that spanned nearly 20 years. He notably became a legend at Anfield, partaking in their golden years in the 80s where he won 13 trophies. He also delved into management temporarily, spending two years at Peterborough United.

However, he soon went into football writing and punditry on television, eventually working for the BBC, where he spent 30 years. He was axed by the corporation in 2022, and Lawrenson decided to retire.

He had claimed, following his sack, that the BBC let him go because he was "65 and white" (via Guardian). Now, while talking on the Ben Heath podcast, Mark Lawrenson has discussed the reasons for his exit from the corporation (via Daily Mail):

"Gone woke, it is top of the woke league. They are frightened to death, absolutely and totally frightened to death. You have seen the stuff with Gary Lineker and obviously people at the head of the BBC, I think day by day, I think the integrity of the corporation gets chipped off. It used to be absolutely fantastic but they are woke, plus 100 per cent."

Mark Lawrenson discusses BBC's brief sacking of Gary Lineker

After Gary Lineker criticized a policy from the UK government regarding asylum seekers in 2023, the BBC opted to sack the pundit. However, after considerable backlash and a refusal from other presenters to take up Lineker's job, the news corporation opted to bring Lineker back.

Mark Lawrenson spoke about how the BBC has reacted to pundits and presenters expressing their opinions:

"They are frightened, they say to everyone you can’t do this and you can’t say that. Look, it is somebody’s opinion. The thing with Gary [Lineker] is that he works for himself, so he is entitled to his own opinion. Rightly or wrongly he has got an opinion about everything, even in the inside of a ping pong ball."

Lawrenson added:

"You used to go on the programme and have the headset in your ears, they would be talking to you from the gallery and someone would ask a question, you’d want to jump in and they would say “don’t say anything”. 'You go “what really”, that got to me a bit at the end."

It looks unlikely that Mark Lawrenson will return to punditry any time soon. However, Gary Lineker has worked with BBC since his temporary sack.

App download animated image Get the free App now