Jamie Carragher and 5 other pundits who courted controversy

#2 Rodney Marsh

Rodney Marsh (far right) was fired by Sky following a tasteless joke on air

When Sky Sports first began to broadcast the much-loved Soccer Saturday programme in the mid-1990’s with its multitude of pundits, one of the most recognisable of them was former England and Manchester City striker Rodney Marsh.

His comical, opinionated style made him somewhat of a fan favourite with viewers, but it would be an attempt at comedy that eventually cost him his job.

He’d already courted controversy in the 1999/00 season by dismissing Bradford City’s chances of Premier League survival, promising to shave his head if they stayed up – and when they indeed survived, he lived up to his word and had his head shaved in the centre circle of Valley Parade. This was light-hearted, though, in comparison to his later gaffe.

Appearing on a January 2005 edition of You’re on Sky Sports, Marsh joked about the recent Asian tsunami disaster, quipping “David Beckham has turned down a move to Newcastle United because of trouble with the ‘Toon Army in Asia’”.

Viewers were outraged by the tasteless joke and although Marsh apologised for the pun, stating that he’d only intended to make a “light-hearted football joke”, Sky Sports fired him two days after the incident. Marsh has since appeared on a string of reality TV shows but has not featured as a football pundit again.