Matt Le Tissier has revealed the reasons why he thinks he has been sacked by Sky Sports, admitting he has become 'unpopular' with the broadcasting giant's bosses.
Le Tissier, 56, was fired in August 2020 along with fellow Soccer Saturday panellists Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson, later blaming the decision on his refusal to wear a Black Lives Matter badge and his views on the Covid pandemic.
The former Southampton striker was also accused of endangering lives after sharing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in 2021 and later faced fierce backlash on social media after spreading controversial views on the war in Ukraine.
Le Tissier also posted a thread questioning the legitimacy of September 11, a stance that led his former colleague Jeff Stelling to label the message as “total and absolute b*******.”
Since then, he has given several interviews upon his departure, but is no longer under an NDA, a development he says now allows him to criticize the company.
And during the Disrupters podcast, Le Tissier spoke again about his abolition.
“I was allowed to say what happened, I just wasn't allowed to criticize them,” Le Tissier said. 'So I could say what happened, but I wasn't allowed to have an opinion about it.
'I probably made myself unpopular with the bosses by refusing to wear the Black Lives Matter badge after the first programme.
'Around the time they were trying to restart the Premier League in 2020, the teams in the relegation zone were the only ones highlighting they were dealing with Covid cases. They didn't really want the season to start over.
“They wanted the money from the TV deal for the next season. They didn't want to be relegated and lose all that money. That resulted in a complaint from one of the CEOs of a Premier League football club, who contacted Sky. I got the call about that.
“Basically it was just everything I posted on social media, not only did it go against the government narrative, but the mainstream media was all over it.
'And that obviously included my employers, namely Sky News. Obviously I was in the football department, so I looked at that as a completely separate entity.
'Working for Sky Sports I'm going to criticize Sky News because I don't believe they're doing things right.'
Asked for his opinion of Sky as an employer, Le Tissier added: 'I don't think it's a particularly good company to work for. I still keep in touch with people who still work there and who can tell me how it has changed in recent years, and not for the better.
'I'm not angry, I'm not bitter. I had 15 great years there, I enjoyed it. It was a fantastic part of my life. But things change and you move on.”
In an interview with GB News, Le Tissier admitted that his family and close friends thought he had gone 'a bit crazy' because of his opinions.
When asked if he has paid a price for his views, he replied: “I think the price people will probably point to is that I lost my job. Sky might tell you something different.
“They told me they just wanted to take the show in a different direction, but they didn't deny it had anything to do with my social media posts.
“So maybe my job. I think at first my family and close friends probably thought I had gone a bit crazy because I was going against the narrative a bit and they honestly thought I had mental health issues.
'I knew that wasn't the case and luckily I stuck to my guns and what's happened over the last two or three years – a lot of them have now come to the realization that I wasn't angry and that I was actually talking a lot was. feeling.
“I wasn't right about everything, but I was right about a lot of things.”
A Sky statement announcing Le Tissier's departure said: 'We are changing some parts of our football coverage – Matt, Charlie and Phil have done a great job for us over the years and they will send us their sincere thanks and best wishes . '
Sky declined to comment when contacted by Mail Sport.
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