Ex-MOTD pundit Mark Lawrenson blasts 'top of woke league' BBC and explains why he was axed

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Liverpool hero Mark Lawrenson has claimed the BBC are at the 'top of the woke league' (Image: BENHEATHPODCAST/YOUTUBE)

Liverpool hero Mark Lawrenson has claimed the BBC are at the “top of the woke league”. The former defender worked for the corporation for three decades and was a regular on Match of the Day and Football Focus but left in 2022 when the Beeb opted not to renew his contract.

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Lawrenson was recently interviewed on the Ben Heath podcast and was asked if the BBC had “gone woke”. And the 66-year-old said: “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.”

Lineker was suspended by the BBC last year after criticising the government's asylum policy on social media. But the Match of the Day presenter was allowed to return days later after a string of former players refused to appear on programmes until he was brought back into the fold.

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Mark Lawrenson left the BBC in 2022 after spending three decades with the corporation (Image: GETTY)

And Lawrenson continued: “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 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 on the inside of a ping pong ball.

“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.’

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“You go, ‘What really?’ That got to me a bit at the end. [Alan] Hansen was the best, [he] finished after the World Cup in Brazil and said ‘I’m done.’ I had a great run but it has just changed. The world has changed hasn’t it, completely. Some of the things you could just say, now it is absolutely impossible.”

And discussing his departure, Lawrenson added: “I kind of knew it was coming and the thing that really p***** me off was instead of ringing me and saying, ‘Look you’ve had a great run, thanks very much and we’re going in a different direction…’ Typical BBC, basically I was 65 and white and goodnight Lucy.”

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