Sue Barker has suggested she was forced out of a A Question of Sport when she stood down as host after 24 years, as she today declared: ‘I would NEVER walk out on a job I love.’
The 66-year-old former tennis star said she ‘regretted’ the way it was handled, revealing that she was asked to say the decision was her own – despite being told she would be replaced as part of a ‘refresh’.
It comes after veteran pundit Mark Lawrenson also criticised the BBC for dropping him from Football Focus, claiming it was because he was ’65 and a white male.’
The BBC announced Sue’s departure from A Question of Sport in September 2020, later revealing Paddy McGuinness as the new host. Team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell also left, to be replaced by Sam Quek and Ugo Monye.
She continued to host the BBC’s Wimbledon Championships coverage until this summer, when she signed off for good, leading to an emotional farewell from John McEnroe which brought the veteran presenter to tears.
Figures released this month showed viewing figures for A Question of Sport have slumped since Sue’s departure – with the heights of her tenure pulling in up to five million viewers, compared to Paddy’s 850,000.
Speaking about her departure on BBC Breakfast today, Sue said: ‘It is such a shame because, I have to say, that the BBC had told us we were going.
‘They wanted to refresh the programme and that is absolutely fine. Everyone has the right to do that. We don’t own the programme’.
She added: ‘I had had 24 amazing years working with the most incredible people. So we knew it was going to happen and it was just the way in which it happened and the way it was handled, and the way the BBC sort of wanted me to say that I was walking away from it.
‘And yet, I would never walk away from a job I love. I don’t mind being replaced. Absolutely fine. That happens. But it was just the way it was handled.
‘I think we regret the way it was handled. I think if we look back on it we could have handled it better. I think the BBC could have handled it better.
The departures of Sue Barker, Matt Dawson (left) and Phil Tufnell were announced in September 2020
Paddy McGuinness took over as part of a ‘refresh’
‘It is just such a shame because I loved it. And I don’t look back on it badly just because of a couple of bad days and then some negative publicity, which I think affected quite a lot of people.’
Barker’s criticisms come days after Mark Lawrenson’s claims that 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 corporation, 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 claims he should have thought about leaving the show when host Dan Walker left his hosting duties after 12 years in 2021.
Mark Lawrenson said that his age and race played some part in his departure from the BBC
Mark Lawrenson has claimed former Football Focus presenter Dan Walker found out about his departure from the show through rumours circulating about his future
The 65-year-old claims Walker’s dismissal as Football Focus host last year was ‘very strange’.
Lawrenson said: ‘It is just very very strange. I mean, Dan Walker, I am sure you know Dan, he used to present Football Focus. He found out from basically rumours that he had lost his job at the end of the season.
‘So it is just a strange way that the BBC operate I am afraid. And they seem to be very frightened to give you bad news. It is a very strange thing.’
Walker replaced Manish Bhasin as Football Focus’s main presenter in 2009, but left the position in 2021 after 12 years, with Alex Scott taking over.
The ex-Liverpool defender also protested the BBC’s instructions, when as a radio co-commentator in the wake of Princess Diana’s death in 1997, to avoid any reference to free-kick ‘walls’, in case somebody would have been offended by the language used.
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.’
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