Jermaine Pennant Removed From Sky Sports News For 'Not Meeting Standards'

Jermaine Pennant has issued a statement after being removed from Sky Sports News yesterday.

The well-travelled footballer was seen slurring his words when talking about Romelu Lukaku making the move to Inter Milan from Manchester United and prompted Sky to take him off the air during an ad break.

Journalist David Reed replaced the former Arsenal and Liverpool winger to see out the rest of the transfer talk segment and Sky said they hooked him because he "failed to meet our production standards".

"Jermaine Pennant was a guest on Sky Sports News this morning. A decision by our production team was made to take Jermaine off the programme before its conclusion because his performance on-air failed to meet our production standards."

Viewers accused Pennant, who has been found guilty of drink-driving on three occasions, of being drunk whilst on TV.

The 37-year old responded to those claims by apologising for what he called a "below-par performance" on the show.

"I apologise to everyone at Sky Sports and the viewers for my below-par performance today, the channel have given me opportunities over the past months and I have never let them down like this before," read a statement from Pennant, published by the Daily Mail

"I'm gutted because only yesterday I had a really good stint on Talksport. There are no excuses here, I am eager to have a career in TV and hope I haven't done irreparable damage.

"Contrary to speculation on social media I didn't go out last night, I've been trying so hard to be professional over the past period, I've let down a lot of people and it won't happen again. Once again I apologise sincerely."