A former Premier League manager has recalled being sacked while working as a BBC pundit on live television.
Gus Poyet was in the BBC studio alongside presenter Mark Chapman and fellow pundit Efan Ekoku when he was told of his untimely dismissal during coverage of a Confederations Cup match between Spain and Nigeria.
It was a quite extraordinary series of events. The former Chelsea forward had taken over at Brighton & Hove Albion in 2009 and won promotion from League One in 2011 after securing promotion with five games to spare.
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He would go on to guide the Seagulls to a fourth-place finish in the Championship in 2012/13, but after they failed to reach the play-off final following a semi-final defeat to Crystal Palace, Poyet was fired from his post.
In fact, the Uruguayan was handed a statement during coverage of the clash between Spain and Nigeria, which had been printed out by production staff. It was then read to Poyet by presenter Mark Chapman at half-time.
“I think the BBC have got a great story," Poyet replied.
"A manager getting the information that he has been released from his employment from the BBC during the time of a programme is quite surprising. I’ve still had no communication, no text, no email, I didn't receive anything by phone.”
More than 11 years later and Poyet, who is now in charge of K League 1 side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, has opened up on the incident.
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“The commentary was starting at 7.30pm, so I switched my phone off at 7.20pm, when we did the last touches of our make-up,” he told The Athletic.
“There was nothing to indicate that I was going to be sacked. So I switched off my phone without any fears. We did the pre-match analysis, then when the match started at 8pm, they said, ‘Now you can relax’.”
Poyet was then informed of his Brighton sacking by a member of the BBC's production team, before Chapman read out a statement from the club.
“He [Chapman] said, ‘You know you’ve just been sacked?’ We weren’t live on air, it was two minutes after the game had started at 8pm," Poyet added.
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"I said, ‘No’. He said, ‘Yes, it’s on the Brighton website’. So then I asked (production) staff if I could get a copy. I then asked permission to get out of the studio to call my lawyer and he told me.”
An awkward segment involving Chapman and Poyet followed.
“The BBC thought it was perfect!” the Uruguayan laughed. “We didn’t commentate one bit about the game at half-time, it was all about my sacking. I remember saying to the BBC, ‘Oh, you’re lucky! This will never happen again!’”
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Poyet has since enjoyed a number of high-profile jobs in management, including a stint at then-Premier League side Sunderland in 2013.
He has also taken charge of AEK Athens, Real Betis, Shanghai Shenhua, Bordeaux, Universidad Católica and the Greece national team.
Topics: Premier League, EFL Championship
Jack Kenmare