Topics: Sky Sports, Liverpool, Arsenal, Matt Le Tissier, Southampton
Phil Thompson has opened up on the brutal way that Sky Sports sacked him and fellow pundits Matt Le Tissier and Charlie Nicholas.
Former Liverpool defender Thompson was among several long-time pundits who were affected through a shake-up by the broadcaster which impacted its flagship Soccer Saturday programme and others.
Thompson had been a pundit for Sky Sports for 22 years but was let go by Sky Sports in August 2020.
Also departing was Southampton legend Le Tissier and former Arsenal man Nicholas, with all three having regularly appeared on Soccer Saturday for years alongside long-time host Jeff Stelling, who has since also left the programme.
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The 71-year-old has now spoken about leaving Sky Sports and revealed though he was unhappy at the time, he has now moved on from it.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Thompson said: "It's like when you come to the end of your football career, you always think you can go on and that you're better than whoever has taken your place.
"I got a bit of great advice when I was told I was on the programme at its best ever place. I always think I could still do that but things have to evolve.
"I was unhappy at the time but it moves on."
And Thompson has now revealed that he, Nicholas and Le Tissier were also informed that Sky Sports would no longer be requiring their services via a Zoom call from the broadcaster and were not given the news in person.
Thompson has described the 'shock' and is critical of the broadcaster's decision to inform all three former players they were being let go via a call, but the ex-Liverpool man admitted he enjoyed 'every minute' of the experience of working with Sky Sports.
He said: "I was just shocked that, I was the oldest and I could accept it more than Charlie (Nicholas) or Matt (Le Tissier), who were younger than me, but for them to make the announcements to three of us in one day on Zoom (calls), one after another, it just didn't seem good practice.
"If I went first, not a problem, then maybe Charlie a year or two down the line, I get that. But to me it was a big shock.
"But I enjoyed every minute of it. I worked with some great people and some bad people, I won't mention names but it as a great experience."
