McCririck 'humiliated' as Channel 4 imposes slimmer work regime

chris

John McCririck, a cornerstone of televised horseracing for a quarter of a century and one of the few figures from the Turf familiar to the general public, said yesterday that he feels "humiliated" by a Channel 4 decision to remove him from its coverage on 18 Saturdays per year.
The move to cut McCririck's contribution to the coverage by around 25% was described as a "slight reduction" in a statement issued by the channel yesterday. It described McCririck as "an essential member of Channel 4 Racing".

The decision is understood to have been taken personally by Andrew Thompson, Channel 4's head of sport, and against the wishes of Highflyer Productions, the company with direct responsibility for racing coverage. Valued by Channel 4 for his expertise in betting matters, McCririck cuts a larger-than-life figure on the screen and is known outside racing for his flamboyant appearance and loudly expressed chauvinist views.

"Andrew Thompson feels that I have too high a profile and that too much of the publicity that the programme gets is associated with me," said McCririck yesterday. "He also wants to blood people with an eye to the future, and that's perfectly fair, but there are already 10 Saturdays a year when I'm not working and they can do that [then]. It's going to be humiliating when this hits the papers tomorrow, of course it is.

"Let's be clear. A lot of people will be delighted by this news, a lot of people loathe me and will be saying that it's not before time. I fully accept that, it's the nature of the medium. But this decision has not been taken because they think I am too old, or too fat, or incompetent. Our coverage from Cheltenham was very well received, and if I am as good as they are saying that I am, then it is like Gerrard being dropped by Liverpool."

Hannah Walker, Channel 4 Racing's spokeswoman, said last night: "He will still do all the big festival meetings, like Goodwood, Cheltenham, Newmarket and York.

Basically we are very much looking to the long term. He takes a significant period off in November every year, and we are spreading that more across the year."

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Topper

Simply put channel four are making him whistle to their tune and not his own, that's ok, I just hope they make him pick his own nose

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War does not determine who is right, it determines who is left!

Formerly toppervte33h
whose six pack has turned into a keg

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