Matt Le Tissier says Sky Sports sacked him over Covid conspiracy theories

Matt Le Tissier believes he was axed by Sky Sports over his Covid-19 conspiracy theories.

The Southampton legend, 53, was sacked in August 2020 after nearly 20 years with the broadcasters. Le Tissier’s departure, along with Soccer Saturday colleagues Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas, came just five months into the coronavirus pandemic.

The former striker admitted he researched Covid conspiracies out of boredom during the first lockdown and regularly posted his outspoken views on Twitter. And he claimed last month on The AJ Roberts Show that it may have played a role in his sacking, before insisting he “was not a nutter”.

Le Tissier said: "I went into working in the media from 2002 onwards until late August 2020, which was an interesting scenario where I lost my job. Obviously the pandemic started in 2020 in March – and very early on in that I had my doubts as to what was really going on.

"I felt early on there was a massive overreaction to it by the governments. And that's where it all started for me with questioning the narrative and probably ended up with me losing my job at Sky."

One of Le Tissier’s controversies came in 2020 when he compared a row over wearing face-coverings on trains to Holocaust survivor Anne Frank. And his highly-contested views did not stop there, having recently called football chiefs “deluded” for not questioning the high number of cardiac arrests in football since the pandemic.

He said: "I ain't a stupid human being, I know this is not the same as what has gone on before. I've not seen this volume of incidents on football pitches.

"Sorry mate, you're deluding yourself if you think that this is the same as whatever happened in the 17 years I was a professional footballer. Shocking."

The former England star was slammed earlier this week after suggesting the media have “lied” about Russian war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine. The incident saw him step down from his role as a Southampton FC ambassador.

Sky Sports have declined to comment on Le Tissier's recent claim.

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