Former Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson has claimed BBC bosses had threatened to drop him from the 2014 World Cup final after making a ‘handbag’ joke in a previous match.
Lawrenson had spent three decades with the corporation, working as both a pundit and co-commentator, before leaving at the end of the 2021-22 football season.
The former Liverpool defender told the Disruptors Podcast that he had been warned by his bosses at the BBC following a joke he had made during a last-16 tie between Argentina and Switzerland.
‘Switzerland had broken away and this guy is up against the goalkeeper and it’s 0-0 and late in the game, you’re thinking, crikey, if he scores here Argentina go out,’ Lawrenson said.
‘He didn’t really decide and make a decision about anything, the goalkeeper basically came out and stopped him from scoring.
‘I think I came up with like “wow, look at that, he was kind of too busy thinking about his handbag to score”.
‘After the game, the boss said to me ‘you can’t really say that, you might not be commentating on the World Cup final. They had a little meeting and came back and said “you are going to do it”, I said “alright, thank you very much”.
‘In the World Cup final it was 0-0 for a long, long time and Argentina got a free kick and I am saying “put your bags down girls and somebody make a decision”. You know what, nothing was said.’
‘It was just one of those stupid things you say, when you are in the game you think “let’s make something happen”, I am pretty sure [commentator] Guy Mowbray was laughing, they were all laughing.’
Lawrenson had come under fire from fans on social media during the World Cup last-16 tie in 2014 – but not for a handbag joke as the former co-commentator claimed.
The BBC had in fact received 172 complaints following Lawrenson’s comment that Switzerland striker Josip Drmic ‘should have put a skirt on’ after a weak shot against Argentina, with the remark branded offensive and sexist.
Broadcasting watchdog OfCom also received six complaints.
‘We acknowledge that the remark by commentator Mark Lawrenson about Switzerland’s Josip Drmic was inappropriate and we apologise for any offence caused by it,’ the BBC said in a statement at the time.
Lawrenson has previously hit out at the BBC following his departure in 2022.
Earlier this year, Lawrenson branded the corporation as being ‘top of the woke league’ after again claiming he was dropped as a pundit due to being ’65 and white’.
Lawrenson claimed in 2022 that he was informed the BBC’s Football Focus show would be going ‘on the road’ and that bosses told him ‘we don’t think it is really something for you’.
The move led to Lawrenson’s typical one-year contract not being renewed, with the pundit then opting to retire.
When asked whether the BBC had ‘gone woke’ on the Ben Heath podcast, Lawrenson replied: ‘Gone woke? It is top of the woke league.’
‘They are frightened to death, absolutely and totally frightened to death.
‘You have seen the stuff with Gary Lineker and obviously people at the head of the BBC, I think day by day, I think the integrity of the corporation gets chipped off.
‘It used to be absolutely fantastic but they are woke, plus 100 per cent.’
