BlackMan Time

The only problem with acting the court jester is you can never recover from it. The moment you start to act the fool to make other people laugh in their eyes you will always be the fool.

It doesn’t matter how many years have passed, during which time you will have matured, some people will still remember you only as that person who used to act the fool. The more you protest about how you’ve changed, is the more you will crack them up.

These were my thoughts when I heard that Ian Wright, former Arsenal football striker turn BBC TV pundit and personality, had quit the BBC because he was fed up having to act the fool in his role at the corporation.

“I was always the court jester adding a bit of fun to proceedings,” Wright said. “After Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer had done their bit, what's left to analyse?”

Strange Move

The former England and Arsenal striker said fans could not relate to the BBC’s other presenters or the out of touch way it covers football matches.

I actually agree with Wright but what strikes me as a little bit ‘strange’ is the fact that the former England striker has been with the BBC for seven years yet chose only now to make these comments.

Could his timing have anything to do with the fact that he’s now moving over to Sky TV to present the new Gladiators?

Even if he is milking his departure for publicity Gladiators doesn’t strike me as being an opportunity where his expert advice and opinions would be best suited. And chances are he will probably have to, again, act like a fool to win viewers over.

This is what they will have come to expect from him. Either way he's onto a loser but I guess we’ll have to wait and see how he can spice things up without appearing like a fool!