Former Everton and Scotland football player Andy Gray has been sacked from his highly-paid role as a television commentator after making sexist comments about a female assistant referee.
His contract with Sky Sports, reported to be worth £1.7 million a year, was terminated after his involvement in two separate incidents, AFP reports.
Gray and Sky's main presenter Richard Keys thought their microphones were off when they made derogatory comments about lineswoman Sian Massey before a Premier League match between Wolves and Liverpool on Saturday.
They both claimed that female officials did not know the offside rule when replays showed later that Massey knew more about it than they did.
Gray was heard talking to Keys and saying: "Can you believe that? A female linesman. That's exactly what I said. Women don't know the offside rule."
Gray and Keys - who has been in trouble before with remarks made off air but caught on microphone - were both dropped from Monday's television coverage of the Bolton v Chelsea fixture, with Keys said to have telephoned the official to apologise.
Gray's sacking was also linked to a similar incident in December over a lewd comment made to Sky Sports News presenter Charlotte Jackson.
