One of Sky Sports’ pundits has explained that working for the broadcaster doesn’t mean you get to dodge the subscription fee.
Sky Sports boasts a line-up of star-studded experts providing analysis of the beautiful game, from Premier League clashes to Football League drama, both on live matchdays and via their round-the-clock news channel.
Fans are well-acquainted with seeing big names like Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, and Gary Neville giving the lowdown on the latest matches, all locked into hefty contracts. However, not every pundit on the roster, including Stephen Warnock, gets the same sweet deal.
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Ex-Liverpool and Aston Villa defender Warnock swapped his football kit for the pundit’s chair after retiring in 2018, lending his voice to the likes of the BBC, TNT Sports, DAZN, and NBC since then.
Warnock, who isn’t tied down by a long-term contract with Sky, misses out on some of the perks, such as a comped TV and broadband package, which he revealed during a chat on the Undr The Cosh podcast, reports the Mirror.
When co-host Jon Parkin quizzed him about scoring a freebie, Warnock was quick to set the record straight: “No! Because I work for them, I’m on a non-contract.
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(Image: Getty Images)
“But if you’re on a contract, which is like a Carragher or a Neville, you’ll get all the perks and things like that. So no, I have to pay full whack.”
EFL legend Parkin probed: “Even movies and everything? ” Warnock confirmed: “Yep, full on. I don’t get anything. Do you know what, the funny thing is, I remember speaking to one of the commentators.
“I said ‘do you get like perks with working for Sky? ‘ And he was like ‘yeah, I get all my phones for about five a quid a month, then I get all the Sky package and things’.
(Image: Sky Sports)
“I thought ‘oh yeah ok so I’ll ask about that’. Asked about it and they just came back and went ‘no, you don’t qualify for it within your contract’.”
The panel agreed he should be entitled to some perks for his frequent appearances on Sky Sports News, with Warnock adding: “You’d think so wouldn’t you.”
Parkin argued he’d want the full bells and whistles – including the X-rated channels. Warnock joked: “Maybe that’s where it went wrong because I went on the porn straight away. ‘Give us that for free’ and they were like ‘no, hang about, there’s something not right here’.”