Sacked podcast: Grant Thomas tells all on SEN, The Age sackings and why he quit Footy Classified

Grant Thomas was never afraid to voice an opinion but his brutal honesty rubbed people the wrong way, which cost him his jobs at SEN and The Age and forced him out of Footy Classified.

Grant Thomas was always prepared to say what he thought without fear.

Grant Thomas says he was forced to walk away from both Footy Classified and SEN Radio after they refused to stand up to AFL House over his provocative comments.

Thomas regularly directed scathing invective at the league over their handling of key issues until sacked by SEN in 2009 while they attempted to secure the AFL’s radio rights for 2010-11.

But he revealed in the Herald Sun’s Sacked Podcast he quit Channel 9’s Footy Classified because they apologised on his behalf after bending to the threat of a law suit over his comments.

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SEN painted Thomas’ sacking as a budget consideration, but he said they had only weeks before labelled the provocative ex-Saints coach as their best commentator.

“I just remember them coming to me a few times and saying, ‘Can you be careful what you say’. I would say, ‘What do you mean be careful?’

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“They would say, ‘Do you have to ridicule the AFL and ridicule the umpires?’

“I would say, ‘If they do a s--- job, what do you want me to do?’

“They said, ‘They have threatened that we won’t get the AFL rights if we do.’

“I told them I am completely useless if I can’t say what I think.

Grant Thomas, with fellow SEN callers Anthony Hudson, Eddie McGuire and Bill Brownlow in 2008, claims he was sacked from the station after he was told he was its best commentator.

“Then (station boss) Barrie Quick rang me up and said, ‘Thommo I just want to let you know you are our No.1 football personality’. He said it’s just the feedback we are getting.

“Two weeks later he calls and says, ‘Thommo, where are you?’

“He said, ‘I am in St Kilda Rd’ and I thought he would drop in and bring me a nice bottle of red wine.

“He walked in and said, ‘You are terminated’, and I said, ‘I have come a long way in two weeks’.

“I feel sorry for him with what I said at the meeting. I was very composed because I knew it was a hatchet job.”

Thomas quit Footy Classified in 2012 to concentrate on what he had said were business and family reasons.

But in fact he didn’t realise the show was going to apologise on his behalf for some of his scathing comments against the AFL

“I enjoyed it, it was a bit of fun and ideally it would have been good to keep going a bit longer and once again (Andrew) Demetriou whacked in a couple of writs.

“They said they would sue me or sue Channel 9. They were going to apologise on air and Gaz (Garry Lyon) said you better do it but I didn’t know about that.

Grant Thomas says he quit Footy Classified after the show apologised on his behalf for comments he made against the AFL.

“Garry apologised on behalf of Channel 9 and I went home and woke up the next morning at 6am and said, ‘I am out, see you’.

“It’s much easier to pay a puppet half the price and get him to say what you want.”

Thomas was also sacked by The Age when he accused then-chief football writer Caroline Wilson of mistakes in a story.

“The article was about Luke Ball and someone asked me about it on SEN and said, ‘What is the difference between your article and Caro’s article’, and I said, ‘Mine is full of facts and the truth and Caro’s would be full of lies and innuendo.’

“She took umbrage to it and got me sacked. That’s fine.

“The Age sacked me but the Herald Sun told me. I was driving along the Princes Highway and they said have you got any comment and I said, ‘What about?’ and they said ‘you have just been sacked by The Age’.

“She was the chief footy writer and she didn’t want to be questioned in that regard but going to Footy Classified I have a lot of respect for her. She is very respected and considered. We get on fine.”

Originally published as Sacked podcast: Grant Thomas tells all on SEN, The Age sackings and why he quit Footy Classified