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Regional daily attacked by Clarkson welcomes his demise

A regional daily which had an online spat with former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has applauded the BBC’s decision to axe him.

The Liverpool Echo has praised BBC Director General Tony Hall, who was born on the newspaper’s patch in Birkenhead, for making the “brave decision” to fire the star.

The comments in an editorial written by Susan Lee, the Echo’s executive editor, came after Clarkson launched a foul-mouthed Twitter tirade at the Echo last month, in which he accused it of “shocking journalism”.

The paper had previously accused him of “insulting” Liverpool in a column for the Sunday Times about a visit to the city.

Clarkson-for-site

Bookmaker Betfair offered odds of 50-1 earlier this month, pictured above, that Clarkson would take up the editorship of the Echo in the event of his sacking, leading current editor Alastair Machray to joke that he “punches staff regularly as it is”.

In her piece, Susan applauded the BBC’s move, noting that “it took a Merseysider to do it”.

She wrote: “Like most of us who hail from this neck of the woods, (Tony Hall) will have been prepared to cut some slack. We’re not quick to judge, we take as we find and we’re happy to give others the benefit of the doubt.

“We don’t suffer fools gladly either, though, and Tony has clearly decided that Jezza’s actions were making the BBC look foolish. He had to go.

“It’s a brave decision. When Jeremy Clarkson was suspended there was an outpouring of support for him from the public and he is undeniably a lucrative talent.

“But like the rest of Merseyside Tony Hall has an acute sense of fair play.

“‘There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public relations and commercial considerations,’ he said.

“And that, in a nutshell, was what finally nailed Clarkson. Not his actions. Not his ranting or even his endless mission to insult. But the fact that he crossed one of us…and we always try to do the right thing.”

Clarkson began his journalism career in the regional press – working on the Rotherham Advertiser before moving on to the Rochdale Observer and Wolverhampton’s Express & Star.

On Wednesday James Mitchinson, editor of Sheffield daily The Star, tweeted an offer to Clarkson inviting him to guest edit the paper, which also publishes an edition in the star’s hometown of Doncaster.

James, who posted the below picture of Clarkson attending a Doncaster Rovers football match, added: “We promise to keep these beauties to ourselves!”

Clarkson Doncaster

17 comments

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  • March 27, 2015 at 7:47 am
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    You go to work and it someone you get sacked – end of story. The BBC cant say ‘no problem, you are a celebrity so we will ignore it.’ If Jeremy got away with it once he would carry on with the same behaviour. Like a lot of celebrities, he thinks he is above everyone else and thinks he can get away with any behaviour. Problem is, someone else will be sat there waiting to scoop him up.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 7:50 am
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    original comment should have said ‘you go to work and HIT someone’ !

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  • March 27, 2015 at 9:21 am
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    Now that Mr Clarkson has been disposed of by the BBC, will the media now let it all go and just move on to more important news? I’m sick to death of hearing about him – he has done wrong, got the boot and now it’s the media’s turn to stop obsessing over Mr Clarkson. I know papers have do follow up stories, but a nice long break away from the SAME STORY rehashed again and again would be nice…..

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  • March 27, 2015 at 9:42 am
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    Clarkson only has himself to blame after a string of unsavory incidents, any one of which might have resulted in him being dismissed for gross misconduct.

    Having said that, he clearly wasn’t wrong about the quality of The Liverpool Echo if the quotes attributed to an editorial in that paper are anything to go by.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 10:58 am
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    Cheddar first and now Liddypool. Another paper leaps aboard the Clarkson bandwagon. What will they do without him?

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  • March 27, 2015 at 11:15 am
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    I wondered when the self-appointed guardians of decency/mafia of the local press would weigh in.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 12:32 pm
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    So why would The Star’s editor want Clarkson to guest edit his newspaper?
    A big star, but a thoroughly discredited one who we now know left a junior colleague needing a trip to hospital and who is the focus of attention from North Yorkshire Police as a result.
    How could it be justified to put him in the editor’s chair of a responsible newspaper?
    Looks like an editor blinded by a desire for publicity at any cost.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 1:04 pm
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    The Echo/Trinity Mirror has never said a word about the demise of its own staff and the never-ending story of redundancies.
    PS Oisin Tymon, the bloke Clarkson slapped, went to hospital with a split lip. Who the hell goes to hospital with a split lip?
    I’ve got a tiny pimple on my cheek. Does anyone think I should call an ambulance?

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  • March 27, 2015 at 1:25 pm
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    Really tiresome the way the Echo champions the scouse pride thing seeing that it was common knowledge back in the day that you couldn’t get a job there if you were a scouser, when I was at the Visiter the Daily Post and Echo were a Cumberbatch-fest. More united fans at the top there than reds or blues too.

    Tony Hall is from Birkenhead too, technically Cheshire.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 1:52 pm
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    Regional, I imagine it was to get the injury on record – sensible move I reckon.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 2:25 pm
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    Birkenhead was historically in Cheshire, along with all of the Wirral, but alas no more.

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  • March 27, 2015 at 5:01 pm
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    Clarkson was a ‘star’ only in the minds of the boymen who follow his antics in that ridiculous programme Top Gear.
    The man acts, looks and sounds like a pillock and I, for one, am sick of seeing his mug in the papers.
    I hope he now seeks a future for himself in a monastery. Can I suggest Bhutan? Or the mountain peaks of Peru?

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  • March 27, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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    You can’t blame the Echo for running with this. These are desperate times for any newspaper or website and you have to attract hits in just about any way you can. Like a Souness tackle, it ain’t pretty .

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  • March 29, 2015 at 5:39 pm
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    So good to see the Echo standing up for free speech.

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  • March 30, 2015 at 8:06 am
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    Jesus Christ Liverpool Echo. You might be Trinity Mirror, but at least try and show some dignity!

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