Mark Lawrenson claims the BBC are 'top of the woke league' as he has again hit out at the corporation following his exit.
The former Liverpool defender spent 30 years as a pundit for the BBC before he was told his contract wouldn't be renewed in 2022.
Lawrenson said at the time that his departure was due to him being '65 and white'.
BBC bosses informed him that Football Focus was 'going on the road' and they didn't think the change would suit him.
Mark Lawrenson has described the BBC as the 'top of the woke league'
Ben Heath podcast/YouTube
Lawrenson opted to retire from punditry but recently appeared on the Ben Heath podcast to outline his views on his old employers.
Asked by Heath if the BBC had 'gone woke', Lawrenson was emphatic with his response.
He replied: "Gone woke, it is top of the woke league. They are frightened to death, absolutely and totally frightened to death.
"You have seen the stuff with Gary Lineker and obviously people at the head of the BBC, I think day by day, I think the integrity of the corporation gets chipped off.
"It used to be absolutely fantastic but they are woke, plus 100 per cent."
Lawrenson was often a pundit working alongside Gary Lineker on Match of the Day.
Lineker was briefly taken off air by the BBC last year for a tweet that appeared to compare the government to the Nazis over their immigration policy.
Lawrenson admits the former England striker has 'got an opinion about everything'.
He says the BBC are 'frightened' by contributors such as Lineker, something that increased during his final years on the channel.
Lawrenson added: "They are frightened, they say to everyone you can’t do this and you can’t say that. Look, it is somebody’s opinion.
"The thing with Gary is that he works for himself, so he is entitled to his own opinion.
"Rightly or wrongly he has got an opinion about everything, even in the inside of a ping pong ball.
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Mark Lawrenson worked for the BBC for 30 years before leaving in 2022
Getty
"You used to go on the programme and have the headset in your ears, they would be talking to you from the gallery and someone would ask a question, you’d want to jump in and they would say 'don’t say anything'.
"You go 'what really', that got to me a bit at the end."
Lawrenson says his former Liverpool team-mate Alan Hansen bowed out at the right time.
Hansen retired in 2014 after 22 years as a regular pundit on Match of the Day.
Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson often worked together on Match of the Day
Getty
"Hansen was the best, finished after the World Cup in Brazil and said 'I’m done'," Lawrenson said.
"I had a great run, but it has just changed. The world has changed hasn’t it, completely. Some of the things you could just say, now it is absolutely impossible."
