Jermaine Jenas won Women’s Ally award months before BBC sacking
The award sparked controversy amongst women’s football fans at the time
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Your support makes all the difference.Jermaine Jenas was named “Ally of the Year” at the Women’s football awards just months before he was sacked for workplace misconduct.
The presenter and former England footballer, 41, was sacked following an investigation sparked by a female One Show colleague raising concerns about unsolicited messages.
The probe uncovered messages that reportedly “horrified” investigators, and ‘multiple women’ have come forward with fresh claims of inappropriate behaviour in the hours since he was sacked by the BBC, the Sun reported.
It comes just three months after the father-of-four won the Women’s Football Ally of the Year Award in a ceremony hosted by Eniola Aluko and Jamie Carragher in May.
The award - which has previously been won by the likes of Harry Kane - is given to those who support women’s football.
It sparked some controversy at the time as fans, and even Jenas himself, appeared to be unsure as to why he had specifically received the honour.
“I’m really proud, actually,” he said after winning the award. “Personally, I’ve always just gone about things as who I am, as a person, so to receive this kind of ‘ally’ award to the women’s game, as special as it feels, I’m just a bit like ‘well, I’m just trying to be me’.
“I’ve always supported the women’s game, I’ve got three daughters of my own, you know, my Mum raised me, so I’ve always been kind of a strong advocate of women in sport in general, so it’s nice, I have to say, for being acknowledged for just being, I suppose, yourself. I’m really appreciative of it, so thank you very much.”
His win was accompanied by a flood of social media posts implying he did not have the knowledge or interest in women’s football to merit the award.
The Women’s Football Awards have since deleted their X/Twitter post about his win and their website is also currently down.
News of Jenas’ axing from the BBC was made public on Thursday in move that has “massively shocked” his colleagues.
Jenas broke his silence on his sudden axing as a spokesperson insisted there were “two sides to every story”, and another source said there has been “no suggestion of illegality”.
Jenas, who played for Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest, told talkSPORT News in a brief interview: “Look, I can’t really talk about it. I, as you can probably see, I am not happy about it.
“But currently, as it stands, I’m going to have to let the lawyers deal with it. You know, there’s two sides to every story, as we know. So, that’s all I can say right now.”
Jenas was fired this week after “rumours” spread about inappropriate messages he had sent to colleagues.
The MailOnline reported that he has told his wife of 13-years about the claims while his colleagues at the BBC are understood to have been notified about his sacking via an email on Thursday.
Jenas earned £190,000 – £194,999 for his work on the FA Cup, Match of the Day and the World Cup.
His departure comes at a difficult time for the BBC, which is still reeling from the Huw Edwards scandal and the ongoing accusations of abuse on the set of Strictly Come Dancing.