Jermaine Jenas has thanked those who supported him after he was sacked by the BBC as he teased his return to football broadcasting.
The ex-Premier League player, 41, was removed from the presenting line-ups of Match Of The Day and The One Show by the BBC last month following complaints about workplace conduct.
He previously apologised to his former female colleagues for sending “inappropriate messages”, but insisted they were “between two consenting adults” and that his behaviour was not illegal.
The BBC has not offered details on why Jenas’s contract was terminated.
In a video shared to his Instagram Story, Jenas said: “I just thought it was important for me to jump on here actually and just talk to you lot and say thank you for the level of support that you’ve shown me.
“It’s clearly been a difficult period for me but one I will definitely grow from.
“We’re human beings, it is what it is, you’ll learn from it. Become a better person. I think those are the things that are important in life.
“None of us are perfect, and we’ve just got to find a way to just keep moving forward, look after our babies and our families in the best way we possibly can and that’s something I will be trying to do.”
He said the level of support he has received has been “nice” and has helped him reconnect with some of his followers after losing connection with them.
Jenas, who also appeared on TNT Sports’ football coverage and co-presented a talkSPORT drive-time show, revealed he has been working on getting back to work.
“There’s some exciting stuff that I’ve been working on, so hopefully, you’ll all have that to look forward to very soon,” he said.
“And also, hopefully, I’ll just be back talking about what I love really, which is football.”
The father-of-four joined The One Show in 2020 as a stand-in co-host following the departure of Matt Baker, and he was made a permanent fixture the following year.
Jenas had been a regular pundit on sports programmes Match Of The Day and Match Of The Day 2 and a presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live.
He had been widely regarded as a natural successor to replace Gary Lineker as host of Match Of The Day, but was noticeably absent from the first episode of the new season.
On his departure, a BBC spokesperson previously said: “We can confirm that he is no longer part of our presenting line-up.”
Jenas has criticised how his former employer handled his sacking and has said he will be speaking to his lawyers about the situation.
