to be estastic that McCririck has decided to take his claim for ageism to court?

[RedToothbrush]

McCririck spoke out last October at the time of the decision, which he blamed on ageism.

And he said in a statement released on Wednesday: "Channel 4 and production company IMG Sports Media were yesterday each served a letter before action for age discrimination.

"After 29 years with Channel 4 Racing, on a rolling annual contract, I have been sacked without any consultation or cogent explanation. I am 72.

"For loss of future earnings, unfair career damaging, public humiliation, stress and mental anguish, I will be seeking £500,000.

"Ageism is illegal. For tens of thousands of employees it has become the feared scourge of our society.

"This litigation should prove to be a watershed. There's no upper limit to the amount of damages employment tribunals can award under the Equality Act 2010 .

"I am seeking a further exemplary, punitive £2.5m, part of which will be donated to charitable organisations helping to prevent negative prejudice in the workplace."

I can not wait for the verdict on that one! Anyone know a recipe for humble pie served up with a good dollop of irony for quoting the equality act?

I love claire balding.

Just getting that in.

Me too pickled

This isnt about ageism, but about who is the better presenter.

Balding wins hands down.

And watching him pick his nose and eat it on CBB would not have been good for his career.

He has been replaced with someone thats like for like. Its not like they replaced him with a page 3 girl.

I remember him from Celebrity Wife Swap........sitting in bed in his baggy pants eating his dinner......yuck yuck yuck!!!!!!!!! The most disgusting individual ever I am sure.

Doesn't totty mean impossibly physically gorgeous women whom no ordinary person has a hope of resembling?

I am chuffed to bits that Clare Balding is none of the above but is still the most popular presenter going!

I am sad Simon and John have left the C4 team. I loved them.

Not where I'm from Wobbly

To me it means a bit of yum which is I'd course subjective.

Of course subjective

I cannot stand him and imagine Ch 4 had many reasons not to renew his contract. As another MNetter says he is proudly sexist and yet suddenly wants everybody to be treated as equals......only when it affects him though.

He was replaced by a woman?

No wonder he's so pissed off.

A woman. The very idea!

He is such a twat. It's high time they got rid of him.

And if it just is that they haven't renewed his contract - then so what? They don't HAVE to.

So vile sexist and massive sense of entitlement too.

Finding it hard to squeeze out a tear for him, tbh.

Hmmm, Kitty to me totty has always meant 'object that would enhance self-esteem and status of male who had her's, beautiful thing and therefore is desirable [whilst still being all about him]'

How fantastically specific wobbly

I work in racing (hence the name ) and wanted this is a big discussion topic at the moment.

A few things:

• McCririck is not a racing expert. He's a failed bookmaker. He doesn't know one end of a horse from the other and wouldn't have a clue about breeding/training etc.

He was not* replaced by Claire Balding. His role was as betting "expert", not lead anchor.

• Nobody was sacked from Channel 4. Everyone's contract came to an end at 31/12/12 and the new production company decided who they wanted to renew and which new people they would bring in. Some of the old C4 presenters did not put themselves forward for renewal.

• Claire as lead anchor has effectively taken over from Mike Cattermole and Alastair Down, who were the old main presenters, though the Channel 4 team had become quite bloated with a dozen or more presenters.

Vile, arrogant, argumentative, sexist and shouty..... Cannot bear him on any level. Glad he has gone

If I was his wife, I would piss in his coffee every. single. morning.

I've seen pictures of her. Smiling.

Married to him, that can be the only reason why...

So would I be right in saying he's still been 'replaced' by a woman though. Tanya Stephenson.

Have to say I've just strayed on this interesting little article from 2001.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/3005671/Tanya-is-a-maiden-for-the-notebook.html

ANDREW FRANKLIN, boss of Channel 4 Racing, is well known for the nurturing of future stars. In much the same way that Sir Mark Prescott might give his potential Champion Stakes winner a quiet debut in a Hamilton maiden, so Andrew has given Tanya Stevenson, his production secretary, a quiet introduction to the racing public - a table in the corner of the Morning Line studio, reading out viewer's emails.

This has earned her the sobriquet 'the email-female.' Those who know considerably more about these things than I do, say she is destined for far greater things and, while we're on the subject of speculation, could it be that she's being groomed to replace John McCririck?

Brough Scott recently set a precedent by leaving before he was 60 and, though Big Mac is unlikely to ever go quietly or willingly, by the time Dubai Millennium's first born are juveniles the march of time will have qualified him for a bus pass.

Tanya, 30, is the complete antithesis of Big Mac with one exception - her knowledge of the betting world. Three nights a week she is a bookie, trading under her father's name, Michael Duncan, at Sittingbourne dogs. Her first language is tic-tac.

That is on top of her job for Channel Four, occasional commentaries for a greyhound internet site and a floor manager's job on Sky's greyhound programme. And what she doesn't know about American football and cricket isn't worth knowing so that alone makes her almost unique among her sex. And she only takes three days' holiday a year.

Tanya Stevenson has kept her old job. There is a younger man also doing the betting side of things, I want to call him Dan or Tom but I'm not sure

Bottom line is, many people in racing are happy to see him go. For far too long he's been seen as the public face of racing when he couldn't be more removed from the norm in the industry today.

Good to hear.

I do think that article is still interesting if not for the point that twelve years ago there was a prediction that McCririck would be an arse, and wouldn't go quietly or willingly. Says a lot about his character.

Sorry John, we dumped you because you're an offensive wanker. It's nothing to do with your age.

It's frankly quite impossible to muster up any sympathy for the vile hairy twat.

He cannot really in any respect be referred to as a man even, some vile entity with fluffy sideburns.....so stomach churning. Also he refers to the the lady (not sure if her name is Tanya) as Female, as in "over to you Female or what do you think Female"? Simply awful.

With the Morning Line being show at breakfast time, it was a job to keep your food down when Cririck appeared on screen.

The Booby really did get the booby prize!

Thanks, Frankelly! My addled brain just cannot remember his name, who is the one who would sit with John Francome, very very knowledgable, would talk with his eyes closed, receding hair, faintly red haired... help me, it is driving me nuts!

Yes, Tanya would be referred to as 'FEMALE', I used to watch the set of her mouth and wonder if she would ever erupt...

Revenge is a dish best served cold. The chap whose name I can't remember would say to Mac 'that is silly, you are just being silly'.

Jim McGragh! (sp). Whew I will be able to sleep now.

I would rather have Jim than Richi Persad (sp)...

Jin McGrath, yes that's him. But not Aussie Jim McGrath (the one that was on BBC).

I'm not a big fan of Rishi either, but I know the guy that did his media training (Claire's also) and he says he's a lovely bloke. Just a shame that his racing knowledge is so lacking at times - like the time he said he'd walk home from Paris if Zarkava won the Arc

Forgot to say, Jim McGrath has stayed at Channel 4, but he's got Mick Fitzgerald with him now. John Francombe took himself out of the running, saying he wanted to concentrate on other projects.