Trevor Sinclair is in trouble again. The former England footballer, who is now a pundit for TalkSport, has been taken off air for saying ‘black and brown’ people should not mourn the Queen’s death. ‘Racism was outlawed in England in the 60’s and it’s been allowed to thrive so why should black and brown mourn!!,’ he wrote.

Sinclair has since apologised. If, as seems likely, his career survives this latest scrape, it won’t be the first time he has dodged a bullet. Back in 2018, Sinclair pleaded guilty to racially abusing a police officer who arrested him for drink driving. Among other things, he referred to the officer as a ‘white c**t.’ Sinclair was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for the public order offence and handed a 20-month driving ban.

Even the liberal wallahs at the BBC decided this was a bit much. Match of the Day would have to get by without him. Unbelievably, the Rupert Murdoch-owned TalkSport picked him up. Why they did so is quite beyond me. Can you imagine a white ex-footballer convicted of such an offence being hired by a mainstream sporting media? Especially one as sensitive to the socials as the Murdoch empire.

I should know how touchy they are. I was fired from the Sun for writing a column in which I opined that the lack of reflection in the eyes of Ross Barkley (Everton, Chelsea, Job Centre plus) reminded me of a gorilla at the zoo. The problem was that, unknown to me – and it seems to anybody else – Barkley’s grandfather is Nigerian. I have never spoken to any football fan who thought anything else than he was white. Certainly the News UK management had no idea. Not a first that.

That was me gone and the gap on the Murdoch payroll was filled over time by the talents of Sinclair. So how has Sinclair managed to avoid being binned? The reason he is not straight out the door is probably commercial. Listeners would be delighted if Sinclair were slung out but that might stir up a row and that is what media companies are trying to avoid. They fear big firms might use such a ‘storm’ over the firing of Sinclair to pull their advertising.

This is a significant issue today. Nigel Farage, for instance, had stunning numbers when he worked at the LBC radio station. Yet the plug was eventually pulled on his radio show after campaigners on the left called on advertisers to boycott the channel.

The Sun runs a mile from stories about the politics of race because they prefer full-page ads from Unilever. The editor knows not to rock the revenue boat. GB News shows what happens to those that do. Despite the fact that, in a little more than a year since launch they have created an audience almost the size of boring Sky News, virtually no major advertisers appear on the channel.

Is TalkSport worried about something similar happening if it does the right thing and bins Sinclair? I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, why else is the radio station hanging on to a man like him?