In the crazy world of television, a simple string of words, often proclaimed in a flippant manner, can quite easily cost you your career and reputation.

For those who have drifted into TV as a secondary career and have not been trained to avoid the pitfalls of the industry and, in particular, of live television, the outcome can be disastrous.

This week has seen yet another football pundit casualty when ex-Queens Park Rangers and Manchester City maestro Rodney Marsh was sacked by Sky Sports for an "offensive and inexcusable" joke.

The 60-year-old Marsh decided to tell a gag - one that has been doing the rounds on the Internet for weeks - saying David Beckham had turned down a £10 million transfer to Newcastle United because he'd heard of the trouble the Toon Army had caused in Asia.

For those not of a football persuasion, the Toon Army is the name given to Newcastle United followers, which, of course, when spoken out loud sounds like 'tsunami'.

The joke, which has been condemned by all concerned, has also caused the Daily Star to dismiss Mr Marsh and put an end to his regular football column.

Poor old Rodney is now likely to become an outcast in the same manner as Big Ron Atkinson (Big of course being an abbreviation of bigot) after his racist comments about black footballer Marcel Desailly.

I feel a bit sorry for Rodney. It could be argued the joke was not mocking the devastation in Asia at all, but, rather, deriding David Beckham's level of intelligence. Indeed, Golden Balls is fast following in the foot steps of George W with his dim-witted comments. When asked if he was a volatile player, he responded: "Well, I can play in the centre, on the right and occasionally on the left side." Get my point?

In the wake of the tsunami disaster, I'm not saying that the joke wasn't inappropriate, but if anyone was to take offence it was more likely to be Beckham himself.

Compared to the US radio station WQHT FM Hot 97, Marsh's joke was utterly tame. In this case, DJ Miss Jones and her team created a tasteless tsunami spoof of the charity tune We Are The World, referring to little China men being swept away and other similar humourless lines. Quite rightly the crew have all been suspended and are now donating a week's wages to the appeal.

But what is it with football pundits and faux pas? Is it the frenzy of live television which causes them to lose the plot or is it simply a generation thing?

I suppose we have to acknowledge that some of the things said, such as Frank McLintock's reference to Ten Little Niggers as an analogy to manager Jack Santini's departure from Spurs, would have been acceptable in the dark distant past.

Let's remember these guys are from a generation when the television show, the Comedians, was at its height and Bernard Manning was dishing out politically incorrect jokes, including all those mother-in-law classics, live on prime time TV.

After having watched a recent documentary on Ron Atkinson and his attempts to redeem himself, I believe there is an inherent problem. The main issue being that Ron, and no doubt other contemporaries, have no comprehension that they are doing anything wrong by making dubious statements on live television.

Not content to put his racist remarks far behind him, this week Ron Atkinson dug his way deeper into the mire, by saying at a sportsman's dinner, China has the best contraception going because their women are so ugly.

If you hadn't noticed, Bigot Ron is no oil painting himself and can only be described as a rubber faced Mrs Doubtfire with a barrel load of bling.

So if football pundits are now famed for their faux pas, why do the television stations continue to take the risk of putting them on the box in the first place, only to sack them when an inevitable misdemeanour takes place?

They say in film and TV, never work with children and animals. Perhaps ageing football pundits should be added to that list.

The fee for this column is donated to the York City FC Youth Development Fund.

Updated: 08:46 Saturday, January 29, 2005