George Tyndale : will Ron Atkinson never learn?
THEY say there is no fool like an old fool.
Certainly, there is no fool like an old football manager.
Ron Atkinson, the former West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa coach, did not win many friends when he unwisely uttered remarks about black footballer Marcel Desailly live on television.
The Cafe Latte society immediately labelled him a racist.
This despite the fact that he has been instrumental in encouraging black footballers throughout his career.
Now you might think that the old adage 'once bitten, twice shy' is sensible.
Not Atkinson.
He agreed to appear in a forthcoming fractious episode of Channel Four's Celebrity Wife Swap, which will be aired next month.
The idea behind the reality show is that two married couples from vastly different backgrounds agree to swap wives for the week.
It is a cheap and nasty programme with a track record of destroying reputations.
Crafty editing turned Freddie Starr into a pantomime villain, for example.
While his wife for the week, former Page 3 girl Samantha Fox, was made to look like Mother Teresa in a push-up bra and thong.
So guess who they teamed Atkinson up with?
Birmingham athlete Tessa Sanderson - a great sportswoman.
But, more importantly in the producers' eyes, a great black sportswoman.
Sanderson, 53, was herself at the centre of a racism row involving commentator Jim Rosenthal last year.
The veteran broadcaster commented: "Tessa Sanderson there - she was a great spear chucker."
An embarrassed Rosenthal later apologised. The channel said he had been referring to her achievements as a javelin thrower, in which she won gold in the 1984 Olympics.
Surely both football pundit and Olympian should have had the common sense to realise that this latest celebrity swap, which resulted in a furious row, was nothing but media manipulation?
This show should not even have gotten off the starting blocks.
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George Tyndale - Sunday Mercury columnist
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