FORMER England footballer Stan Collymore's future as a BT Sport pundit is believed to be over after he linked Rangers to racist groups such as Combat 18 and called for a boycott of the club over some fans' sectarian singing.
BT Sport confirmed that contrary to some reports, they withdrew his invitation to appear on their Friday night coverage of the Raith Rovers v Rangers match and denied that it was censorship.
Some reports stated that the TV football pundit had called his appearance off himself.
However it is understood that Collymore has told BT Sport that he does not want to work for them again.
The row began after he commented on Twitter about a racist incident in Paris where a black man was pushed off a train by a group of what appeared to be Chelsea supporters travelling to the Parc des Princes stadium for Champions League match against Paris St Germain which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Collymore, who is also a Talksport analyst tweeted: As I said a couple of weeks ago, Rangers and Chelsea, aka 'The Blues Brothers', made for each other. Quelle surprise.#NF #BNP #C18."
A petition calling for the BT Sport football pundit to be ditched claimed a victory after reaching 8456 signatures.
Collymore's countered with his own online protest petition and saying sponsors and TV schedulers should boycott Rangers matches as long as supporters continue to sing sectarian songs. It had at 5.30pm on Friday received 8071 signatures.
Later, Collymore turned his angst on BT Sport saying: "All @btsportfootball have done tonight is empower right wing mob rule. Nothing else."
A BT Sport source said that Collymore had indicated he did not wish to continued to be a pundit for them.
A BT spokesman said it had withdrawn the Friday night invitation "because we did not agree with the nature of the debate that Stan launched on Twitter."
He would not specify which parts of the debate they objected to.
The spokesman added: "We also disapproved of attempts to draw BT Sport into the ensuing controversy.
"This doesn't amount to a sacking, as he's not an employee.
"We don't think withdrawing one invitation to Stan amounts to censorship. He's free to express his opinions, as he is continuing to do, on Twitter for example.
"We at BT Sport abhor all forms of racism. It should not be tolerated in sport. When issues of racism or sectarianism emerge, they need to be tackled and discussed in the correct manner."
A BT Sport source asked if he would appear as a pundit again said: "He has stated he no longer wants to work for us."
The BT Sport response came after Rangers fans lambasted Collymore on Twitter, saying it was unfair to single out the club fans for bigotry.
Collymore responding to being axed from the Rangers match coverage by posting footage to his 700,000 followers taken at Hampden of fans singing the sectarian Billy Boys loyalist song which contains the reference "up to our knees in fenian blood".
Collymore went silent after stating finally: "Disgusted by the lack of support from journalists, broadcasters and pros, current and ex. The threats, slurs, racism is there for all."
Earlier this week the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) said it would take no action over the singing of offensive songs and the display of a banner at the League Cup semi-final between Rangers and Celtic.
The match at Hampden saw 12 arrests for sectarian offences.
The Rangers Supporters Trust dismissed Collymore's claims and branded him a "self-publicist".
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