Eric Bristow's manager 'asked BBC for a £5,000 fee' to discuss his offensive tweets on sexual abuse in football

The former darts player and pundit has since said he will donate any fee he has received for interviews to a relevant charity

Eric Bristow (Getty)

Eric Bristow's manager asked for a £5,000 fee to discuss comments where he called footballers who were sexually abused by their coaches at a young age "wimps", a BBC journalist has claimed.

The former five-time darts world champion was sacked by Sky Sports after Tuesday’s tweeting tirade where he suggested the onus was on male sexual assault survivors to go back and “sort out” their abusers when they are older. “Dart players tough guys, footballers wimps,” he wrote in one tweet while in another he suggested they were not "proper men".

His ill-advised tweeting spree, which has now largely been deleted, was in response to the news more than 20 footballers have come forward with allegations of historical sexual abuse in the footballing world.

On Wednesday, the BBC Sports journalist Richard Conway said Bristow’s manager asked the corporation for a £,5000 fee to discuss the tweets, which the BBC declined.

The claim followed Bristow’s heated exchange with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain when he attempted to clarify his tweets by arguing that victims should have come forward earlier to stop other children being abused saying it was “no good complaining 30 years later”. After saying he was just being "straightforward, just like your [Morgan's] mate Trump", he later apologised for using the word “wimps”.

A representative for GMB said they "do not discuss guest contracts" when asked by The Independent if Bristow received a fee for his appearance on the programme.

Bristow has since released a statement where he said he appreciated his “wording was wrong and offended many people” in his tweets.

“I don’t use PR people to run my social account as some do and now appreciate my wording was wrong and offended many people when all I was doing was venting my anger at the abusers and encouraging kids to act ASAP. I know why I’ve been vilified but if one child comes forward quicker or one abuser thinks twice about the likelihood of being confronted then it will have been worth it.”

Bristow also said he would donate any money he has received or been offered for interviews to “a relevant charity”.

A representative for Bristow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.