FORMER Sky Sports reporter Bianca Westwood has claimed she will “probably” never work in football again.
The 51-year-old took a voluntary redundancy from Sky in 2023 after 22 years with the broadcaster.
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Westwood became popular with fans after making a name for herself as a pitchside reporter during their hit Soccer Saturday show.
But now she has started a new career venture posting about fashion and beauty on social media.
And Westwood – who dated Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan in the early 2000s – explained why she is leaning towards a future as an influencer rather than returning to football.
She said in a TiKTok video: “I wanted to set a few things straight because I still get a lot of messages asking about Sky.
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“When am I going back to Sky? When am I doing the football again? The compliments are really nice, I do appreciate them, but I’m not going back to Sky.
“It’s funny because I get so many compliments now about what a good reporter I was, which is lovely, how I was the best football presenter, blah, blah, blah… and yet when I was doing it, especially when I first started, everyone said I was s***. So, work that out.
“The thing is, I’m not going back to Sky and I’m probably never going to work in football again.
“I had a feeling, probably about a year before I left Sky that the opportunities were becoming few and far between, they didn’t really rate me, that’s why I started doing the fashion, beauty and skincare, things that I love as a woman.
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“All my content now is geared towards women so I don’t even know why I get new male followers because the football has gone.
“I love what I do now so I just wanted to let you know what that’s all about.
“Three years ago, Sky offered me redundancy, I decided to take it. Jeff [Stelling] was leaving at the same time, I thought it was probably the best time to go and that was basically the reasons behind my decision so I’m not really going to go back.”
Westwood first started dating O’Sullivan in the summer of 2000 and she famously watched his first World Snooker Championship title win.
Their romance was short lived as they ended up splitting one year later in 2001.
Westwood was an iconic part of Soccer Saturday alongside usual favourites like Matt Le Tissier, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas, who all left the show in 2020.
Host Jeff Stelling initially stayed on before following them out the door in 2023 – the same year Westwood departed.
Westwood – who has 138,000 followers on Instagram and 45,000 on TikTok – joined Sky in 2000 as a runner before later becoming a sports reporter for Sky Sports News.