Former Republic of Ireland striker and Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has left his role with Sky Sports to pursue a new business project outside of punditry.
The 92-times capped Dubliner had been an integral part of the broadcaster’s team of analysists since joining in 2012, shortly after his five-year stint at the helm in Sunderland was ended by owner Ellis Short.
Quinn was a frequent presence on Sky’s popular Super Sunday shows and penned a column for their website throughout last season, reviewing the talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action.
“I’ve had an amazing time working for Sky Sports, the passion and dedication that goes into their coverage is unmatched but sadly I won’t be part of the team this season,” said Quinn on Tuesday ahead of the Premier League campaign kicking off on August 11th.
“I’m moving on to a new business opportunity and I’ve had to make the tough decision and choose one path and really devote myself to that.
“I’ll miss the team ethic in Sky Sports, the love of the game, alongside the ambition to deliver coverage of the highest quality. I’ll be watching the season with interest and enjoying it from the other side of the camera.”
Keith Andrews, another ex-Irish international part of Sky's punditry panel, admitted he was shocked by the sudden exit of Quinn.
“They’re literally big shoes to fill,” said Andrews, who worked on 50 games for the broadcaster last season.
“I get on very, very well with Niall and it was a bit of shock to me to hear the news. I always enjoyed listening to him, a man with such great knowledge.
“But such is life. He will be a loss to broadcasting; no doubt Niall will be a missed.”
Quinn, who played with the Black Cats along with Arsenal and Manchester City during a 16-year playing career in England, has had a number of business interests beyond football both before and after his retirement.
However, QSAT, the broadband provider Quinn is a major shareholder and chairman of, became immersed in a legal dispute in May of this year with Avanti communications, leading to a major outage in service and Irish customers switching to alternative providers.
Quinn said the issues which led to the business ceasing trading stemmed from an “unworkable contract” with Avanti.
While yet unclear the precise nature of the 50-year-old’s latest challenge, it’s understood to involve working within the corporate sector.
