Former Sky Sports reporter Bianca Westwood has revealed she is unlikely to ever work in football again, three years after leaving the broadcaster.
Westwood, 51, worked for Sky Sports for 22 years before taking redundancy in 2023. The West Ham United fan spoke in depth about her decision to leave the world of sport in a recent TikTok video to her 46,500 followers.
"I wanted to set a few things straight because I still get a lot of messages asking about Sky. When am I going back to Sky? When am I doing the football again?" she said. "The compliments are really nice, I do appreciate them, but I'm not going back to Sky."
She added: "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," she continued. "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."
Westwood was the first female reporter on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday, appearing alongside pundits including Chris Kamara and Jeff Stelling. She had a high-profile relationship with snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2001.
Why she took redundancy
Westwood explained that Sky offered her redundancy three years ago, around the same time Stelling was also leaving the broadcaster.
"Three years ago, Sky offered me redundancy, I decided to take it. Jeff 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," she said.
She said she would have carried on as a football reporter if the right opportunity had come up, but none did.
"If at the time, three years ago, I'd have been offered another job in football, and I did try, then I probably would still be working in football today, but there weren't any opportunities offered to me and if I'm honest my heart wasn't really in it anymore," she said.
Changes in football access
Westwood said the game itself no longer resembled the sport she grew up watching, pointing to a sharp decline in access to players compared with when she started out.
"When I first started reporting, you could go out, take players to different locations for interviews, go golfing or sailing or clay pigeon shooting, paintballing, you name it, I've done it," she said.
"But now you literally get shoved into a room, especially in the Premier League, with a light, there's probably about 10 other broadcasters globally who are either going before you or waiting for you to finish."
She added that players are often reluctant participants in the process. "The player half the time doesn't want to be there, he's answering the same question, it just didn't feel the same to me and I thought, 'I think I'm finished with this'."
A new direction
Westwood said her relationship with football has changed since leaving Sky, and that she has largely stopped watching the sport, including her own club.
"Since I've left Sky, I haven't watched football that much either. I took a break from it, I still love the game but just not kind of how it is now," she said. "I haven't watched West Ham either because we've been rubbish. So if you're expecting me to talk about football, it's just not going to happen."
She said her content now focuses on fashion, skincare, women's issues and menopause, as well as grief following the recent death of her mother.
"But football is done... unless a really, really good exciting, challenging job came up but I'm not holding my breath," she said.
