[L1_]

The speculation something would appear in the Sunday papers seems unfounded.

I think The Sun publishing the story that he was told on Thursday his contract wasn’t being renewed is the story which forced him to announce it yesterday afternoon?

It doesn’t say he was going to leave with immediate effect, but I guess any chance of him/ITV managing the situation once details of those talks were released had gone

They have obviously for some reason taken the decision for him to go immediately, which is strange. He could have gone quietly and not returned after summer. Not been handled well by ITV at all, and just adds fuel to the speculation doing the rounds. All in all must be very sad for Phil after 20 years.