Jermaine Jenas has spoken out for the first time since he was sacked by the BBC last August.
The former Tottenham star left his role as a presenter of the One Show and as a pundit for BBC following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague. An investigation was launched and Jenas' contract was eventually terminated.
Jenas also parted company with his long-term agents MC Saatchi and left his role as a presenter of Formula E following the allegations. He will now return to work with talkSPORT this weekend and form part of the commentary team for Aston Villa's FA Cup fourth round clash with Tottenham on Sunday.
Ahead of his return, the 41-year-old addressed the allegations and stressed he will come back as an improved man. In an interview with the radio station, Jenas said on Friday: "I think the last six, nearly seven months have been extremely tough for myself and my family. But it's also been a really good opportunity to kind of take stock and I suppose, have a good look at why you find yourself in these kind of situations and start to have some honest conversations really, with yourself, with people that are close to you, with people that have been very supportive during this period of time.
"And just work your way back to a position where I can get back to doing what I love most. The biggest thing in this whole situation is about taking responsibility and that has been at the forefront of my mind - you need to take responsibility for your actions. There's a reason why you're in this position, there's a reason why this has happened. And once you kind of accept those things, then you can work on yourself, you can work on other things and you can work on your family and work towards a brighter future.
"I'm obviously very grateful for talkSPORT to give me the opportunity to come and talk to yourself and get back to doing what I love most. But essentially, this is about me looking inwards, making some improvements and coming back a better person. I made a mistake and it was a mistake that, essentially me and my wife and my family had to deal with. The big thing here is that, your career is one thing and I worked 10 years post retirement from being a footballer and I can take it as far back as I want from starting from nothing to becoming a footballer to getting myself in a very fortunate position to working on television.
Jenas continued: "And essentially, it's a lot of hard work that you put in to the job but at the same time, it can be taken away from you like that. That's one thing that I've recognised and when it is taken away from you like that, there's only one thing that's there for you and it's your family and it's your friends and the people who are really, really close to you. And that has what has been my biggest support system during this period of time. Me and my wife have had some honest conversations, me and my family have had some honest conversations, and that's who this is really between. So moving forward, that's where my focus is - making sure my kids are ok, my wife is supported and I'm continually working on improving myself."
Liam Fisher, Head of talkSPORT, said: "Jermaine Jenas addresses his past behaviour in this frank interview. He has a proven track record as a footballer turned pundit and we look forward to his expert commentary on Sunday as part of our coverage of 11 FA Cup commentaries across the weekend on the network."
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