Matthew Johns rejects job on The Footy Show unless Paul 'Fatty' Vautin quits
- by: Exclusive by Paul Kent
MATTHEW Johns has knocked back a lucrative return to Channel 9's The Footy Show because the network refused to sack host Paul Vautin.
Despite being offered more than $500,000 a season,
Johns rejected the formal approach after
Nine stuck by
Vautin and declined to hand over the show's creative control to Johns.
"They said 'We're going to reinvent the show' but, for mine, it's not going to be reinvented," Johns said. "I don't want to go back to the past. I (enjoyed) my time on that show ... but it's going to be the same show and I've been there and done that."
Johns' manager and friend, millionaire ad man John Singleton, said
The Footy Show would continue its dwindling ratings while Vautin - whom he described as "an average footballer, an average TV talent" - continued to host the show.
Channel 9 formally offered Johns a contract to return last week, with the figure in excess of the $500,000 a season he received when he was last on Nine.
"We have been offered in writing more money then he ever got before on Nine and he knocked it back," Singleton said. The offer was rejected yesterday because, crucially, Nine refused to cede creative control to Johns.
"You cannot work unless you have creative control, production control, and we weren't given that," Singleton said.
Johns said it was about "principle" and not money.
"What excited me when I first made contact was they asked me if I was interested in coming back to basically a new show," Johns said.
"They said, 'we're going to reinvent the show' but, for mine, it's not going to be reinvented. I don't want to go back to the past. I've had my time on that show and enjoyed it but it's going to be the same show and I've been there and done that."
Nine Network managing director Jeff Browne said Vautin had been "a loyal servant for 18 years" and he wasn't prepared to move him on to get someone else on the show. "If they don't want Fatty on the show and they don't want to do it, that's their decision," Browne said.
Johns was sacked by Nine three years ago but returned to TV in 2010 with his own program on Channel 7, which received moderate ratings.
With The Footy Show continuing to slide in the ratings, Singleton and Johns have been in secret negotiations for months with Nine about a return. Browne said a number of issues remain unresolved, with Vautin a stumbling block both sides refuse to budge on.
But Singleton said Nine was refusing to acknowledge a blatant truth - that The Footy Show's failing ratings were because viewers had turned off Vautin.
"There's no more over-rated footballer in the history of football than Fatty Vautin and no more over-rated coach," Singleton said.
"He was an average footballer, he's an average TV talent, but he has been lucky and good luck to him.
"(PBL boss David) Gyngell has got the typical eastern suburbs attitude - come last, hire a superstar, and you'll win the comp. The whole show needs to be blown up. It needs to start again."
Vautin was unavailable for comment last night. He is preparing to head overseas for his wedding anniversary.
But his manager and best friend John Gibbs leapt to his defence after being told about Singleton's comments.
"Singo is entitled to his opinion, but Paul has played 13 Test matches, 22 State of Origins, 238 first grade games, including captaining Manly to a premiership win in 1987," Gibbs said.
"I'm loath to get involved, but on the television hosting side he has been hosting the show for 18 years and it's got six Logies, so if you think that is not good enough, fair enough."
