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Sport

14th Jun 2017

Gary Neville has strongly defended Rachel Riley after she leaves Sky Sports

Tony Cuddihy

The Countdown presenter will no longer host Friday Night Football alongside Jeff Stelling.

Rachel Riley has been forced to quit her role as a host on Sky Sports as the result of abuse she received over comments she had made about Tottenham Hotspur on air.

Riley had described Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to West Ham as a ‘bottle job’ and received a torrent of abuse from fans of the North London club.

She was later dropped from Sky’s coverage of Chelsea’s clash with West Brom, the match that saw the Blues claim the Premier League title.

Sky had planned to offer Riley a further year as host, but she has decided to pursue other interests.

Sky pundit Gary Neville was not happy at the news that Riley had been forced out by Twitter trolls.

The 31-year-old defended her comments at the time but will now move on to other roles.

Riley first rose to prominence in 2009 when she took over the role of Countdown’s resident mathematician from Carol Vorderman.