Michael Vaughan 'embarrassed' by old tweets and hopes to resurrect BBC career

Michael Vaughan conceded he was ’embarrassed’ after he was confronted with a series of his old tweets that resurfaced amid the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal which has rocked cricket.

The former England skipper was implicated in the Yorkshire County Cricket Club report into Rafiq’s claims of racism during his time at the club.

Vaughan has repeatedly denied the accusation that he made a racist comment towards a group of Asian players, but the BBC has decided to drop the Ashes-wining captain from its coverage of the upcoming series Down Under amid what the broadcaster described ‘a conflict of interests’.

The 47-year-old’s reputation has been further tarnished by a series of historic tweets that resurfaced during a scandal that has caused, according to ECB chief Tom Harrison, an ‘earthquake’ in the game and prompted the governing body to issue a 12-point plan to tackle racism in the sport.

Confronted with the tweets, one of which urged his former teammate Moeen Ali to ask fellow Muslims he wasn’t acquainted with if they were terrorists following the MEN Arena atrocity in 2017, Vaughan admitted his regret but denied the messages were an accurate representation of him as a person.

Responding to BBC presenter Dan Walker reading out the old messages he sent on social media, Vaughan said: ‘I look back at my 12 years on social media, I regret many tweets, I regret tweets that you just read out, I apologise deeply to anyone that I offended with those tweets.’

Asked if he would send the messages in today’s climate, he added: ‘Absolutely not, absolutely not. Times have moved on and I regret those tweets, I regret many things I’ve done in my life. I regret things I’ve done this week.

‘We all makes mistakes and in my life I have made quite a few mistakes on Twitter and I apologise for that but I can’t suddenly get rid of it, that’s happened.

‘I hope people realise and know me and I think sometimes through social media, people can presume who you are an interpret who you are because of a tweet or two. I know who I am and I hope people around me who are close to me know exactly who I am.’

Asked if was ’embarrassed’ and whether he was a changed person, he added: ‘Yeah. Absolutely.’

Vaughan has been a high-profile part of the BBC’s cricket coverage since his retirement from the sport in 2009 and hopes to earn a second chance next year, revealing that conversations are ‘ongoing’ over a potential return.

He said: ‘I won’t be doing the Ashes which I understand, editorially at the minutethe story is all about Azeem Rafiq and racism in the game and I get that.

‘I just hope in time I get that chance to come back. The one thing I have loved more than anything since I retired is talking cricket, I love being on Test Match Special hopefully in time I’ll get that chance again.

‘We’re having ongoing conversations and I think that’s the right way forward. I just hope for next year I can get back working with the team. It’s been my one joy of being able to turn up and talk cricket on the radio and hopefully I’ll be able to do that in future.’

MORE : Cricket’s 12-point action plan to tackle racism amid Azeem Rafiq scandal

MORE : Azeem Rafiq’s harrowing experience must be cricket’s wake-up call

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