McGuire says Sam Newman belongs in the TV Hall of Fame

Eddie McGuire has called for Sam Newman to be inducted to the TV Hall of Fame.

The Collingwood president praised Newman for his role in the wake of Channel Nine announcing the AFL Footy Show would be cancelled after 25 years on air.

“Sam Newman should be in the TV hall of fame… there is no doubt that Sam Newman has been one of the most influential people in the history of media in this town,” he said on Triple M on Friday.

“Now that the show’s finished we can actually reflect on that.”

This comes despite Garry Lyon pinpointing Sam Newman’s fall from grace as the last straw in the failed bid to salvage The Footy Show.

According to Lyon, Channel Nine and the showrunners unwittingly caused the collapse when they were unable to properly control Newman.

“You had to be conscious that it’s a different world we live in but I think it was an overcorrection down the track,” Lyon said.

“You ended up spending way more time dealing with those issues than dealing with the issues you should have been dealing with, which was putting together a show that was entertaining for 90 minutes.

“The biggest star on the show was Sam Newman.”

The 735th and last episode was broadcast without publicising its demise, something that wrankled Lyon as a former host of the show.

“The Footy Show went to air last night, Neroli (Meadows) farewelled and said, ‘thanks for watching, see you next week’,” he said on SEN radio.

“Then an hour later, out comes the press release, bang, The Footy show’s gone. That is an execution.”

Ratings had tanked this season following a last-ditch attempt to rebuild the show’s flagging reputation.

Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman departed at the end of last year, making way for Fox Sports presenter Meadows and comedian Anthony Lehmann.