Following thousands of complaints, the BBC are to give viewers the option to mute Mark Lawrenson's commentary during World Cup games.

The former Liverpool defender is perhaps best known nowadays for providing weekly match predictions which are wrong 99% of the time and his 'unique' commentary style, which largely consists of aggressive ramblings and hurling insults at everyone on the pitch (think Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, if he were from Lancashire).

Shockingly, thousands of viewers have written in to the BBC to complain about Lawrenson's commentary - one disgruntled football fan wrote:

"The guy's a dick. If I wanted to listen to a cantankerous middle-aged twat with absolutely no media expertise piss and moan about everything I'd watch Gogglebox."

The BBC have responded by giving viewers the option to mute Lawrenson's commentary during games by pressing the red button on their remote:

"We have received many complaints from viewers who are unhappy with the standard of Mark Lawrenson's commentary during this year's World Cup.

"However, we only sack football pundits if they assault someone or say something a bit too racist - where else would we find an ex-footballer with no media qualifications and a shed load of free time wanting hundreds of thousands of pounds for doing basically nothing?

"So we have decided to let viewers mute 'Lawro' during the World Cup by using the red button on a trial basis - you will still be able to hear the rest of the commentary.