Football star Bernie Slaven has failed in a bid to sue his former television bosses for unfair dismissal.

The former Middlesbrough striker was axed from his role as an expert commentator with Boro TV after helping to launch the channel more than five years ago.

Slaven, 42, had claimed he was sacked in a row over pay and took cable company NTL to a employment tribunal hoping to win compensation.

But the tribunal, in its decision released yesterday, found that the footballer was not in fact an employee of the company and therefore he had no grounds to pursue a complaint of unfair dismissal.

NTL said it always maintained that Slaven had no formal contract of employment and was only used on a freelance basis. The tribunal found that an agreement struck between NTL and Slaven was on balance a contract for his services rather than a contract of employment.

Regional managing director Vas Agridhiotis said NTL was "totally vindicated" in its stance.

He said: "We are disappointed that Bernie chose to take this action and sour the great relationship we have had with him."

Mr Agridhiotis said the company had bent over backwards to fit in with Slaven's many other commitments and even paid him during the close season in a bid to maintain a good relationship with him.

But such gestures led the footballer to believe that he was a member of staff when in fact he wanted to be a freelance presenter for his own reasons.

Mr Agridhiotis added: "As Boro TV's programming increased so did the number of occasions we needed Bernie for recordings and it became increasingly apparent that he was having difficulty juggling all of his work.

"Things came to a head last December when he failed to turn up to carry out an interview and we reluctantly took the decision not to use him anymore."

Slaven, who also works for Century Radio, was unavailable for comment yesterday.