To some he's an airhead, to others a victim

"I like Rodney's style as a pundit but he has overstepped the mark by a long way. There's no way he can ever come back on TV. A lot of professional footballers and people in the game think that Rodney is a bit of an airhead anyway, that he does speak before he thinks and I think that's a perfect example of it. You shouldn't really relate that disaster to football at all." Mike Blake, 39, manager at O'Neills pub

"You always get a lot of jokes that come out after any major incident. For him to come out with one of them is silly. I don't think Sky were wrong to dismiss him. He can say his jokes privately and everyone will laugh but there are people out there who have lost families." David Purdey, 38, telecoms manager

"He has a position that has a great influence on the public. I think whether people change their stance towards him is a very individual thing, but as far as I am concerned he's lost credibility with himself." Rohan Vaughan, 46, social worker

"It was an inappropriate remark similar to that made by Ron Atkinson. It was insensitive and given the magnitude of that disaster I think it was an ill-advised thing to say and probably shows football in an extremely bad light." Tim Wood, 35, social worker

"It's not similar to the Ron Atkinson comment - it wasn't a racial taunt. That was a different subject. Obviously the joke was a bit out of context but I don't think Marsh actually meant it from his heart." Gary O'Connor, 30, engineering manager

"The guy was a good man and still is a good man. It was a joke that he shouldn't have said, but for a bad joke they should not sack him." Dimitri Dimitriou, 51, First Choice fish&chips boss

"It's been blown out of all proportion. The man made a comment, it was not directed at the tsunami people. As far as I am concerned it was a football joke and if people can't accept comments like that then they should get a life. I wouldn't encourage people to make comments like that, but it's a one off and he's apologised." Manuel Silva, 39, train operator