Match of the Day to go ahead without presenter or pundits after Lineker backlash
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The BBC have confirmed that Match of the Day will go ahead on Saturday night – but will not have studio presentation or punditry.
A whole host of BBC football pundits and presenters announced they would not feature on Match of the Day after the BBC axed Gary Lineker on Friday. The BBC stated the 62-year-old would be "stepping away" from his duties on the show after failing to "agree a position on his use of social media".
It came after the long-time presenter of the show criticised the government's Illegal Migration Bill as 'immeasurably cruel' before stating the language used by the Home Secretary was similar to Nazi Germany.
READ MORE: Fans joke ‘no one left to present Match of the Day’ after pundits follow Lineker out
It was later reported that Lineker had not agreed to step away but was instead axed for not backing down on his stance, which in turn led to his Match of the Day colleagues Alan Shearer and Ian Wright also stepping down in solidarity.
Several other presenters and pundits such as Mark Chapman, Jermaine Jenas, Micah Richards and Alex Scott followed suit as a show of support for Lineker, leaving fans wondering whether the show would go ahead with covering the weekend's Premier League action.
Do you think Gary Lineker will ever return to the BBC? Let us know in the comments section.
And the BBC finally clarified – in a rather amicable tone – that it would be proceeding without any pundits for the time being due to a lack of available staff.
The broadcaster's statement read: “Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.
"We understand their position and we have decided that the programme will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry.”
It is unknown how long Match of the Day will go on without a presenter and pundits given several alternatives have shown solidarity with Lineker. And it is unlikely that the BBC or Lineker back down, given the latter's personal beliefs conflict with the broadcaster's policy of 'keeping politically neutral'.
The BBC's earlier announcement of Lineker's axing read: “The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines.
"We have never said that Gary should be an opinion free zone, or that he can't have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.
“The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media."
Lineker first stirred controversy by sharing a video tweeted out by Home Secretary Suella Braverman where she unveiled government plans to put a halt to migrant boats crossing the English Channel.
He tweeted: "This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I'm out of order?"
It was met with backlash by several Tory MPs such as Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson, who tweeted: "This is just another example of how out of touch these overpaid stars are with the voting public.
And Braverman herself responded by saying it "diminishes the unspeakable tragedy" of the Holocaust. The home secretary also said the Nazi comparison was "lazy and unhelpful" and said her family "feel very keenly the impact of the Holocaust" as her husband is Jewish.
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