Gary Lineker Returning to television screens Saturday evening after a controversy that saw the BBC’s flagship football program aired without experts last week, he said “it’s been great to be here”.
This BBC The host was pulled from Game of the Day last weekend after tweets that compared the language used by the UK government about immigration policy to that of 1930s Germany.
Other experts, including co-hosts Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, he followed her, choosing not to appear on the screen first in solidarity found a solution within a week, Leads Lineker and his team to replace Manchester City FA Cup Conflict with Burnley.
A pre-recorded introduction saw Lineker’s first words highlight Vincent Kompany’s now return to Etihad Stadium as the visitors’ head coach, Lineker – apparently struggling with a bit of a lack of sound – handed over to Shearer in the studio.
Shearer then spoke about the situation that other broadcasters and commentators faced last week.
“I need to clarify and I want to say how sorry we are to all the viewers who missed last weekend.
“It was a really difficult situation for everyone involved – and through no fault of their own, some really great people on television and radio were put in an impossible situation, and it just wasn’t fair.
“So it’s nice to kind of go back to normal and talk about football again.”
“Certainly, (I) echo (she) emotions,” Lineker added.
The duo would usually spend the evening on the couch at the MOTD studios, with Micah Richards, who occasionally stood by them during the Man City v Burnley game.
But that task will fall for Mark Chapman tonightAnother regular presenter of the BBC.
Lineker previously said it was “great to be here” when returning to the broadcast. “Oh, what a pleasure to be allowed to play football,” he tweeted to his Twitter followers, posting a photo of him taken at the Etihad Stadium minutes before the FA Cup game kicked off.
Director-General of the BBC, Tim Davie apologized last week was “a difficult time for the staff, contributors, presenters, and most importantly, our viewers.”
However, Mr Davie the move was denied as representing an escalation. He defended his actions, saying he did “the right thing” by asking Lineker to step back and that Lineker would “follow publication guidelines”. The independent review of the BBC’s social media policy is complete.