No hosts or experts for Saturday’s Match of the Day amid the Gary Lineker controversy

There will be no presenters or experts in Saturday’s Match. Premier League Players cannot give post-match interviews. BBC while the fallout continues Gary Lineker order.

Experts Alan Shearer and Ian Wright announced on Friday that they are boycotting the highlights program this weekend after the BBC said it had “decided” to stop presenting the show until a “compromised and clear position” was reached on Lineker’s use of social media.

Former UK international MPs Mika RichardsAlex Scott and Jermaine Jenas – not all of whom would be appearing at MOTD this weekend – supported their fellow experts.

In response, a BBC spokesperson said: “Some of our experts have said they don’t want to be on the show as we try to resolve the situation with Gary.

“We understand their position and have decided that the program will focus on match action without studio presentation or experts.”

The PA news agency understands that the Professional Footballers’ Association, in solidarity with Lineker and other experts, will fully support players who do not wish to fulfill their media duties with the BBC after Premier League games.

Several players contacted the PFA for advice, and the union later met with Premier League clubs playing on Saturday to form a collective position.

Lineker, 62, became embroiled in the neutrality debate after he compared the language used to launch a new Government asylum policy to 1930s Germany on Twitter.

Earlier, when he assumed the post at the end of 2020, BBC director-general Tim Davie, who warned staff about their use of social media before the usage guidelines were updated, was asked by BBC News why Lineker was not fired. .

Davie replied: “I think we always try to take proportionate action and that’s what we did.”

He said he would “not add” to the company’s current statement on the matter, but said there had been “very constructive discussions”.

Reacting to the boycott of Shearer and Wright, the BBC boss added: “I absolutely respect people’s right to make this decision and BBC Sport has to look at their schedule for the weekend in a normal way.”

Announcing the decision on Lineker on Friday, a spokesperson for the BBC said that the broadcaster “has had extensive discussions with Gary and his team over the last few days”. We said we consider recent social media activity a violation of our guidelines.

“The BBC has decided to back off from presenting Game of the Day until agreement on his use of social media is agreed and he takes a clear position.

“When it comes to managing our football and sports broadcasts, Gary is unbeatable.

“We’ve never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone or that he can’t have an opinion on matters that matter to him, but we said he should stay fairly far away from taking sides on party political issues or political debates.”

While on the air, Channel 5 News anchor Dan Walker said Lineker told him “(BBC) told me I should back off” and that he “did not apologize for what he said”.

The controversy was fueled by Lineker’s response on Twitter to a Home Office video by Interior Minister Suella Braverman, in which the government announced plans to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

The former English striker wrote: “There is no big influx. We receive far fewer refugees than other major European countries.

“This is an immeasurably cruel policy towards the most vulnerable, in language no different from the one Germany used in the ’30s.”