The BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’ will be broadcast without presenters or pundits following Gary Lineker’s suspension

The BBC’s popular Premier League highlights show match of the day will air without a studio host or its regular line-up of pundits after lead presenter Gary Lineker was asked to step down after breaching the channel’s impartiality rules on Twitter.

The BBC announced the decision to withdraw Lineker from the popular highlight show on Friday afternoon after “extensive discussions” with Lineker, during which the sports presenter was told that his tweet comparing British government policy to Nazi Germany had previously been unacceptable.

In response, a number of the show’s regular contributors, including former footballers Ian Wright, Alan Shearer and Alex Scott, announced that they would not be appearing on the show that weekend. With an effective presenters’ strike underway, the BBC released a statement describing this week’s episode match of the day would air without its usual studio segment. The episode only features match footage from Premier League matches.

“Some of our experts have said they don’t want to appear on the show while we try to resolve the situation with Gary,” the BBC statement said. “We understand their point and have decided that the program will focus on competitive performance with no studio presentation or knowledge.”

In the now controversial tweet, Lineker spoke out against what he described as “beyond appalling” the British government’s policy of preventing small boats carrying asylum seekers from reaching British shores.

Lineker added: “We take in far fewer refugees than other major European countries. It is simply an immeasurably cruel policy aimed at the most vulnerable, in language not unlike that of Germany in the 1930s.”

The BBC said earlier on Friday that Lineker had been benched while it worked out how the presenter could express his views on social media, in line with the company’s commitment to impartiality. The news came despite Lineker telling his 8.7 million Twitter followers on Thursday that he would present Match of the Day as usual on Saturday. Lineker has repeatedly defended his original tweets.

Deadline reported earlier this week that BBC insiders were furious with Lineker for his “blatant” breach of the rules of impartiality. Some called for his suspension.

Lineker’s suspension also drew criticism of the BBC from across the political spectrum. On Friday, the opposition Labor Party said the BBC’s decision was “cowardly” and an “attack on freedom of expression under political pressure”.

Broadcaster Piers Morgan said in a tweet that Lineker’s suspension was “pathetically spineless”.

“WTF? How pathetically spineless. I now demand that the BBC suspend any presenter who has spoken publicly about news or current affairs – starting with Sir David Attenborough and Lord Sugar,” Morgan tweeted.

Late on Friday night, the broadcasting union BECTU described Lineker’s suspension as “very worrying”.

A statement from BECTU boss Philippa Childs said: “This is a very worrying decision by the BBC. It seems that they have given in to political pressure from ministers to remove someone from their post because they do not agree with the policies of the current government.

“With the ongoing controversy surrounding the appointment of the BBC chairman, who plays a much more important role in protecting the BBC’s reputation and who has not backed down during the investigation, there is also a risk that a perception of double standards will be created. have these problems.”