6 days ago
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Gary Lineker returned to presenting Match of the Day connected Saturday evening aft a enactment that threatened to topple the BBC president and manager general.
As the erstwhile England planetary introduced unrecorded BBC sum of the FA Cup quarter-final betwixt Manchester City and Burnley, pundit Alan Shearer touched connected the caller controversy.
“I conscionable request to wide up and wanted to accidental however upset we were that each the audiences who missed retired connected past weekend,” Shearer said. “It was a truly hard concern for everyone acrophobic and done nary responsibility of their own, immoderate truly large radical successful TV and successful vigor were enactment successful an intolerable concern and that wasn’t fair.
“So it’s bully to get backmost to immoderate benignant of normality and beryllium talking astir shot again.”
Lineker responded: “Absolutely, I echo those sentiments.”
Before the amusement began, Lineker shared a photograph of himself successful a BBC workplace alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, who boycotted the amusement past play successful solidarity, with the caption “Teammates”. He besides tweeted 1 of himself astatine the stadium with the caption: “Ah the joys of being allowed to instrumentality to football.”
Mark Chapman volition big the Match of the Day highlights amusement aboriginal connected Saturday.
Lineker, 62, was suspended from the BBC’s flagship shot programme past play for a tweet comparing the connection utilized astir the government’s argumentation to woody with tiny boats to 1930s Germany.
His remark drew the ire of Tory politicians, with the premier minister’s property caput saying it was “not acceptable” and the location caput deeming it “offensive”.
The BBC subsequently took Lineker disconnected air. A erstwhile England striker, Lineker has presented Match of the Day since 1999. He has since go the BBC’s highest-paid presenter.
Throughout the controversy, Lineker received wide enactment from colleagues, footballers and fans alike amid what galore viewed arsenic a disproportionate effect from the BBC.
As the corp scrambled to look for a replacement big for past weekend’s Match of the Day, the excavation of candidates shrunk dramatically. Frontrunners for the relation – from athletes-turned-commentators to seasoned sports journalists – publically bowed retired of the moving successful solidarity with Lineker.
The BBC ended up moving the amusement without a host, pundits oregon commentators.
Lineker’s reinstatement was yet announced connected Monday, erstwhile the BBC manager general, Tim Davie, apologised for the “difficult period” successful sports programming and announced an autarkic reappraisal of the corporation’s societal media guidelines.
“Everyone recognises this has been a hard play for staff, contributors, presenters and, astir importantly, our audiences,” Davie said. “I apologise for this. The imaginable disorder caused by the grey areas of the BBC’s societal media guidance that was introduced successful 2020 is recognised. I privation to get matters resolved and our athletics contented backmost connected air.”
In a associated connection with Davie, Lineker said helium was “glad that we person recovered a mode forward”.
“I enactment this reappraisal and look guardant to getting backmost connected air,” helium said.
When asked by La Liga TV connected Friday however the erstwhile week has been, Lineker responded: “Really quiet! Nothing overmuch going on. You could accidental it’s been an absorbing week but I’m inactive here, inactive punching.
“It was absorbing and besides hugely gratifying. I had an astonishing magnitude of enactment from my friends and colleagues, which was rather beauteous actually.”
He added: “It was wholly disproportionate the full thing, but we’re OK. It’s resolved, I’m relieved, I’m backmost to enactment time and each is good with the world.”
English (US) ·