Gary Lineker – latest: Match of the Day to go ahead without punditry or presenters, says BBC

Saturday‘s Match Of The Day will go ahead without a presenter, pundits and several regular commentators, following the fallout over Gary Lineker’s suspension from the BBC show.

Former England footballers and MOTD regulars including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright previously announced they would be boycotting the show, in solidarity with Lineker.

Late on Friday evening several of the show’s commentators shared a joint statement online, announcing they would also be stepping down from Saturday‘s broadcast.

“As commentators on MOTD, we have decided to step down from tomorrow night’s broadcast,” the statement read.

“We are comforted that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to do so, as management can use World Feed commentary if they wish.

“However, in the circumstances, we do not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme.”

The statement was shared by MOTD commentators including Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Rowen and Steven Wyeth.

Several Twitter users posted photos on social media to show they had cancelled monthly direct debits for their TV licence fee in response to a day of controversy for the BBC over Gary Lineker.

Learning and disabilities support worker Simone Gordon told PA: “I have felt for a while that there has been bias towards the government shown by the BBC in its news coverage.”

“The treatment of Gary Lineker this week confirmed what I feared. Fiona Bruce describing Stanley Johnson in last night’s Question Time hitting his wife ‘just the once’ seemed further proof of this.

The BBC’s decision not to broadcast (Sir) David Attenborough’s episode in case it offended right-wing viewers was the final straw.”

Angela Riley, an outdoor nursery manager from Edinburgh, Scotland, shared a Guardian article about the controversy surrounding Sir David’s documentary series on Twitter, stating: “That’s it – monthly TV Licence cancelled until further notice.

“I can no longer in good faith continue to fund the slow but relentless assault on the integrity of the BBC by this (Conservative) government.”

Here’s the latest tweet on the row from Gary Lineker, posted on Thursday afternoon just after 2pm, in simpler times:

The BBC and the presenters were planning to go ahead with Match of the Day as normal up until Friday lunchtime, before the broadcaster attempted to get Gary Lineker to agree to a solution that was seen as unacceptable by the flagship host.

It left the corporation scrambling to find an alternative team as late as Friday evening, having been rejected by a series of figures within the industry.

Our chief football writer Miguel Delaney has this report into how the day unfolded:

In another row for the BBC, the broadcaster has defended Question Time’s Fiona Bruce against accusations that she trivialised domestic abuse during a discussion about Stanley Johnson.

The presenter intervened when jouranlist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown described the father of Boris Johnson as described as a “wife-beater” in Thursday’s episode

Bruce said: “I’m not disputing what you’re saying, but just so everyone knows what this is referring to, Stanley Johnson’s wife spoke to a journalist, Tom Bower, and she said that Stanley Johnson had broken her nose and that she’d ended up in hospital as a result. Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on that. Friends of his have said it did happen but it was a one-off.”

Following the show, public figures including Labour MP Kate Osborne and chief executive of Women’s Aid Farah Nazeer had accused her of downplaying the gravity of domestic violence.

But in a statement on Friday, the BBC said: “Domestic abuse is abhorrent, and we would never wish to suggest otherwise. When serious allegations are made on air against people or organisations, it is the job of BBC presenters to ensure that the context of those allegations – and any right of reply from the person or organisation – is given to the audience, and this is what Fiona Bruce was doing last night.

“She was not expressing any personal opinion about the situation.”

This was not the first time Mr Lineker has been vocal on Twitter about his political views – and history suggests it might not be the last.

Here my colleague Matt Mathers takes a look at some of the most notable moments through the years:

Here is how the Match of the Day announcement has been interpreted by journalists and commentators:

In a day of controversies for the BBC, the broadcaster has apologised for the failure to properly scrutinise claims made by Tory ex-minister Nadine Dorries on Radio 4’s World At One show.

The BBC admitted that “there should have been more challenge” when the Boris Johnson loyalist made allegations about Sue Gray, claiming that her report into the Partygate scandal was discredited after she was offered the job as chief of staff for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms Dorries claimed the senior civil servant was a “personal friend of Keir Starmer, someone who has been in discussion over who knows what period of time … about taking the role as his chief of staff, with the primary objective of taking down the Tory government”.

The comments went unchallenged, but Sir Keir clarified in an interview with LBC that Ms Gray was “not a friend” and is “not in the same social circles” as him.

In a statement on Friday, the BBC said it had received complaints from listeners who felt Ms Dorries was allowed to make “inaccurate and biased” claims, and agreed in hindsight “that there should have been more challenge” to the allegations.

Hugh Bonneville and Jason Watkins jokingly returned to their roles in the BBC sitcom W1A to discuss who should present Match Of The Day, as they poked fun at the corporation’s decision to take Gary Lineker off the show.

The series, which ran three seasons from 2014 to 2017, saw Bonneville play the Head of Values at the BBC in a mockumentary about the corporation’s management alongside Watkins and Jessica Hynes.

Recasting himself as Ian Fletcher, Bonneville sent a tweet to Watkins in character as Ian Fletcher, discussing his proposed plans for Match Of The Day with Watkins’ W1A part Simon Harwood – suggesting Lord Alan Sugar or former prime minister Boris Johnson could step in as pundits pulled out.