Gary Lineker was sidelined for one episode of Match of the Day in 2023 over a social media row but he says solidarity shown by colleagues left him emotionally moved
Gary Lineker has said he was moved to tears by his Match of the Day colleagues refusing to work out of solidarity when he was briefly suspended by the BBC in 2023. Outgoing presenter Lineker was taken off the air for what the corporation said was a breach of its social media guidelines after posting that the previous government’s treatment of asylum seekers.
But when colleagues, kickstarted by lead pundit Ian Wright and followed by Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, said they would refuse to work on that weekend’s programme, the BBC were forced to broadcast a shortened highlights programme featuring goals only and with no commentary or analysis.
“It was incredibly moving what people did: Ian first, then Alan and Micah, then the commentators and the reporters,” Lineker told Four Four Two. “I thought, ‘My God’. I got very emotional and teary about that, because you never really know what people around you think, the people you work with every day. That loyalty to me was moving.”
As for the overall reaction to his post on Twitter, Lineker added: “I was all right, because I wasn’t concerned that I’d done anything wrong. I just stated a fact – it was only a reply to someone who was having a pop at me, and I wasn’t rude.
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“I just thought (the reaction) was extraordinary – it was completely taken out of proportion. I think people have recognised now that they misread the situation a little bit.”
Lineker will leave Match of the Day at the end of this season but will be part of the BBC coverage for next summer’s World Cup. And he remains full of praise for the institution at a time when it faces criticism from all sides of the political divide.
“It’s a challenge at times, but I don’t think we sing the BBC’s praises enough,” he said. “We’re sometimes a bit scared of what the newspapers might say, and we don’t need to be.
“The BBC is incredible at what it does – the quality of the dramas, the news, the sports coverage, the comedies, radio, local radio, the World Service.
“It is brilliant value for money. I think maybe we let ourselves down a bit in terms of cowering to the critics, because you’re never going to make them happy anyway.
“What you need to do is try to make the people happy who actually love the BBC, which is most people. Politically it’s a difficult place to work, in some ways.”
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