Match of the Day in crisis as commentators join growing staff boycotton March 11, 2023 at 9:51 am

The BBC’s flagship football show Match of the Day is in crisis after its regular commentators joined a boycott of the programme in solidarity with Gary Lineker.

In statements posted to social media, four commentators said it would not be “appropriate” to work on the programme.

Earlier, Ian Wright and Alan Shearer also pulled out Saturday’s show.

The BBC asked Lineker to step back from presenting after talks, over his criticism of government asylum policy.

The corporation said it considered his “recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines”, adding it had been “decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media”.

MOTD commentators Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Cowen and Steven Wyeth shared a joint statement online, saying they “do not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme” on Saturday.

They said: “We are comforted that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to do”, adding that alternative sources for commentary on the games were available to be used by the show.

In response to the growing boycott, the BBC said the English Premier League football highlights show would air “without studio presentation or punditry” and instead “focus on match action”.

In a later statement, a spokesperson said: “Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.

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

Meanwhile, BBC Sport understands that the Premier League has informed the 12 clubs playing matches on Saturday that players and managers will not receive requests for MOTD post-match interviews.

The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) was believed to be in talks with a number of players who wanted to show solidarity with Lineker by boycotting the post-match interviews.

Ian Wright was the first pundit to say publicly that he would not appear on Saturday’s programme, tweeting: “Everybody knows what Match of the Day means to me, but I’ve told the BBC I won’t be doing it tomorrow. Solidarity.”

Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer, who also appears on the show, then said he had “informed the BBC that I won’t be appearing on MOTD tomorrow night”.

Shortly after, ex-Arsenal and Lionesses player Alex Scott hinted that she too would not appear, tweeting a GIF of US politician Bernie Sanders saying “Nah! Not me” with the caption: “FYI…”.

Lineker has not yet publicly commented on the latest developments, but while presenting 5News earlier, former BBC presenter Dan Walker read out a text live on air from the 62-year-old.

Walker said he had messaged Lineker asking: “What is happening. Are you stepping back?”

He said he had received a reply saying: “No, they’ve [the BBC] told me I have to step back.”

BBC News has been told that the Match of the Day production team were not told in advance about its decision.

On Tuesday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman outlined the government’s plans to ban people arriving in the UK illegally from ever claiming asylum, in a bid to address a rise in the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.

Lineker reacted to it on Twitter calling it an “immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

Lineker has hosted Match of the Day since 1999 and is the BBC’s highest paid star, having earned about £1.35m in 2020-21. He is employed by the BBC on a freelance basis.

In the statement announcing he would not be presenting MOTD, the BBC said: “When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none.

“We have never said that Gary should be an opinion free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.”

Speaking to the Today Programme, former director general Greg Dyke said the BBC had “undermined its own credibility” by suspending the presenter and created an impression it had “bowed to government pressure”.

Dyke added that the ongoing controversy surrounding BBC Chairman Richard Sharp and allegations that he helped facilitate a loan to former Prime Minster Boris Johnson had helped to helped fuel perceptions that the organisation was failing to stand up to government pressure.

Richard Ayre, former controller of editorial policy at the BBC, said the corporation had “no choice” but to take action against Lineker.

He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme the corporation’s Director General Tim Davie had “clearly tried” to reach an agreement with Lineker but failed, adding: “It’s inevitable now that having in effect not sacked him but removed him temporarily at least, the BBC will now come under a torrent of criticism saying it’s acting under the government’s behest.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy wrote on social media it was “chilling” to see “a great public broadcaster cowering to right wing fanatics”.

“Our democracy is made of tougher stuff than this,” he wrote, adding the BBC should “get a grip” and put Gary Lineker back on Match of the Day “where he belongs”.

In a statement, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “Individual cases are a matter for the BBC.”