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Ian Wright and Alan Shearer will not appear on Match Of The Day in solidarity with Gary Lineker

Home> Sport

Updated 18:41 10 Mar 2023 GMTPublished 17:32 10 Mar 2023 GMT

breaking

Ian Wright and Alan Shearer will not appear on Match Of The Day in solidarity with Gary Lineker

Match of the Day will have to do without Ian Wright or Alan Shearer while Gary Lineker is off the show

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

Ian Wright has announced that he won't be appearing on Match of the Day tomorrow in a show of solidarity with fellow presenter Gary Lineker.

The BBC released a statement saying Lineker would be stepping back from the broadcaster's flagship football show until there was 'an agreed and clear position on his use of social media'.

They said they had 'been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days' and considered his recent social media activity where he tweeted criticisms of the British government over the migrant crisis to be in breach of their guidelines.

Lineker criticised the government for the language they used in a video featuring Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

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He said it was 'an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s'.

Gary Lineker criticised the government's policy in response to a Home Office video claiming they 'must stop the boats' of migrants attempting to enter the UK.
Twitter/@GaryLineker
The former England footballer turned Match of the Day presenter faced a significant backlash from the govenrment, with Tory MPs claiming his comments were 'foul, ill-conceived and disgraceful'.

Shortly after the announcement that Lineker would not be presenting Match of the Day this weekend his colleague and fellow former England striker Ian Wright tweeted in support, saying he also would not be appearing.

He wrote: "Everybody knows what Match of the Day means to me, but I've told the BBC I won't be doing it tomorrow. Solidarity."

Wright's tweet has been met with a surge of praise from people telling him how much they respect his decision, with the former footballer being called 'a champion' and 'a top fella' for his show of solidarity with Lineker.

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Fellow Match of the Day star Alan Shearer then announced that he also 'won't be appearing on MOTD tomorrow night'.

Ian Wright said he would be showing solidarity with Gary Lineker by not appearing on Match of the Day.
Twitter/@IanWright0
Alan Shearer also said he wouldn't be appearing on Match of the Day without Lineker.
Twitter/@alanshearer

Plenty of others on social media wondered whether other Match of the Day stalwarts would also decline to appear on the show without Lineker and said whoever ends up being his replacement for tomorrow's (11 March) show was being handed a 'poisoned chalice'.

Since the announcement of Lineker stepping back from Match of the Day, Sky News have reported that the statement issued by the BBC was 'incorrect'.

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They report that Linker has instead been 'taken off the air as he is unwilling to apologise for his social media comments on government policy'.

Gary Lineker is taking a step back from Match of The Day.
BBC

Lineker had yesterday tweeted that it had been 'an interesting couple of days' and said he thought that the backlash against his comments 'seems to be abating'.

He then said he was 'very much looking forward to presenting' Match of the Day and offered thanks to people for their 'incredible support'.

The BBC was also recently criticised for not broadcasting an extra episode of Sir David Attenborough's new documentary over reported fears that it would be met with a backlash from right-wing press and politicians.

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While five episodes of Wild Isles will be shown on TV the sixth will only be available to watch on iPlayer, the BBC have said this sixth episode was never intended for broadcast.

LADbible has contacted the BBC for comment.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: BBC, Gary Lineker, Sport, Football

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

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@MrJoeHarker

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