Key events
Sunday papers dominated by Lineker BBC storm
Rather predictably, the front pages of today’s newspapers focus on the ongoing dispute between Gary Lineker and the BBC, as well as the impact the row is having on the national broadcaster’s ability to cover sport.
Sunday’s Observer says the issue threatens to topple the Beeb’s top brass and could even hit the Tory government’s asylum plans.
The Sunday Mirror runs with those comments from the presenter’s son that he will “never back down”.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday People have all splashed on the mounting pressure on the BBC to resolve its crisis.
The Mail on Sunday reports that prime minister Rishi Sunak has “hit back” over the row and features a comment piece crowing that “millions must disagree” with Lineker’s immigration stance.
And finally, here are the front pages of the Sunday Express, the Independent (digital) and the Daily Star Sunday for good measure.
Match of the Day review – without Lineker, this is just 20 minutes of shameful, joyless TV
Jack Seale
‘Gary Lineker’s the best in the business,” said the BBC director general, Tim Davie, on Saturday, during a hostile interview with his own organisation in which he insisted he would not resign. “That’s not for debate.”
An eerily simplified edition of Match of the Day, truncated to just 20 minutes in length, underlined his point.
Only 32 hours previously, viewers had been expecting the best football highlights programme there has ever been to appear as normal. Its host, Lineker, had been criticised by government ministers and their media outriders for tweeting that the Conservatives’ dehumanising language about refugees was reminiscent of 1930s Germany, but the storm would surely blow over soon.
Then, however, the BBC pulled out a shotgun and aimed it shoewards. On Friday afternoon, it announced it had suspended Lineker for breaching impartiality guidelines.
When the regular MotD analyst Ian Wright posted that he had chosen not to participate in the programme in “solidarity” with Lineker, it sparked the wildest few hours on Twitter since David Cameron was accused of porking a pig. By the end of the evening, every possible replacement host and pundit had tweeted to rule themselves out of filling in, the show’s commentators had pulled out en masse, and even the players’ union had said there wouldn’t be any post-match interviews.
So it was that, the following night, with the BBC now deep in crisis, an embarrassed continuity announcer was forced to intone, “Now on BBC One, we’re sorry that we’re unable to show our normal Match of the Day … ”
Lineker row continues as son says presenter ‘won’t ever back down’
Good morning. The row over Gary Lineker’s suspension reached new heights last night as the BBC was forced to scale down its TV and radio sports coverage.
The national broadcaster had to put Match of the Day (MotD) – usually fronted by Lineker – on air without presenters, pundits or the normal post-match interviews with players, many of whom came out in solidarity with him.
The show, scheduled for 80 minutes, aired for just 20 minutes on Saturday night with no commentary or analysis.
It comes as Lineker’s son said he thinks the sports presenter will return to the show – but said that he would not “back down on his word”, according to reports.
In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, the former England player’s eldest son, George, said his father had been “a bit disappointed” by the BBC asking him to step back from hosting Saturday’s MotD after he compared the language used to launch a new government asylum seeker policy to that of 1930s Germany.
George Lineker said:
Dad is a good man, a good human, and I’m proud of him for standing by his word. That’s why he was pulled off the show – because he wouldn’t apologise. But he will always speak up for people who don’t have a voice.
He is passionate about helping refugee charities – he took in two refugees who he is still in touch with and trying to help.
It means a lot to him to stand up for people whose only hope is to escape a country with only the clothes on their back. That’s why he’s been so firm.
Will he go back to Match of the Day? I think so – he loves Match of the Day. But he won’t ever back down on his word.
