Sunday’s Match Of The Day has been thrown into question after football pundit Jermain Defoe announced he would not appear, dealing a further blow to the BBC’s sporting schedule across TV and radio.
The former England striker is the latest pundit to pull out of BBC shows after Gary Lineker was told to step back from hosting the Saturday edition of the football highlights programme in a row over impartiality.
The show is due to go ahead on Saturday evening without a presenter, pundits and several regular commentators, but the broadcaster has not said if Sunday’s version will be affected.
It’s always such a privilege to work with BBC MOTD. But tomorrow I have taken the decision to stand down from my punditry duties. @GaryLineker
— Jermain Defoe OBE (@IAmJermainDefoe) March 11, 2023
Defoe tweeted: “It’s always such a privilege to work with BBC MOTD. But tomorrow I have taken the decision to stand down from my punditry duties. @GaryLineker.”
This comes as the BBC’s sporting timetable on Saturday was greatly disrupted as both Football Focus and Final Score were pulled at the last moment.
Bargain Hunt aired in place of Football Focus on BBC One at noon on Saturday, while The Repair Shop is due to run instead of Final Score at 4.30pm.
Ahead of the antiques show starting, a continuity announcer said: “Saturday lunchtime on BBC One, now, in a change to the schedule, it’s Bargain Hunt.”
BBC Radio 5 Live has also been affected, with host Mark Chapman not at the helm for 5 Live Sport and Fighting Talk.
His stance throws further doubt into whether Match Of The Day 2 will air as normal on Sunday as he is due to host.
“In the interest of transparency, this was a decision taken by the entire FT team and myself.”
Pre-recorded content replaced the live broadcasts with Kammy & Ben’s Proper Football Podcast aired during Fighting Talk’s slot followed by The Footballer’s Football Podcast which played on Radio 5 Live when 5 Live Sport would have aired.
Lineker did not answer questions from reporters when he left his home in south-west London on Saturday morning.
Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and blue tie with yellow and red stripes, the 62-year-old former England player was quickly escorted into a chauffeured BMW.
His son Harry later told reporters that Lineker was on his way to watch a Leicester City match.
As he left to walk the dog, he said: “He has gone to Leicester to watch the game. He will be back this evening.”
I made a decision last night that even though I love doing football focus and we have had an incredible week winning an SJA award that it just doesn’t feel right going ahead with the show today. Hopefully I will be back in the chair next week…
— Alex Scott MBE (@AlexScott) March 11, 2023
Former Arsenal star and England player Alex Scott earlier in the day confirmed she would not host Football Focus, writing on Twitter: “I made a decision last night that even though I love my show and we have had an incredible week winning an SJA for football focus that it doesn’t feel right for me to go ahead with the show today.
“Hopefully I will be back in the chair next week.”
Kelly Somers also confirmed she will not be presenting any BBC show on Saturday, after former England footballers Alan Shearer and Ian Wright announced on Friday night they would be boycotting MOTD in solidarity with Lineker.
Pundit Glenn Murray pulled out of appearing on Football Focus and Final Score on Saturday.
The former Brighton striker tweeted: “Was meant to be up in Media City today but reflecting last night I felt it was the right thing to do to step away from Focus & Score today.
Was meant to be up in Media City today but reflecting last night I felt it was the right thing to do to step away from Focus & Score today.Hoping normal service resumes next week ??
— Glenn Murray (@GM_83) March 11, 2023
“Hoping normal service resumes next week.”
Welsh presenter Jason Mohammad also confirmed he would not be hosting Final Score, tweeting: “As you know, Final Score is a TV show very close to my heart.
“However – I have this morning informed the BBC that I will not be presenting the show this afternoon on BBC One.”
Morning all.
As you know, Final Score is a TV show very close to my heart.
However – I have this morning informed the BBC that I will not be presenting the show this afternoon on BBC One.
— Jason Mohammad (@jasonmohammad) March 11, 2023
Football pundit Dion Dublin said “No 5live for me today” as a mark of solidarity with his BBC Sport colleagues.
In a tweet, the former Aston Villa and Manchester United striker said: “In Solidarity with my BBC Sport colleagues NO 5live for me today!”
Like Dublin, former Everton midfielder Leon Osman announced he would not appear on 5 Live’s coverage as planned.
He tweeted: “No BBC 5Live commentary for me today in support of my friends and colleagues”.
No BBC 5live commentary for me today in support of my friends and colleagues.
— Leon Osman (@Osman21Leon) March 11, 2023
On Friday evening, several Match Of The Day commentators shared a joint statement online, announcing they would be stepping down from Saturday’s broadcast.
The commentators, including Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Rowen and Steven Wyeth, said they did “not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme” given the current circumstances.
In a previous statement, the BBC said the programme would “focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry”, saying it understood the position of its presenters.
Lineker was taken off air for a tweet which compared the language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany.
In Solidarity with my BBC Sport colleagues NO 5live for me today!
— Dion Dublin (@DionDublinsDube) March 11, 2023
The broadcaster said it had “decided” Lineker would take a break from presenting the highlights programme until an “agreed and clear position” on his use of social media had been reached.
Former BBC director-general Greg Dyke said the corporation had made a “mistake” and “undermined its own credibility” by taking Lineker off air.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the precedent at the corporation is that “news and current affairs employees are expected to be impartial and not the rest”.
“If you start applying the rules of news and current affairs to everybody who works for the BBC, where does it end?” he said.
He added: “There is a long-established precedent in the BBC that is, that if you’re an entertainment presenter or you’re a football presenter, then you are not bound by those same (impartiality) rules.
“And once the BBC does that, then you’re in real problems.
“The perception out there is going to be that Gary Lineker, a much-loved television presenter, was taken off air after Government pressure on a particular issue.”
A spokesman for the Professional Footballers’ Association said in a statement on Twitter that they had “been informed that players involved in today’s games will not be asked to participate in interviews with Match Of The Day”.
It continued: “The PFA have been speaking to members who wanted to take a collective position and to be able to show their support for those who have chosen not to be part of tonight’s programme.
“This is a common sense decision that ensures players won’t now be put in that position.”
Richard Ayre, former controller of editorial policy at the BBC, said the broadcaster’s reputation is “bigger and more important” than any individual, including Lineker.
Mr Ayre told BBC Breakfast on Saturday that there will be “real street-to-street fighting” between political parties in the lead-up to the general election.
“The BBC, in this time of all times, has to tread as straight a line as it can between the parties and avoid taking sides in its own output, and the BBC believes it also has to ensure that those key people who are identified as the BBC in the public mind also walk a straight line in what they say on their private social network,” he said.
On Lineker stepping back from presenting Match Of The Day, Mr Ayre continued: “It’s a sad occasion for viewers, for anybody who’s interested in football, it will be very sad if they can’t reconcile with Gary.
“He is superlative, he is absolutely extraordinarily good, not just as a football pundit, of course, but I think, in my 50 or so years of association with the BBC, I’ve never come across such a naturally gifted television presenter.
“He’s terrific and it will be very sad if he goes, but frankly the BBC and its reputation is bigger and more important than any individual, even Gary.”
