Gary Lineker has been presenter of Match of the Day for 26 years, but he was forced to miss one show in high-profile circumstances in 2023.
Back then, he was briefly suspended for tweeting that the government’s policy on asylum seekers was “immeasurably cruel, directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ’30s”.
Lineker has himself welcomed two refugees into his home for periods in recent years, but the tweet prompted a furious reaction from Conservatives and the BBC asked him to abide by their political impartiality guidelines before he was allowed to return to Match of the Day.
Gary Lineker reflects on BBC suspension
The BBC also promised to hold an independent review into their own social media guidelines following Lineker’s return, with some believing that a sports presenter should not be bound by the same rules as a political reporter.
Speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo, Lineker was asked how he felt during his hiatus. “I was all right, because I wasn’t concerned that I’d done anything wrong,” he explains. “I just stated a fact – it was only a reply to someone who was having a pop at me, and I wasn’t rude.
“I just thought it was extraordinary – it was completely taken out of proportion. I think people have recognised now that they misread the situation a little bit.”
Lineker’s tweet was essentially advocating kindness to all human beings, wherever they were from.
“That was it, but that’s not necessarily seen as a good thing by some,” he says, in slight exasperation at those in the world who oppose such views. “It’s bonkers.”
For the one Match of the Day that was aired without Lineker, Ian Wright pulled out in solidarity with his friend, followed by Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, commentators and a flurry of other staff, forcing the BBC to produce a stripped-down show.
“It was incredibly moving what people did: Ian first, then Alan and Micah, then the commentators and the reporters,” says Lineker.
“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.”
Why the BBC is unique
Lineker has always been hugely proud to work for the BBC, telling FourFourTwo that he turned down overtures from Sky over the years to remain at the corporation.
Working for the BBC does bring extra scrutiny though. “It’s a challenge at times, but I don’t think we sing the BBC’s praises enough,” he says. “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.”
