BBC chiefs are holding urgent crisis talks with Gary Lineker on Sunday as the broadcaster desperately bids to resolve the chaos caused by his suspension.
Lineker was suspended by the BBC on Friday after tweeting comments about the Government's illegal immigration bill. The decision has seen many of his colleagues pull out of their roles this weekend in solidarity with the Match of the Day presenter.
Lineker and BBC bosses are holding crisis talks on Sunday in a bid to resolve the conflict. The negotiations are said to be 'inching forward', with the broadcaster desperate to get him back to work in the coming week.
BBC director general Tim Davie has signalled an olive branch being offered towards host Gary Lineker being reinstated to front the show. BBC managers are also holding talks with employees in the next 24 hours after another day of absolute chaos at the Corporation.
Lineker was taken off the flagship football highlights programme after describing the government's new Migration Bill as "beyond awful" and saying the language in it is “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."
The BBC said in a statement that had “decided that he will step back” after holding “extensive discussions” with him. Lineker then made it clear that the decision was not mutual.
Lineker's refusal to apologise, or agree to tone down his opinions on social media, saw many of his colleagues stand in solidarity with him. Match of the Day on Saturday was reduced to a 20-minute highlights show with no presenter, pundits or commentary after many people who normally work on the show refused to appear.
Staff commentators were put in difficult positions while freelancers were able to down tools and the situation has become toxic and is certain to cause a major backlash.
The broadcaster's coverage of the Women's Super League was stripped back to the world feed commentary on Sunday, while BBC Radio 5 Live's coverage of Sunday's action was also impacted. Match of the Day 2 will be a 20-minute programme without pundits or a presenter.
Remarkably, despite the reduced show and ugly stand-off, Saturday night’s Match of the Day was watched by 2.58 million people which was up by nearly 500,000 from last week's 2.09m viewership.
The BBC do not have rights to the world live feed for Premier League games but they do for the WSL and also the FA Cup which may be the emergency option for next weekend with live quarter final ties due across the network.
But many freelance commentators are voicing concerns that they would not want their voices to be shown with a dispute ongoing. The Premier League feed is part of a multi-billion pound contract so might not be easiest resolved.
Wright and Shearer were back on the screen yesterday as part of the Premier League Production programming around Sunday’s games while regular 606 host Chris Sutton broke rank and said he wanted to broadcast the popular phone-in show.
The hope is that talks might reach some compromise agreement with Lineker and what freelancers can post in terms of opinions in the future.
On Saturday evening, Davie gave an interview to his own company in which he apologised to viewers and pledged to get a resolution to the row.
"I’m sorry audiences have been affected and they haven’t got the programming," Davie told the BBC. "As a keen sports fan I know to miss programming is a real blow and I’m sorry about that. We are working very hard to resolve this situation and make sure we get output on air."
“Success for me is getting Gary back on air and together we are giving to the audiences that world-class sports coverage."
He added: "Everyone wants to calmly resolve situation. Gary Lineker’s the best in the business - that’s not for debate."
The BBC's original statement on Friday read: "The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines.
"The BBC has 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.
"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."
Sign our petition to get Gary Lineker reinstated to Match of the Day here.
