Gary Lineker has admitted he was moved to tears by the show of support he received from Ian Wright and Alan Shearer during his fall-out with the BBC.
The Match of the Day host was asked to stand down from his role by the corporation after he publicly criticised the government's new policy for tackling the issue of small boats crossing the English channel. The former England international suffered a backlash following his social media comments and was effectively forced off air after being told that he had breached the broadcaster's impartiality guidelines.
But the long-serving anchorman quickly received support from Wright, who Tweeted soon after that he would also not be appearing on Match of Day if Lineker was not allowed to fulfil his role. And fellow show pundit Shearer soon followed suit, plunging the BBC Sport editorial team into crisis.
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Eventually, the show was broadcasted on March 11, without presenters or studio guests and with the BBC's commentary team also siding with Lineker, a scaled-back highlights show was put out instead, lasting just 20 minutes.
Lineker has since described how he couldn't believe what unfolded and how he reacted to the news that Wright and Shearer had led a boycott in solidarity with him. Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast, Lineker said: "It was funny. I was in a restaurant, and then in the back of the car, and firstly when Ian Wright pulled out of the show, and then when Alan did as well, Alan Shearer, and I must admit I had a tear in my eye."
The social media row unfolded after Lineker quote-tweeted a video of Home Secretary Suella Braverman detailing plans to deal with migrants crossing the channel in small boats, titled 'Enough is enough. We must stop the boats.'
In his quote Tweet, Lineker wrote: "Good heavens, this is beyond awful."
But when he came under fire for his comment on the social media platform, Lineker Tweeted: "There is no huge influx [of refugees]. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?”
It was the comparison to 1930s Germany that appeared to land Lineker in hot water with the BBC, but the time-served presenter insists that he still doesn't understand why it was such an issue, before he was reinstated by the corporation three days later.
Lineker said: “There was the policy, which when they spelled it out, I thought, I don’t think this is going to work, is it even going to be legal? Obviously we all recognise there’s a massive problem, but it’s going to get worse as well with climate change and stuff like that, people fleeing their countries, and I just thought ‘come on’."
Regarding his reference to 1930s Germany, he added: "was never meant as any kind of comparison with the Holocaust or anything like that."
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