Football Focus host Alex Scott made no reference to the Gary Lineker row which led to a mass disruption of the BBC's sports coverage last weekend as the show returned to the airwaves. The staple of BBC One's schedule on Saturdays did not air last week after presenters, pundits and commentators decided to show solidarity with the Match of the Day host.
Lineker was asked to "step back" from his regular presenting duties over tweets he sent slamming the Government's new asylum seeker policies, which the BBC deemed to have breached its guidelines. However, following the mass walkout, the broadcaster reinstated Lineker earlier this week.
The walkout led to both Football Focus and Final Score being replaced on the TV schedule, with a Bargain Hunt episode being shown instead of the former. Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 were also scaled down to 20 and 15 minute highlights shows respectively.
Read more: BBC Match of the Day: Why Gary Lineker is not hosting tonight's show
Following the reinstatement of Lineker and an announcement of an independent review into the BBC's guidelines around impartiality, the corporation's regular football shows returned to the airwaves today (March 18), with Football Focus on at the earlier time of 11.15am. The time switch was down to BBC One showing Scotland's Six Nations clash with Italy live at midday.
Viewers tuned back into Football Focus to see if any comment or reference was made to the row around Lineker's tweets. However, those hoping for Scott to take a sly dig at the BBC were left disappointed.
Opening the show, Scott said: "Hello and a very warm welcome to Football Focus. Martin Keown and Nedum Onuoha are with me for today's show for a shorter half an hour show in which we will be previewing a huge weekend of league and cup football as well as assessing what is next for Crystal Palace after they sacked manager Patrick Vieira yesterday.
"Really interesting to see what you have to say about that - Martin, I know you've got your notes and you're ready for it. But of course you can get involved at home using the hashtag bbcfootball.
"Let's start today with the FA Cup. Its quarter finals weekend in both the men's and women's competitions."
The 38-year-old then proceeded to run through the fixtures in the competitions. Even though the show made no reference to last week's drama, fans tweeted about how pleased they were to see the show back on.
One tweeter said: "Nice to see your beautiful faces again Alex Scott, Martin Keown, Nedum Onuoha again football focus, love it."
MrJoshiej tweeted: "It’s so good to have Football Focus back this weekend just wasn’t right without it last weekend."
However, others suggested the show should have stayed off the air. One tweeter called Lee said: "Should of left Football Focus of [sic] air."
Looking ahead to his return to screens, Lineker tweeted: "Back to the Saturday job."
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