Gary Lineker has returned to Match of the Day for the first time since being forced to step aside from his role as a result of comparing the wording of the Government's controversial new policy on asylum seekers with that found in 1930s Germany on Twitter. He returned to our screens for the BBC's coverage of Manchester City's FA Cup quarter-final against Burnley on Saturday evening.
However, it wasn't the popular presenter who opened the show. Instead it was left to pundit Alan Shearer to address the situation, as the former Newcastle striker gave a statement at the start of the programme.
“I just need to clear up and want to say how upset we were that all the audiences who missed out on last weekend,” said Shearer. “It was a difficult situation for everyone concerned and, through no fault of their own, some really great people in TV and radio were put in an impossible situation. That wasn’t fair.
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“It’s good to get back to some form of normality, and be talking about football again.” Lineker responded by saying: “Absolutely, I echo those sentiments.”
The topic was then quickly got put to bed as Lineker, Shearer and fellow pundit Micah Richards started commenting on the football. The decision to drop Lineker from the BBC's flagship Premier League highlights show led to several pundits and commentators, including Shearer and Ian Wright, to announce they would not work on the programme as a show of solidarity for their colleague.
The corporation was thrown into chaos as last weekend's sports coverage was decimated by colleagues refusing to work. It also led to the broadcast of Match of the Day being unlike anything before, as it was condensed to just 20 minutes with no opening titles, commentary or analysis.
A few days later, it was announced that Lineker would return to work for the BBC after an agreement was reached between the two parties. It also led to an apology from BBC Director-General Tim Davie for the disruption to programming last weekend.
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