Gary Lineker has revealed that he will not be appearing on Match of the Day on Saturday - but not due a further suspension.
The former Leicester and Barcelona striker found himself at the heart of a row with employers BBC last month following a tweet regarding the government’s asylum policy. The decision was then made to take Lineker off air in the aftermath.
A number of his punditry colleagues followed suit soon after in a show of solidarity for the ex-striker. Match of the Day was still broadcast but only as a 20-minute highlight package, whilst shows such as Football Focus and Final Score did not take to screens in any iteration such was the scale of the disruption.
An agreement was eventually found to welcome Lineker back to screens - although he did not appear on the first Match of the Day after his return due to his prior FA Cup commitments earlier in the day. He will also not be a part of the programme this Saturday afternoon (April 1) and took to Twitter hours before the show to clear up any confusion.
He wrote: “Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I won’t be doing @BBCMOTD [Match of the Day] tonight. I’m not suspended, just on holiday. Back next week,” with a laughing emoji and a thumbs up.
Lineker’s absence rounds off what has been an interesting few weeks for the former England star. After the BBC resolution, he also won a battle against HMRC after a judge concluded that the Match of the Day presenter was wrongly accused of underpaying £4.9m in tax.
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In a 17-page ruling, Judge John Brooks said: "The effect of my conclusions is that because there were direct contracts, between the BBC and Mr Lineker and BT Sport and Mr Lineker, the intermediaries legislation (IR35) does not, and cannot as a matter of law, apply.
"Accordingly, and notwithstanding GLM being a partnership, that is the end of the matter and the appeal succeeds."
Lineker then took to Twitter with his thoughts on the case. He wrote: “I had already paid all tax due at the top rate and happily so. I’m still totally flabbergasted as to why I was expected to pay double. Thankfully justice was done.”
Match of the Day will be broadcast without Lineker on Saturday evening, the programme itself set to get underway at 10:20pm. The headlines are likely to centre around the title race with Manchester City and Arsenal both picking up what could potentially be huge wins in the race for this season’s crown.
Elsewhere, there were also some big wins in the battle to avoid relegation from the top-flight - Crystal Palace picking up their first league victory of the year so far.
