Graeme Souness has criticised Gary Lineker over the Match of the Day furore, stating that freedom of speech “doesn’t apply” for BBC employees.
Lineker made headlines in March after being suspended by the BBC for refusing to apologise over criticism of the Government’s bill on illegal migrants. After days of dramatic fallout, which saw his Match of the Day colleagues Ian Wright and Alan Shearer show support by boycotting the programme, Linker was reinstated to his role.
The BBC announced a review of its impartiality agreement, saying that it needed to work out how its social media guidelines applied to freelancers like Lineker. Yet the former England striker has refused to back down and has continued to tweet about political issues.
Souness, who left Sky after 15 years on the weekend, has a very different take to Lineker. The 69-year-old ex-Liverpool midfielder thinks BBC employees like Lineker, Shearer and Wright, should keep their opinions to themselves.
Asked on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast what he made of them walking out of Match of the Day, Souness replied: “If it had been me, I wouldn’t have walked out. It wasn’t Gary Lineker’s first time upsetting people and I don’t think he should’ve said what he did because when you take the BBC’s money you have to be very careful with what you say politically.
“Freedom of speech is something that doesn’t apply when you work for the BBC, I think you have to be very careful.
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“In my opinion I think punditry should be impartial – I think I’ve tried to be. I’ve been doing it for 20 years and when Liverpool have had barren years, I’ve been critical of them, and when Manchester United were having a great time, I was complimentary about them because they are one of the biggest football clubs in the world.
“They’re one of the handful of clubs that you can hold up with the likes of Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Barcelona.”
Shearer and Wright were the first pundits to announce their support for Lineker in the wake of the BBC chaos, but they were far from the only ones. Match of the Day was reduced to a shadow of its former self, with a 20-minute show being broadcasted without a presenter, pundits or commentary, while Match of the Day 2, the live WSL and 5 Live schedule were also impacted after several BBC pundits withdrew in solidarity.
“The potential confusion caused by the grey areas of the BBC’s social media guidance that was introduced in 2020 is recognised,” BBC director general Tim Davie said after backing down in the row.
“Impartiality is important to the BBC. It is also important to the public. The BBC has a commitment to impartiality in its Charter and a commitment to freedom of expression.
"That is a difficult balancing act to get right where people are subject to different contracts and on air positions, and with different audience and social media profiles.”
