Ian Wright and Alan Shearer have returned to their punditry duties the day after boycotting their appearances on Match of the Day.
The duo pulled out from featuring on Saturday's episode of the Premier League highlights show after the BBC stood Gary Lineker down from presenting duties. Lineker had become embroiled in a row with Conservative MPs over his vocal opposition to the government's Illegal Migration bill.
The decision to stand Lineker down led to massive disruption in BBC Sport's weekend output, with Football Focus, Final Score and their Radio 5 Live coverage cancelled. Wright and Shearer's pull back also meant Match of the Day went ahead without presenters, pundits or commentary.
The duo have quickly gone back into action after their boycott, appearing on Premier League TV for Arsenal's clash with Fulham. They provided punditry for the Gunners' win at Craven Cottage, as well as two other games.
Shearer shared the news that the duo were back in the pundit seat on Saturday with an image of the duo in the studio. He captioned the image: "Hellllooooo @IanWright0!! @premierleague tv today with @julesbreach and Wrighty!!!"
As well as boycotting Saturday's episode, Wright has threatened to quit the BBC completely if they sack Lineker. Though sacking Lineker is unlikely to happen, the Arsenal legend made it clear he stood with the Match of the Day host.
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“I’ll tell you something. If they do – the BBC get rid of Gary Lineker – I’m out, I’m gone. I’m not staying there. On his own platform he should be able to say what he wants to say,” he told the Wrighty's House podcast.
“He wrote a tweet criticising the Government about everything that’s happening, the human rights issues and everything here and it’s the perfect distraction for this Government, man.
“Gary’s tweet was the headline news. They need Gary Lineker to distract everybody because for me it is a human issue, it’s not political. They’ve got no empathy. The most vulnerable ones are always the ones that suffer, they’re the ones that suffer and it starts with words.
“Gary Lineker, he retweeted from a German professor about – because the Hitler thing is what they all jumped on and everything like that. He retweeted saying that it all starts with language, it starts with words, they don’t just start throwing people into concentration camps, it starts with words and language.”
The BBC is desperately trying to resolve the situation after facing a revolt from staff. Director General Tim Davie has even been forced to apologise for the disruption caused by the events of the past three days.
"I’m sorry audiences have been affected and they haven’t got the programming," Tim Davie told the BBC. "As a keen sports fan I know to miss programming is a real blow and I’m sorry about that.
"We are working very hard to resolve this situation and make sure we get output on air. Everyone wants to calmly resolve situation. Gary Lineker’s the best in the business - that’s not for debate."
