Match of the Day looks set to be aired on the BBC for just 20 minutes on Saturday evening, as the row over Gary Lineker's removal descends further into farce.
And the popular Premier League highlights programme is set to show action from today's games without match commentary after the corporation's regular commentators released a statement last night confirming that they would not be fulfilling their normal match day duties.
BBC's own TV guide currently still has the programme listed as starting at 22:20 and finishing at 23:40, but reports from the Mirror and The Times say that the show will only air for around 20 minutes.
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The bizarre turn of events started when Gary Lineker was asked to step back from his role as presenter of the show, following a social media comment he posted on Twitter, criticising the government's new immigration policy. His removal was soon followed up by regular pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer announcing that neither would appear on tonight's show, in solidarity with their colleague.
But when it became apparent that the BBC would struggle to find suitable replacements for Lineker and his panel, who would be willing to step into the studio under such controversial circumstances, a decision was made to put tonight's show out without a presenter or the usual pundit analysis.
The situation escalated further late on Friday evening when commentator Steve Wilson shared a message on Twitter announcing that the BBC's commentary team were not prepared to cover games this weekend either. Wilson wrote: "As commentators on MOTD, we have decided to step down from tomorrow night’s broadcast. We are comforted that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to do so, as management can use World Feed commentary if they wish. However, in the circumstances, we do not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme"
Hopes of providing an alternative commentary feed appear to have been dashed however, with The Athletic reporting that the BBC does not have broadcast rights for the 'world feed service'.
Other BBC football shows have been impacted, with Football Focus and Final Score both axed today as the crisis deepens. Some 5Live Sport radio services are also believed to be under threat.
A BBC Spokesperson said: “The BBC will only be able to bring limited sport programming this weekend and our schedules will be updated to reflect that. We are sorry for these changes which we recognise will be disappointing for BBC sport fans. We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do so soon.”
Making use of his unexpected day off, Lineker spent the afternoon attending Leicester City's home match against Chelsea. The match finished 3-1 to Graham Potter's side.
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