BBC Sportscene once again aired without any pundits as the broadcaster continue to strip back their football coverage amid a row with Gary Lineker.
Lineker has been temporarily ousted from his role as lead presenter on Match of the Day after he tweeted criticising the government's immigration policy. The BBC released a statement saying Lineker had breached impartiality regulations and are yet to reach an agreement to restore him as the face of their flagship Premier League highlights show.
Lineker's absence led to a mass exodus from pundits which saw Match of the Day air on Saturday night for just 20 minutes with no commentary or studio analysis. The cuts though have stretched far beyond that show and it's affected Scottish football coverage too. Saturday's Sportscene aired highlights of Celtic vs Hearts and Kilmarnock vs Inverness in the Scottish Cup with no pundits and it lasted just 30 minutes as opposed to the 45-minute slot it had been pencilled in for.
Fans tuned in on Sunday night intrigued to see if the outage would continue and the show once again aired with no introduction from the studio or analysis from pundits. Highlights from Rangers' 3-0 win over Raith Rovers were shown with commentary but the abridged format left fans wondering when things will return to normal.
Around 20 minutes of highlights were shown from the clash at Ibrox before extended interviews with Michael Beale, Ian Murray, Connor Goldson and Lewis Vaughan before things moved onto a roundup of Saturday's games with no punditry segment in between. It comes as reports swirl that Lineker is on the brink of agreeing a return to the BBC and his comeback could spell the end of the temporary disruption to the football programming.
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