Gary Lineker has been stood down from Saturday's edition of BBC's Match of the Day football highlights show.
Lineker, employed as a freelancer by the BBC, had been critical of the Government's new policy for asylum seekers and the BBC released a statement on Friday saying the former Tottenham Hotspur striker had broken its guidelines on social media use. The 62 year-old Leicester native, the 1986 World Cup golden boot winner with England, made reference on Twitter to 1930s Germany in criticising the language in the Conservative government's plan for people who arrive in the country on small boats on the south coast.
Lineker has been Match of the Day's host since 1999 and Saturday's edition of the show, which will broadcast highlights of Leicester City vs Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur vs Nottingham Forest among others, is due to begin at 10:20pm. Former Arsenal and Crystal Palace striker Ian Wright, a regular pundit on MOTD, is also set to be absent having tweeted his support for Lineker.
