Gary Lineker will not appear on Match of the Day on Saturday night (March 18) despite being reinstated to BBC TV screens following the impartiality controversy a week ago.
Lineker was pulled from Match of the Day duties last weekend after comparing language used around the UK Government's controversial immigration policy to 1930s Germany, which his employers deemed to have breached impartiality guidelines. However, after Lineker's colleagues withdrew from many BBC sports programming in solidarity with him, Lineker was reinstated.
However, he will not be on MOTD on Saturday night, which is set to return to normal after last week's edition lasted just 20 minutes.
Why is Gary Lineker not presenting Match of the Day tonight?
Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards were fronting the BBC's coverage of the FA Cup match between Manchester City and Burnley early on Saturday evening, making the trio unavailable to present Match of the Day the same night. Instead, Mark Chapman will be introducing the Premier League highlights.
Shearer, who refused to appear on MOTD a week ago in solidarity with Lineker, addressed the chaos at the beginning of the FA Cup coverage, saying some members of staff were put in an "impossible position".
He said: "I just needed to clear up and wanted to say how upset we were, all the audiences who missed out on last weekend, it was a really difficult situation for everyone concerned, and through no fault of their own some really great people in TV and in radio were put in an impossible situation and that wasn't fair. So, it's good to get back to some sort of normality and be talking about football again."
"Absolutely echo those sentiments," Lineker added.
When will Gary Lineker be back on Match of the Day?
Lineker is expected to return to Match of the Day on April 1, following the international break.
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