Gary Lineker: BBC boss Tim Davie ‘sorry’ after sport disruption in Lineker row

BBC director general Tim Davie has apologized to royalty payers after a day of sports programming being suspended.

Football shows were shut down at the last minute as presenters and commentators went out in support of Gary Lineker.

The match-of-the-day presenter was suspended on Friday after criticizing the government’s controversial asylum policy.

Mr Davie denied he was pressured to take this step by the government.

The BBC boss admitted it had been a “difficult day” for the company but said “we are working very hard to resolve the situation”.

In an interview with BBC News, Mr Davie said: “For me, success means getting Gary back on the air,” adding he was willing to review the impartiality rules for freelancers like Lineker.

The director-general said he was “absolutely not” going to step down but admitted “this has been a tough time for the BBC”.

He said there had been no “pandering” to any political party amid allegations by opposition parties that BBC executives bowed to pressure from Downing Street and ministers over the anti-government tweet.

Mr Davie said Lineker had been asked to “resign” after becoming “involved in party political matters”.

Commenting on the controversial so-called stop-the-boats law on Tuesday, Lineker called it an “immeasurably cruel policy aimed at the most vulnerable, in language not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s.” .

It also resulted in an unprecedented day of turbulence for the BBC’s sports operations, with staff including some of the most prominent faces and voices related to the football coverage shutdown tools.

On a day when football programs were due to be shown on TV and radio from morning to night, the BBC was forced to air repeat programs or play podcasts on Radio 5 Live to fill gaps in the schedule.

Football Focus was scheduled to air at noon but was pulled when presenter Alex Scott tweeted an hour and a half before it began that it “doesn’t feel right to continue the show today”.

The final score was struck at 4pm when host Jason Mohammad told the BBC he was refusing to present.

Radio 5 Live’s regular Saturday morning show Fighting Talk was canceled as staff boycotted it, a decision host Colin Murray said was “taken by the entire … team and by me”.

Fans who tuned in to catch the afternoon’s action on TV were greeted with reruns of Bargain Hunt and The Repair Shop. At some point, 5 Live resorted to playing back old recorded material.

The match of the day is still scheduled to take place on Saturday night – but has been reduced to a 20-minute edition with no commentary and without experts Alan Shearer and Ian Wright or substitutes.

There are big questions about Sunday’s planned coverage and whether the BBC can bring Match of the Day 2 starring Mark Chapman to TV screens. The hosts were absent from the airwaves on Saturday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Lineker a “talented moderator” in a statement Saturday night, but added the dispute was not a government matter.

He said: “As Prime Minister, I have to do what I think is right while respecting that not everyone will always agree. So I was unequivocal in my approach to stopping the boats.

“Gary Lineker was a great footballer and is a talented presenter. I hope that the current situation between Gary Lineker and the BBC can be resolved in a timely manner, but it is rightfully their business, not the government.”

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said “individual cases are a matter for the BBC” but Downing Street and several senior ministers have been vocal in their criticism in recent days.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer have both attacked the moderator for implying a comparison between government language and Nazi Germany.

Ms Braverman said the Nazi comparison used by Lineker was “lazy and unhelpful”.

Senior Labor politicians have expressed their support for Lineker, including leader Sir Keir Starmer. He said the government should focus on getting the asylum system in order rather than “whining” about Lineker and accused BBC bosses of bowing to pressure from ministers.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called on BBC leader Richard Sharp to step down, saying the row has exposed “failures at the top” of the company.

“We need leadership at the BBC that upholds our proud British values ​​and can withstand today’s ever-turbulent politics and Conservative bullying tactics,” he added.

Greg Dyke, who served as director-general between 2000 and 2004, said earlier on Saturday the BBC had “undermined its own credibility” over its handling of the dispute.

An ongoing KC-led review of Mr Sharp’s nomination as BBC chairman is looking into whether he failed to properly disclose details of his involvement in facilitating an £800,000 loan guarantee for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He has denied any involvement in arranging a loan for Mr Johnson.

The BBC is also conducting its own internal review of any potential conflicts of interest Mr Sharp may have in his current role as BBC Chairman.

Former BBC TV News head and sporting director Roger Mosey also called for Mr Sharp’s resignation, saying the chairman had “damaged the BBC’s credibility”.

However, others have been more supportive of the BBC’s actions. Richard Ayre, the company’s former head of editorial policy, said Friday the BBC had “no choice” but to crack down on Lineker.

He said the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie had “clearly tried” to reach an agreement with Lineker but failed, adding: “It is now inevitable that the BBC, having actually not sacked him, will removed, at least temporarily, is now coming under a torrent of criticism that she is acting at the behest of the government.”

Lineker has hosted the Match of the Day since 1999 and is the BBC’s highest-paid star, having earned around £1.35million in 2020-21. He is a freelancer with the BBC.

BBC staff are expected to remain impartial on political matters and follow strict social media guidelines, but there is considerable debate over how they should apply for non-news staff.

BBC News has been told that the Match of the Day production team was not given advance notice of their decision on Lineker.

Lineker has yet to publicly comment on the latest developments and was spotted at a home game at Leicester City on Saturday.