BBC were forced to remove Wayne Rooney tweet after Gary Lineker told them to 'delete this'

The BBC deleted a tweet about Wayne Rooney's sacking shortly after a request from Gary Lineker.

Rooney parted company with Plymouth Argyle in December, with the side bottom of the Championship table at the time.

After the England legend departed by mutual consent, Argyle replaced him with Miron Muslic and the Austrian-Bosnian boss guided them to a famous 1-0 win over Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

He has also overseen an upturn in form in the league, though Plymouth are still in the relegation zone.

Rooney's exit marked the end of the former Manchester United striker's second managerial job in 2024.

He was sacked by Birmingham City on January 2 after a 3-0 defeat away at Leeds United on New Year's Day. During that match, Blues fans were chanting for the removal of Rooney as manager.

Following the announcement, the BBC Sport Twitter account posted a photo that depicted Rooney as a member of the Peaky Blinders, the popular BBC show set in Birmingham.

Image: Twitter

The post was captioned: "By order of the Peaky Blinders... Wayne Rooney has been sacked by Birmingham City."

Match of the Day host Lineker would bluntly reply: "Delete this." The post was subsequently taken down.

Lineker's message was perhaps wise, as Rooney would work on several FA Cup matches as a pundit for the corporation before the end of the season, including Manchester United's win over Manchester City in the final.

As for Birmingham, the club were relegated from the Championship - with a run of form between February and March compounding their misery post-Rooney.

The Blues' ownership appointed caretaker Mark Venus following Tony Mowbray's resignation in February due to health reasons - but it was a decision that proved costly, as the side lost six of their next seven matches.

Wayne Rooney was sacked by Birmingham in January 2024 (Image: Getty)

Gary Rowett was installed until the end of the season in March but it was too late for him to make an impact as, despite winning three and drawing two of their last eight games, Birmingham were relegated on the final day of the season.

The club look set to bounce back to the Championship at the first time of asking, though, following a huge spending spree that saw them obliterate the League One transfer record to sign striker Jay Stansfield from Fulham for £15 million.