Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
Topics: Gary Lineker, Ian Wright, Match Of The Day, Sky Sports, Jeff Stelling, Alan Shearer, Premier League
Alex Brotherton
Topics: Gary Lineker, Ian Wright, Match Of The Day, Sky Sports, Jeff Stelling, Alan Shearer, Premier League
Jeff Stelling used his introduction to Soccer Saturday to compliment fellow football presenter Gary Lineker following the Match of the Day fiasco.
Lineker was suspended by the BBC this week after he published a tweet likening the language used in the Conservative government's Illegal Migration Bill to that used in 1930s Germany.
The BBC suspended the Match of the Day presenter after he refused to apologise or change his online behaviour to keep in line with the broadcaster's impartiality policy.
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Following his suspension, pundits including Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Micah Richards, Alex Scott and Jermaine Jenas all ruled themselves out of appearing on the programme.
The six commentators that were due to commentate on Saturday's Premier League matches also boycotted the programme, while players and managers did not provide post-match interviews.
The BBC decided to broadcast a stripped-back 20-minute version of Match of the Day on Saturday night that consisted solely of back-to-back match highlights with no commentary or punditry.
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Plenty of footballers, journalists and broadcasters have voiced their support for Lineker, including Sky Sports News anchor Jeff Stelling.
Stelling presented Sky's Gillette Soccer Saturday as usual on Saturday afternoon, and used his introduction to reference Lineker's situation.
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"Good afternoon and welcome to this Gillette Soccer Saturday," Stelling began.
"I need to be right at the top of my game today, because there is a top-notch football presenter available on Saturday's now."
Stelling and Lineker are arguably the two most-respected football presenters in the UK, so for Stelling to wade in on the mess will surely put more pressure on the BBC to reverse their decision to suspend Lineker.
However, the BBC will be fairly pleased with how Saturday's show went. 2.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the unusual Lineker-less show, almost 500,000 more than the previous weekend.
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It's unclear what will happen with Match of the Day 2 on Sunday or Match of the Day next weekend.