Premier League Fixtures
Bournemouth 2:30pm Liverpool
Everton 3pm Brentford
Leeds 3pm Brighton
Leicester 5pm Chelsea
Tottenham 5pm Nottm Forest
Crystal Palace 7:30pm Man City
Match of the Day will air later without a studio presenter or pundits, and some of its regular commentators, after the BBC told Gary Lineker to step back in a row over impartiality.
Pundits Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas have all said they would not appear on the show.
Alex Scott hinted the same while six members of the MOTD commentating team said they would also not take part.
It follows presenter Lineker’s criticism of government asylum policy.
On Twitter, the former England footballer had compared the language used by the government to unveil its new plans as “not dissimilar to” 1930s Germany.
The BBC said it it had asked Lineker to step back from presenting after “extensive discussions” with him.
The corporation said it considered his “recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines”, adding it had been “decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media”.
The BBC said the English Premier League football highlights show MOTD on Saturday night will instead “focus on match action”.
In a later statement, a spokesperson said: “Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.
“We understand their position and we have decided that the programme will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry.”
MOTD commentators Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Rowen and Steven Wyeth all shared a joint statement online on Friday evening, reading: “We have decided to step down from tomorrow’s night’s broadcast.
“We are comforted that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to do,” they added, explaining that alternative commentary sources were available to the programme.
BBC Sport understands a number of players from various clubs contacted the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) to say they may want to show solidarity with Lineker and the MOTD pundits by boycotting the post-match interviews on the show.
The PFA – which has been in talks with players and clubs on the matter – are believed to be supportive of any players who choose to do so.
Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer, who also appears on the show, then said he had “informed the BBC that I won’t be appearing on MOTD tomorrow night”.
Shortly after, ex-Arsenal and Lionesses player Alex Scott hinted that she too would not appear, tweeting a GIF of US politician Bernie Sanders saying “Nah! Not me” with the caption: “FYI…”.
She was followed by former Manchester City defender Richards, who wrote on Twitter: “I was not due to be working on MOTD tomorrow, but if I was, I would find myself taking the same decision that [Ian Wright] & [Alan Shearer] have.”
Ex-Tottenham midfielder Jenas then tweeted: “Been on air with the one show. I wasn’t down to be doing match of the day tomorrow, but if I was I would of said no and stood with my fellow pundits and [Gary Lineker].”
Lineker has not yet publicly commented on the latest developments, but while presenting 5News earlier, former BBC presenter Dan Walker read out a text live on air from the 62-year-old.
Walker said he had messaged Lineker asking: “What is happening. Are you stepping back?”
He said he had received a reply saying: “No, they’ve [the BBC] told me I have to step back.”
The BBC has been told that the Match of the Day production team were not told in advance about its decision.
On Tuesday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman outlined the government’s plans to ban people arriving in the UK illegally from ever claiming asylum, in a bid to address a rise in the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
Lineker reacted to it on Twitter calling it an “immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
Lineker has hosted Match of the Day since 1999 and is the BBC’s highest paid star, having earned about £1.35m in 2020-21. He is employed by the BBC on a freelance basis.
In the statement announcing he would not be presenting MOTD, the BBC said: “When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none.
“We have never said that Gary should be an opinion free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.”
Richard Ayre, former controller of editorial policy at the BBC, said the corporation had “no choice” but to take action against Lineker.
He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme the corporation’s Director General Tim Davie had “clearly tried” to reach an agreement with Lineker but failed, adding: “It’s inevitable now that having in effect not sacked him but removed him temporarily at least, the BBC will now come under a torrent of criticism saying it’s acting under the government’s behest.”
A Labour source told the BBC the corporation should “rethink their decision”, calling it a “cowardly decision… an assault on free speech in the face of political pressure”.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the BBC was “undermining free speech in the face of political pressure”, while writing on Twitter, Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas said the broadcaster was “capitulating” to a “divisive” government.
In a statement, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “Individual cases are a matter for the BBC.” BBC
Barcelona Face Corruption Charges Over Payments To Former Referees’ Official
Barcelona face charges of corruption over payments the club made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira – a former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee.
It emerged last month that Barca paid Negreira and a company he owns a reported total of 8.4m euros (£7.4m) between 2001 and 2018.
A Barcelona court heard on Friday that Barca, former club officials and Negreira had been indicted for “corruption”, “breach of trust” and “false business records”.
These lawsuits, brought by the Barcelona public prosecutor’s office, target the club, as well as former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell.
“FC Barcelona obtained and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira so that, in his capacity as vice-president of the technical arbitral committee (CTA) and in exchange for money, the latter carries out actions tending to benefit FC Barcelona in decisions by the referees,” said the public prosecutor’s office.
La Liga chief executive Javier Tebas said last month that current president Joan Laporta should resign if he was unable to explain the payments.
Laporta responded by saying he will not give Tebas “what he’d like by stepping down” and the charges come three days after Laporta insisted his club had “never bought referees”.
“Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never,” he said on Tuesday.
How Did We Get Here?
The payments, revealed last month by radio station Ser Catalunya, came to light following an investigation by tax authorities into Negreira’s company Dasnil 95.
Barcelona made payments to the company totalling a reported 1.4m euros (£1.2m) between 2016 and 2018, and paid Negreira, 77, about 7m euros (£6.2m) between 2001 and 2018, the year he left his role with the referees’ committee.
Barca acknowledged the club had paid Dasnil 95, which it described as “an external technical consultant” to compile video reports related to professional referees “with the aim of complementing the information required by the coaching staff”.
It added that contracting the reports was “a habitual practice among professional clubs”.
The affair escalated when 18 of the 20 La Liga clubs issued a statement to express “deep concern” over the situation, and Laporta said the club would launch an internal investigation into the payments.
Barcelona coach Xavi, who won eight La Liga titles with them as a player between 1998 and 2015, said he had no knowledge of the payments and never had the feeling his team had any advantage.
“I always wanted to win, but fairly. If I thought we were cheating I’d have gone home,” he said after Barca’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the Europa League last month. BBC
