Gary Lineker has been asked to step down from Match of the Day (Picture: Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Greg Dyke, the former BBC director general and ex-FA chairman, has said the BBC was ‘mistaken’ in standing Gary Lineker down from hosting duties on Match Of The Day.
Lineker has been suspended from his Match of the Day duties by the BBC over a tweet which criticised the government’s new asylum policy.
This prompted a string of regular pundits on the show to confirm that they will not be appearing on Saturday night, including the likes of Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Alex Scott, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas.
Meanwhile, plenty of other celebrities, including Piers Morgan and Dan Walker, have thrown their support behind Lineker.
Asked whether Lineker’s tweet was acceptable, Dyke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We live in a world of freedom of speech and therefore, yes. He didn’t broadcast it on the BBC, it was a tweet he did privately.’
He went on to say: ‘I think what the BBC did yesterday was mistaken. And I’ve over the years since I left the BBC never gone public criticising the leadership of the BBC and the decisions they take, because I know what a difficult job it is, and difficult decisions have to be taken.’
Greg Dyke is a former BBC director general and ex-FA chairman (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
But, he said, the precedent at the corporation is that ‘news and current affairs employees are expected to be impartial and not the rest’.
‘If you start applying the rules of news and current affairs to everybody who works for the BBC, where does it end?’ he added.
He went on to say that the BBC has ‘undermined its own credibility’ as it will be viewed as having bowed to Government pressure.
He said: ‘There is a long-established precedent in the BBC that is that if you’re an entertainment presenter or you’re a football presenter, then you are not bound by those same (impartiality) rules.
Lineker has garnered support from celebrities and the public alike (Picture: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
‘The real problem of today is that the BBC has undermined its own credibility by doing this because it looks like – the perception out there – is that the BBC has bowed to Government pressure.
‘And once the BBC does that, then you’re in real problems.
‘The perception out there is going to be that Gary Lineker, a much-loved television presenter, was taken off air after Government pressure on a particular issue.’
Dyke told the Today programme: ‘I think there has been an ever-growing pressure.
‘Both the language towards the BBC from Government has changed over the years, it’s much more critical… and I think there are certain newspapers that leap in on every opportunity to put the boot in on the BBC because they don’t actually like the BBC and never have done.’
Lineker hit out at the ‘ridiculously out of proportion story’ (Picture: BBC)
The story about BBC chairman Richard Sharp becoming embroiled in a cronyism row over helping Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan facility ‘has helped fuel the perception’ that the BBC has bowed to Government pressure, Dyke said.
He added that a common response to the Lineker row has been ‘isn’t this ridiculous?’
This comes after Lineker himself hit out at the ‘ridiculous out of proportion story’.
Ahead of being asked to step back by the BBC, Lineker had confirmed he would be returning to host Match of the Day on Saturday, and stood by his criticism.
In a tweet on Thursday, Lineker wrote: ‘Well, it’s been an interesting couple of days.
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‘Happy that this ridiculously out of proportion story seems to be abating and very much looking forward to presenting @BBCMOTD on Saturday.
‘Thanks again for all your incredible support. It’s been overwhelming.’
When asked by reporters on Thursday if he stands by his tweet, Lineker replied: ‘Course’.
When asked ‘Do you fear getting suspended?’ he replied: ‘No’.
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MORE : Alex Scott pulls out of BBC’s Football Focus in support of Gary Lineker
Lineker was asked to step down from hosting duties by the BBC.