Suspended Gary Lineker set to return to BBC imminently after tweet storm – report

Television presenter and former footballer Gary Lineker leaves his home on March 12, 2023 in London, United Kingdom.

Gary Lineker is reportedly ‘poised to return’ to TV screens next week, following his suspension for allegedly breaching BBC impartiality guidelines.

The Match of the Day anchor was suspended on Friday in relation to a tweet criticising the British government’s asylum policy.

In response, BBC colleagues of Lineker’s stepped down from their duties in a show of solidarity, throwing the broadcaster’s weekend football coverage into disarray.

As a result, Saturday’s edition of MOTD was stripped to the bare bones, running for just 20 minutes and consisting only of brief highlights of the day’s Premier League action with no commentary or studio analysis; even the iconic title music was missing.

However, according to The Telegraph, Lineker is ‘poised to return to work for the BBC next week’, with a source from the corporation stating that they are “moving quickly” towards a resolution.

The report adds that there is ‘growing confidence’ that the 62-year-old will be reinstated in time for next weekend’, when the BBC will show live coverage of two FA Cup quarter-finals: Manchester City vs Burnley and Brighton vs Grimsby Town.

Saturday’s regular Football Focus and Final Score programmes were taken off air after presenters and reporters pulled out, while Radio 5 Live’s sport schedule was also heavily impacted.

The disruption continued into Sunday: the live Women’s Super League game between Chelsea and Manchester United was shown with ‘world feed’ commentary rather than that provided by the BBC, while Match of the Day 2 will take on a similar format to that of the previous night’s Match of the Day.