Ian Wright and Alan Shearer appear as pundits on the Premier League’s coverage of Fulham vs Arsenal
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer appear on Premier League TV coverage of Fulham’s match against Arsenal… after BBC pundits decided to boycott Match of the Day following the sacking of Gary Lineker.
- Ian Wright and Alan Shearer appeared on Premier League TV after the BBC boycott
- The couple were not present for Saturday night’s Match of the Day show.
- Both had chosen not to work on the show in solidarity with host Gary Lineker.
- It comes after Lineker’s fallout with the BBC over comments he made on Twitter.
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer appeared on television coverage of the Premier League of Fulham vs Arsenal, after they boycotted Match of the Day in the aftermath of Gary Lineker with the BBC.
In solidarity with the former Leicester and Everton striker, the pair, who appear regularly on Match of the Day, refused to appear on the show, which only aired for 20 minutes with no pundit crew or theme music.
But Wright and Shearer have now appeared alongside presenter Jules Breach as pundits for today’s game at Craven Cottage on television coverage of the Premier League.
It has been confirmed that Match of the Day 2 will also take place in similar circumstances tonight with Mark Chapman set to boycott the iconic BBC football show.
Reports suggested that Lineker broke down in tears when she learned that her co-hosts, Wright and Shearer, had decided not to appear on the show on Saturday night.
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer featured on Premier League coverage of Fulham vs Arsenal
It comes as the pair boycotted Match of the Day following the fallout from Gary Lineker with the BBC.
BBC bosses decided to take the 62-year-old off the air on Friday after he posted a tweet criticizing the UK government’s immigration policy.
But in solidarity with their colleague, both Wright and Shearer announced Friday night that they will not appear on Match of the Day on Saturday.
Wright tweeted: “You all know what Match of the Day means to me but I told the BBC I won’t do it tomorrow.” Solidarity.’
Shearer followed him, writing: “I have informed the BBC that I will not be appearing on MOTD tomorrow night.”
But they weren’t the only two to boycott the BBC, as Alex Scott also said that she would also not appear on Football Focus, which along with Final Score was not broadcast.
Gary Lineker was seen at the King Power Stadium yesterday as his former team Leicester suffered a 3-1 defeat to Chelsea.
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer announced they will not appear on MOTD on Friday
Gary Lineker was at the King Power Stadium yesterday for Leicester’s 3-1 defeat against Chelsea
Viewing figures for Match of the Day increased by 500,000 people on Saturday with 2.58 million viewers tuning in to watch the broadcast.
But it appears the BBC is ready to allow Lineker back on the air to present the show, after an extraordinary week at the broadcasting corporation, as CEO Tim Davie appeared to back down yesterday.
He told the BBC: “We are working very hard to resolve the situation and make sure the show gets back on the air.”
I don’t want to go into too much detail about the discussion. Gary Lineker is an excellent broadcaster, the best in the business, that’s not up for debate. He is an exceptional broadcaster and success for me is getting Gary back on the air.’
