Conor McNamara reveals he and his colleagues will ‘STEP DOWN’ from Saturday’s MOTD broadcast too
Now the commenters are boycotting too! Conor McNamara reveals he and his colleagues will ‘REDUCE’ Saturday’s match in support of Gary Lineker as they ‘don’t think it’s appropriate’ in light of BBC abandoning host over ‘Nazi’ tweet
- BBC commentators have joined pundits in rejecting Match of the Day.
- Conor McNamara revealed that he and his colleagues will not be covering games
- The BBC previously announced that the Saturday show would continue with action only.
The BBC’s decision to remove Gary Lineker from Match of the Day hosting duties has caused chaos among the show’s production team and commentators joined other pundits and presenters in refusing to appear on Saturday’s show.
Veteran BBC match commentator Conor McNamara revealed on Friday night that he will not carry out his recording duties for Saturday’s Premier League highlights show as he supports the sacked Lineker.
McNamara made the announcement on his Twitter profile where he wrote: ‘As MOTD commentators, we have decided to withdraw from tomorrow night’s broadcast.
“We know that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to, as management can use commentary from the world broadcast if they want.”
“However, given the circumstances, we do not believe it is appropriate to participate in the program.”
BBC Match of the Day commentators have revealed they will not appear on Saturday’s show.
McNamara revealed that he and his colleagues would not be working on the next episode in a show of support for Gary Lineker.
BBC MOTD commentator Conor McNamara revealed that he and his colleagues would not be covering Saturday’s matches on the programme.
The BBC made the decision to temporarily cut Lineker from his billionaire salaried role as the main presenter of iconic shows after the 62-year-old recently compared the UK government to Nazi Germany over its attempts to prevent illegal immigrants from making the dangerous boat crossing into the country.
The decision was made by BBC director-general Tim Davie after Lineker was found to have breached the publicly-funded company’s social media guidelines.
McNamara broke the news online when he posted an update on the BBC’s most recent upcoming episode which had already seen pundits write off to replace Lineker.
MOTD commentator Steve Wilson also confirmed the news by posting an almost word-for-word statement as McNamara, showing that the decision was made by the commentary team as a collective.
The BBC is expected to rely on the agency’s commentators to provide commentary on Saturday’s six Premier League games.
Lineker’s co-hosts and friends Alan Shearer and Ian Wright were some of the first to take a stand against the BBC before other big names began to do the same.
Sky Sports commentator and pundit Gary Neville showed that rival broadcasters also supported Lineker as he blamed “conservatives and the establishment” for the removal of the MOTD presenters.
Meanwhile, celebrity outspoken journalist Piers Morgan also backed Lineker, suggesting that he tell the BBC to “fuck off”.
McNamara’s tweet confirmed that commentators on the show were taking a stance against the BBC.
Lineker has been the prominent face of BBC football coverage but will not be part of MOTD’s immediate future.
Lineker could return to lead the show in the future, but won’t be a part of the show for the foreseeable future.
While the presentation teams and pundits are behind Lineker, BBC sources have told Sportsmail there is a split among the production staff.
Some are sympathetic to Lineker, but others feel that he is asking for preferential treatment by effectively disregarding the BBC’s impartiality guidelines.
Lineker had been told by BBC bosses to either stop his politicized publications or stop working for the corporation.