Match of the Day 2 set to be scaled back as BBC crisis goes on

The BBC’s sports coverage has been severely affected after presenters, analysts and commentators withdrew in solidarity with Gary Lineker

Match of the Day 2 is set to follow its flagship sister programme Match of the Day by going ahead in a “much reduced” format tonight as the BBC crisis goes on.

Match of the Day was broadcast using only a simplified 20-minute highlights package on Saturday evening after presenters, analysts and commentators pulled out of a raft of BBC Sport’s coverage in solidarity with Gary Lineker, who was stood down for criticising government policy on Twitter.

Match of the Day 2 was set to be presented by Mark Chapman but the BBC’s sports editor, Dan Roan, said on Sunday morning that the show was likely to be stripped back, along with coverage of the Women’s Super League.

“At this stage BBC expecting the planned WSL match between Chelsea and Manchester United this afternoon to be on BBC2, but with no pre-match presentation,” Roan tweeted. “Expecting MOTD2 to follow similar much-reduced format to MOTD last night.”

Tim Davie, the director general of the BBC, is under growing pressure as the situation escalates.

Former BBC executive Peter Salmon, who was previously controller of BBC One and director of sport, told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg the situation was “complex” and Lineker is a “major figure”.

He said: “Twenty-five years in Match Of The Day – he’s more than just a TV presenter, he’s a national figure. He’s got views, he’s got passions, he’s been involved in looking after Ukrainian refugees. It may be that Gary’s outgrown the job and the role in the BBC.

“Twenty-five years in, before that Des Lynam, Gary took over, he’s been brilliant. Sometimes there’s a point at which you cross the line.”

Reflecting on the disruption to the BBC’s sports schedule, he added: “It’s a mess, isn’t it? They must be wishing they could reel back 72 hours and start all over again. It’s Oscars day but there’s no awards for how this has been managed.

“I think they’ve got to take action pretty quickly. It doesn’t help the chairman of the BBC himself is slacked to one side in this process and there’s a bit of an issue. Tim Davie is isolated in some ways, he needs to come home and grip this now. We need him back running the ship.”

The BBC’s decision on Friday to stand Lineker down from presenting Match Of The Day, after he compared language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany in a tweet, has prompted a growing number of its sports presenters to boycott their shows.

Davie has apologised for the disruption but said he will not resign over the impartiality row.

It is the latest controversy to hit the corporation after its chairman, Richard Sharp, became embroiled in a cronyism row over him helping Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan facility.

additional reporting by PA