A bizarre 20-minute episode of Match of the Day (MOTD) was broadcast live on the BBC on Saturday night.
Initially planned to run for 80 minutes, the episode was cut by an hour following the ongoing saga involving the show’s star presenter Gary Lineker.
Lineker was told to step back from presenting Saturday’s episode following talks with the BBC on Friday.
The former England international, who has presented MOTD since 1999, found himself in hot water with his employers over a tweet criticising the government’s new asylum policy.
Lineker’s tweet led to an impartiality row and the BBC currently find themselves at the centre of a full-blown crisis.
Ian Wright, Alan Shearer and six commentators were due to feature on Saturday’s MOTD but withdrew in solidarity with Lineker, who spent the afternoon at the King Power Stadium to watch Leicester City’s Premier League clash against Chelsea.
Lineker, meanwhile, has already been offered a new job by a rival broadcaster, according to reports.
Read more: Gary Lineker ‘offered new job’ one day after being suspended by BBC
Match of the Day has been running since 1964 but we’re unlikely to see a stranger episode of, in the BBC’s own words, ‘the world’s most famous football show’.
The show’s iconic theme tune wasn’t even played at the top of the show, to the surprise of many on social media.
Instead, a plain graphic titled ‘Premier League highlights’ signified the beginning of this week’s historic episode of MOTD.
Video: How MOTD started this week
Watch the start of this week’s MOTD here:
Bournemouth 1-0 Liverpool was the first match shown, with no commentary over the action.
All that could be heard was the noise of the crows and the thud of the ball being kicked.
It all felt very peculiar indeed.
Brief highlights with no analysis from Saturday’s five other Premier League games followed.
“Shows how important it is to have theme music, commentary and ex-players/pundits chatting shite about the game this,” former Premier League midfielder Joey Barton tweeted during the episode. “Long live MOTD.”
Everton vs Brentford was the final match broadcast before the Premier League table was displayed. The show then abruptly ended.
It’s fair to say this is one episode of MOTD that won’t be forgotten in a hurry – albeit not for the reasons the BBC would have been hoping for.
