Last night, Match Of The Day received its largest audience since November last year. Viewing figures soared after Gary Lineker was absent from presenting the show.
The former England star became the host of BBC’s Match Of The Day back in 1992, and has made over 750 appearances on the show.
However, he has come under fire from his employers in recent days after some highly controversial political comments on Twitter.
Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker has told reporters outside his home that he stands by his criticism of the government's asylum seeker policy and does not fear suspension by the BBC
Read more: https://t.co/grfdsbJAj6 pic.twitter.com/BhoPZb53DP
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 9, 2023
Lineker was subsequently suspended by the BBC, and it was announced he would not be presenting MOTD this weekend. His colleagues, including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright who also stood down from the show in solidarity with their colleague.
Instead of their traditional Match Of The Day show, the BBC aired a shortened 20 minute highlight package of the games. This made the figures soar, and the program was watched by 2.58 million people, up nearly 500,000 from the previous week.
Along with Shearer and Wright stepping down this weekend, the BBC went into turmoil with their football shows yesterday. Football Focus, and Final Score both didn’t air a show with other presenters and pundits refusing to work on the day.
The 2.58 million viewership was the biggest since MOTD racked up 2.63 million viewers on November 5 last year. On that day, Man City beat Fulham, Leicester beat Everton, and Leeds beat Bournemouth 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller, amongst other games.
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