Gary Lineker says ‘great to be here’ as he returns to BBC – live

Gary Lineker returned to television screens on Saturday evening and, alongside fellow pundit Alan Shearer, addressed the situation last week which saw viewers faced with a wordless flagship football programme.

The BBC presenter was stood down from Match of the Day last weekend following his tweets on the UK government’s immigration policy.

Fellow pundits then followed him in opting against appearing on screen in solidarity, before a resolution was found during the week leading to Lineker and his team being reinstated for an FA Cup clash.

A prerecorded introduction saw Lineker’s first words highlight Vincent Kompany’s return to the Etihad Stadium, now as head coach of the visitors, before Lineker – seemingly struggling with a slight lack of voice – handed over to Shearer in-studio.

Shearer then spoke of the situation faced by fellow broadcasters and commentators last week.

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Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has made his return to the BBC, telling viewers it was “great to be here” presenting the pre-match coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley at the Etihad.

Fellow pundit Alan Shearer addressed last week’s controversy, which saw Mr Linekeer taken off air after criticising the government’s asylum policy.

Mr Shearer said: “I just need to clear up and wanted to say how upset we were about all the audiences who missed out on last weekend.

“It was a really difficult situation for everyone concerned. through no fault of their own some really great people in TV and radio were put in impossible situations and that wasn’t fair.

“It’s good to get back to normality and talk about football again.”

Mr Linker said: “I echo those sentiments.”

Coverage of the upcoming match then commenced.

Gary Lineker makes his return to the BBC at 5.30pm for the pre-match coverage of Manchester City vs Burnley in the FA Cup Quarter Final.

The match and the BBC’s coverage will be broadcast on BBC One and can also be viewed on iPlayer.

Gary Lineker will present live coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley on Saturday as he returns to TV screens following a row over impartiality.

It will mark the 62-year-old broadcaster’s first appearance on the BBC since he was told to step back from hosting Match Of The Day.

The Match of the Day star has again teased his imminent return to the BBC, posing in the studio with “teammates” and fellow pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Ahead of his return to BBC programming, Gary Lineker has posted a selfie to Twitter from the Etihad stadium, where he will present the broadcaster’s coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final match between Manchester City and Burnley.

The pundit will be live on BBC One at 5.30pm.

Football presenter Gary Lineker has condemned the row over his suspension by the BBC because of his tweets as “totally disproportionate”.

But he said he received a large amount of support during his dispute with the BBC, which had been gratifying and “quite beautiful”.

It comes as the TV star’s agent said he believed he had a “special arrangement” with the broadcaster that allowed him to make comments about refugees and the small boats crisis.

Rishi Sunak must “stand up to his snowflake MPs waging war on free speech” following the Gary Lineker row, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Labour leader sought assurances that Conservative MPs or others connected to the party did not lobby the BBC to “effectively cancel” Match of the Day last weekend.

Gary Lineker believed he had a “special agreement” with the BBC director-general to tweet about refugees and immigration, his agent has said.

Jon Holmes, who represents the Match Of The Day host, said the impartiality row resulting from Lineker’s recent online action had “collapsed into a shambles” despite his efforts to have everyone “calm down”.

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A former head of BBC television news has said the next BBC chairman should not be a “political appointment”.

Roger Mosey, who was also director of sport at the broadcaster, said it would be a “great act of statesmanship” for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to de-politicise the appointment.