Joe Lycett has said he is ‘very much available’ to step in for Gary Lineker as host of Match of the Day.
Gary, 62, will not present the nation’s flagship football show after the BBC decreed his ‘Nazi’ jibe tweet that compared the Home Office’s immigration policy to 1930s Germany breached impartiality rules.
BBC bosses told the former England striker on Thursday afternoon that he either had to stop his politicised posts or quit the BBC altogether.
Gary’s co-hosts Ian Wright and Alan Shearer then pulled out of the weekend programme as a show of support to their colleague.
Several pundits including Jermaine Jenas, Alex Scott and Micah Richards also confirmed they wouldn’t participate as a show of support to Gary.
Offer:Joe Lycett has said he is ‘very much available’ to step in for Gary Lineker as host of Match of the Day
Controversy: Gary, 62, will not present the nation’s flagship football show after the BBC decreed his ‘Nazi’ jibe tweet that compared the Home Office’s immigration policy to 1930s Germany breached impartiality rules
Comedian Joe, 34, has since jokingly offered himself up as a replacement presenter, tweeting: ‘I have informed the BBC that I am very much available for tomorrow’s #MOTD’.
He also shared a screenshot of himself on a past appearance on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg where he said: ‘I’m actually very right-wing and I loved it.’
During his appearance on the BBC political show last year, Joe jokingly claimed to be a right-wing Tory supporter, with the clip later going viral online.
A well-placed insider described the presenters’ mutiny as a ‘proper BBC crisis’.
There were even suggestions football players and managers could shun the BBC’s interviews after matches over the weekend.
The BBC confirmed it was unable to find a presenter to fill the vacant hot seat, and with no top commentators the corporation may have to rely on the Premier League’s world feed service.
Regular Match of the Day commentator Steve Wilson said he and other talking heads have vowed not to participate in the next programme.
He said: ‘As commentators on MOTD, we have decided to step down from [Saturday] night’s broadcast.
Tweet: Joe jokingly offered himself up as a replacement presenter, tweeting: ‘I have informed the BBC that I am very much available for tomorrow’s #MOTD’
Ultimatum: BBC bosses told the former England striker on Thursday afternoon that he either had to stop his politicised posts or quit the BBC altogether
‘We are comforted that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to do so, as management can use World Feed commentary if they wish.’
He added: ‘In the circumstances, we do not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme.’
Announcing the changes to this week’s show, a BBC spokesperson said: ‘Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the program while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.
‘We understand their position and we have decided that the program will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry.’
A source close to Match of the Day told MailOnline that even the production team was ‘considering walking in support of Gary Lineker and have contacted their union’.
However, they were cautious to go ahead, because since there has ‘been no ballot action, they won’t be protected by law.’
At one stage the BBC were facing the prospect of scrapping Saturday night’s edition altogether.
Yet cancellation would have put them in breach of a £70million-a-year contract with the Premier League.
Crisis: The BBC’s Match of the Day is in ‘crisis’ with no presenters, pundits or commentators for the first time in its 59-year history after the corporation’s decision to boot Gary Lineker off air led to mass walkouts
Statement: Regular Match of the Day commentator Steve Wilson said he and other talking heads have vowed not to participate in Saturday’s program, which has been boycotted by nearly all of its regular stars
‘Solidarity’: Fellow football pundit Ian Wright tweeted that he would also shun presenting Match of the Day while the ban is in place, expressing ‘solidarity’ with his co-host
Withdrawal: Alan Shearer is the latest withdrawal from Match of the Day, tweeting this evening: ‘I have informed the BBC that I won’t be appearing on MOTD [on Saturday] night’
‘At it stands I think anything is possible,’ a senior figure from the Match of the Day team told Sportsmail an hour before the BBC confirmed the programme would go ahead in a statement released at 9.15pm.
The BBC’s director of sport Barbara Slater, head of TV sport Philip Bernie and MOTD editor Richard Hughes spent Thursday night in crisis talks with production staff to ensure the show could go on.
Gary, the BBC’s highest-paid star, sparked a huge political row this week after comparing the language used to launch a new government crackdown on migrants arriving across the Channel in small boats to 1930s Germany.
Former BBC executive Richard Sambrook said there is ‘a lot of confusion’ around whether freelance broadcasters such as Gary – who do not work in news – should be subject to the same impartiality rules as permanent staff.
Mr Sambrook, who was director of news at the BBC and director of BBC Global News and the BBC World Service, was asked Lineker’s comments.
He replied: ‘I think the language he used was unnecessarily provocative but the wider question here is whether a sports presenter in his private life has to be bound by BBC policies.
‘Traditionally, the BBC would always want that to be the case but I think in the current day and age when we live in a world full of social media, when journalism broadcasters have the ability to go and work for other people or do their own podcasts and all the rest of it, that’s a bit of an unrealistic expectation.’
The former Leicester striker has a history of controversial political interventions on everything from Brexit and the Tories to protests by Just Stop Oil and the fate of Shamima Begum.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines.
‘The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match Of The Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
‘When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none.
‘We have never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.’
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