Gary Lineker: A look at England legend's career as he gets suspended by BBC over opinions

Former England footballer turned pundit Gary Lineker was suspended by BBC from his show Match of the Day, days after he launched criticism of the UK government’s asylum policies. As reported by the Associated Press, conservative lawmakers in the UK called on BBC to discipline Lineker, who is the highest-paid star by the network. Lineker reportedly compared the government’s language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.

Who is Gary Lineker? Key details about the English football legend

Gary Lineker is a 62-year-old Englishman, who is a footballer turned broadcaster and is a well knock personality in Britain. He is most remembered for being the leading goal scorer at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He memorably scored England’s only goal in its 2-1 loss to Argentina in the quarterfinal.

The England vs Argentina quarterfinal match witnessed the iconic hand of the god goal by the legendary Diego Maradona. Lineker made his England debut in 1984 and eventually ended his international career with 48 goals in 80 matches. Lineker retired in 1994 and incredibly never received a yellow card in his career. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

He also represented clubs like Leicester City, Barcelona, and Tottenham, while going on to become UK’s most influential media personalities. As per AP, Lineker earned 1.35 million pounds ($1.6 million) last year as payments for the Match of the Day soccer highlights show.

More about the ‘Match of the Day’ saga involving Gary Lineker

As the events unfolded, BBC found itself in a major crisis as the plans to go ahead with Match of the Day changed abruptly. While the plan was normal up until Friday lunchtime, Lineker disagreed to a solution that was seen as unacceptable by the pundit. As per The Independent, the BBC hierarchy above BBC Sport wanted the former footballer to agree to a public statement, which would have been an apology for being more careful on social media.

However, according to AP, it was later revealed that this would have been seen as the presenter ‘humiliating himself’. Coming back to Match of the Day, the show pressed on with their usual run-through meeting on Friday afternoon, but changed drastically by 4:15 PM in the evening as Lineker had spoken with the BBC hierarchy by then.

As per the Independent, the former footballer then started to inform others about being told not to present the show. By Friday evening, Match of the Day was struggling to find a presenting team, after being turned down by several big names in the industry. By Friday night, BBC confirmed that the show would go ahead without any presenter or pundit.