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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Emma Gritt

GB News' 'alternative' Match of the Day branded 'pathetic and cringe' by pained viewers

Last night GB News viewers saw first hand that you can't have Match Of The Day without Gary Lineker - or without any clips of football at all.

The channel attempted to fulfil audiences' Premier League action needs with their own version of the iconic BBC show - which they imaginatively dubbed 'The Alternative Match Of The Day' - but it fell flat with some viewers who didn't see the funny side.

Regular presenter Mark Dolan called upon Patrick Christys to give a rundown of Bournemouth’s 1-0 home win against Liverpool.

Standing by a large electronic screen that he wasn’t sure worked, he summarised the game with a random reference to the hosting team’s Cherries nickname.

He said: "How on earth did Liverpool manage to stick seven past Manchester United and then lose to a team named after a fruit?”

Mark Dolan fronted the impromptu sports segment -which featured no football footage (GB News)

Later, he commented that Lineker "might like Brighton because it's full of rainbow flags and woke people."

Studio guests Aidan Magee and Mike Parry also reviewed the results. The latter’s attempt to describe a Mo Salah penalty particularly annoyed some viewers.

Somewhat nonsensically he explained: “There was a good four square yards of area to get it in to the net and he sent it four yards upright.”

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People at home weren’t impressed. One tweeted a gif that read: "Dies from cringe." Others commented: “Jesus, this is so pathetic I could weep” and "Bit cringey this lads."

Others echoed: "Are you seriously pretending to be sports presenters now?" and "The absolute state of this, screams of people who call the game ‘footie’."

Another tweeted at the channel: “This is absolutely atrocious. How embarrassing. There are YouTube channels with better production values and more knowledgeable insights than this.”

Patrick Christys struggled with the set's giant screen (GB News)

BBC bosses asked Gary Lineker, 62, to "step away" from presenting Match Of The Day this week while they hold crisis talks about a tweet he posted comparing the Conservatives' 'Stop Small Boats' policy to language used in Nazi Germany.

The dad-of-four, who works for the BBC as a freelance TV host, said the language in which their plan to 'stop the boats' was set out was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".

Gary described the government's new Migration Bill as "beyond awful" after it was unveiled by home secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday - later adding: "This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."

His removal triggered a mass walkout of pundits and presenters, throwing the channel's usual weekend sports broadcasting schedule in to disarray.

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