Nottingham Forest will leave it to head coach Steve Cooper and his players to decide whether to conduct BBC interviews after this afternoon’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
The Premier League have informed their 12 teams playing today that players and managers will not be asked to do interviews for Match of the Day. It comes amid host Gary Lineker being told by the BBC to step back from presenting duties following his criticism of the Government's new asylum policy.
The Reds make the trip to the capital to take on Spurs (3pm kick-off). And the club have now outlined their stance regarding post-match media duties.
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A statement from the club said: “We support our players and manager in whatever personal decision they choose to make regarding their post-match BBC interviews at today’s game.” It is understood BBC radio will not be affected.
Match of the Day will air this evening without a studio presenter, pundits or its regular commentators. The BBC said the show would “focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry”, saying it understood the position of its presenters.
A number of players from various clubs had suggested they wanted to boycott post-match interviews with the show. They had contacted the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) to say they may want to show solidarity with Lineker and the MOTD pundits. The Premier League have since told the PFA, League Managers Association (LMA) and the clubs not to expect requests to conduct post-match interviews for the programme.
Lineker, 62, became embroiled in a row over impartiality after comparing the language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany on Twitter. The broadcaster said it had “decided” Lineker would take a break from presenting the highlights programme until an “agreed and clear position” on his use of social media had been reached.
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