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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tom Coley

What Gary Lineker has done as fresh problems with BBC Match of the Day coverage emerge

Gary Lineker has been spotted at the King Power Stadium after the Match of the Day presented took a step back from the BBC show following a dispute with the company over his tweet comparing Britain's asylum policies to 1930s Germany. The former Leicester man has been joined in a mass BBC boycott over the weekend.

It comes with studio pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer just two of those that have taken themselves out of the equation for the show on Saturday night. Meanwhile, BBC's sports coverage across radio and TV has also been hit with Final Score, 5 Live Sport and Football Focus all being cancelled.

Now, with Lineker free for the afternoon, he has taken the time to watch Leicester in action against Chelsea. The ex-England man played 31 times for his boyhood club, scoring 21.

READ MORE: Ian Wright and Alan Shearer make major BBC Match of the Day decision after Gary Lineker 'stood down'

His return to the ground was under very different circumstances though after the 62-year-old tweeted last week saying that the government's language regarding new policies were close to that of 1930s Nazi Germany. "There is no huge influx," he wrote. "We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. 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, and I’m out of order?”

The reaction of the footballing and media world to the BBC's response has caused problems for the company though. The Athletic now write that they don't have access to the world commentary feed, meaning that matches may not have any voice-over. Commentators were amongst the first to commit to the boycott, making their intentions clear on Friday night.

It means that should Match of the Day go ahead, it would currently have no analysis or commentary for the games. In a statement it said: “The BBC will only be able to bring limited sport programming this weekend and our schedules will be updated to reflect that.

“We are sorry for these changes which we recognise will be disappointing for BBC sport fans. We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do so soon.”

The lack of access to commentary from other sources is a major blow and could now throw the show's coverage in complete doubt.

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