The internet is ablaze with the news that Gary Lineker will not be hosting Match of the Day following the BBC’s reaction to his thoughts on immigration and one former Liverpool man has shared his thoughts on the controversy.
With the incident being debated on ITV, John Barnes shared a clip of the discussion onto his Twitter account and said: “did he say the same during the WC in qatar?” in relation to the reaction from Andrew Pierce.
The Daily Mail journalist was quoted as saying: ‘He’s paid a lot of money to commentate on football, one a half million pounds a year, can’t he just stick to it’ about the former Everton striker and that is what our legendary attacker shared his own opinions on.
The 59-year-old ambassador for the Reds was clearly seeing a skewed morality from the BBC and aggrieved commentator as the TV host was allowed to share his thoughts on the Qatar World Cup during live coverage but not share his thoughts on ‘Home Office policy’ and the comparisons ‘to Nazi Germany’ away from TV screens.
As so many pundits for the Premier League coverage have also stepped back from appearing on the next broadcast in support of the 62-year-old host, the decision has now been made for no ‘studio presenter or pundits’ to feature at all.
This whole matter has been blown hugely out of proportion because of the BBC’s decision to try and block free speech from an ex-footballer on political matters – something they were happy for him to do in Qatar and that is what our former winger has tried to point out, whether or not he personally agrees with these views.
It’s fine for football and politics to overlap and also okay for footballers to have an opinion on current affairs but by attempting to block the view of one man, the BBC have made matters so much worse for themselves and well done everyone who has been so public in their support of Gary Lineker (something I would also like to do).
You can view John Barnes’ reaction to the Gary Lineker debate via @officialbarnesy on Twitter:
did he say the same during the WC in qatar? https://t.co/702f5xmrXR
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) March 8, 2023