GB News has decided to give the fans what they want and provide a Match of the Day alternative… without really broadcasting any football.
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer have withdrawn from anchoring the BBC One show after Gary Lineker was forced to resign over his criticism of the Government’s immigration policy.
Lineker will’step aside’ from hosting the BBC programme ‘until an agreement on his social media use is reached,’ it was stated on Friday.
Alex Scott and Jermaine Jenas swiftly followed suit, while Dan Walker and Piers Morgan also expressed their support for Lineker.
Meanwhile, a petition to bring Lineker back to the main show received over 100,000 signatures in only 12 hours.
After the uproar over Lineker’s ban, the BBC announced that Match of the Day will ‘concentrate on the action without presentation or punditry,’ effectively showcasing football highlights.
Now it appears that GB News is now offering to cover the second side of the story.
‘We are the people’s channel, and the people need commentary, they need punditry, Match of the Day clocks in at seven million viewers a week, so if the BBC will not service that audience, then GB News with Mark Dolan tonight are delighted to step in,’ Mark Dolan said on Saturday.
‘I’m Gary Lineker, and this is the Alternate Match of the Day.
‘And to make it feel even more like Match of the Day, GB News will give me £1.3 million.’
He went on to explain how the show would really operate, given that GB News does not have the rights to broadcast football.
‘We won’t be able to show live or recorded footage of goals or anything like that.
‘What we will have is top level punditry, so we will have an array of political-free footballers.
‘These are going to be commentators who are not interested in getting involved in Government policy and understand that the British public love their footy and just want to talk about goals, goals, goals.’
‘It’s going to be an all-star line-up, we’re going to have some fun,’ Mark added.
‘We’re going to talk about the football, we’ll try to have still photography and as many clips as we can get our hands on.’
Fans are perplexed as to how it will all work, with one commenting, ‘Seriously? ‘Oh, my goodness’.
Another joked: ‘Mum, can we get Match of the Day? No, we have Match of the Day at home.’
‘Do they want us to put MOTD on the tv and GB News on the radio like the olden days?’ someone else commented.