Alex Scott pulls out of Football Focus as fallout from Gary Lineker’s BBC suspension deepens – live reaction

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This is getting worse for the BBC very quickly. Jason Mohammad, presenter of Final Score, has announced he has pulled out of today’s show.

There has been plenty of speculation about how Lineker’s suspension has been received by other BBC employees, particularly those who might fall into the presenter category.

John Wilson, presenter of Front Row (and son of Arsenal goalkeeping legend Bob Wilson), tweeted a section from the corporation’s editorial guidelines that Lineker was, in his words, “deemed to have breached”.

He then retweeted this suggestion that the reference to sports presenters was “confusing and unhelpful”.

Richard Ayre, former controller of editorial policy at the BBC, has said the broadcaster’s reputation is “bigger and more important” than any individual, including Gary Lineker.

He told BBC Breakfast on Saturday that there will be “real street-to-street fighting” between political parties in the lead-up to the general election.

The BBC, in this time of all times, has to tread as straight a line as it can between the parties and avoid taking sides in its own output, and the BBC believes it also has to ensure that those key people who are identified as the BBC in the public mind also walk a straight line in what they say on their private social network.

On Lineker’s suspension from presenting Match Of The Day, he added

It’s a sad occasion for viewers, for anybody who’s interested in football, it will be very sad if they can’t reconcile with Gary.

He is superlative, he is absolutely extraordinarily good, not just as a football pundit, of course, but I think, in my 50 or so years of association with the BBC, I’ve never come across such a naturally gifted television presenter.

He’s terrific and it will be very sad if he goes, but frankly the BBC and its reputation is bigger and more important than any individual, even Gary.

The BBC has undermined its own credibility with its decision to stand Gary Lineker down from hosting Match of the Day because it will be viewed as having bowed to government pressure, its former director general Greg Dyke has said.

Dyke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

There is a long-established precedent in the BBC that is that if you’re an entertainment presenter or you’re a football presenter, then you are not bound by those same rules.

The real problem of today is that the BBC has undermined its own credibility by doing this because it looks like – the perception out there – that the BBC has bowed to government pressure.

And once the BBC does that, then you’re in real problems. The perception out there is going to be that Gary Lineker, a much-loved television presenter, was taken off air after government pressure on a particular issue.

Asked whether Lineker’s tweet was acceptable, he said:

We live in a world of freedom of speech and therefore, yes. He didn’t broadcast it on the BBC, it was a tweet he did privately.

I think what the BBC did yesterday was mistaken. And over the years since I left the BBC I have never gone public criticising the leadership of the BBC and the decisions they take, because I know what a difficult job it is, and difficult decisions have to be taken.

A spokesman for the Professional Footballers’ Association, the footballers’ union, has announced players will not be asked to take part in BBC interviews for Match of the Day tonight.

We have been informed that players involved in today’s games will not be asked to participate in interviews with Match Of The Day.

The PFA have been speaking to members who wanted to take a collective position and to be able to show their support for those who have chosen not to be part of tonight’s programme.

During those conversations we made clear that, as their union, we would support all members who might face consequences for choosing not to complete their broadcast commitments.

This is a common sense decision that ensures players won’t now be put in that position.

BBC football presenter and former England player Alex Scott has said she will not be presenting Football Focus on Saturday, amid reports the BBC has pulled the show.

In a tweet, she said:

I made a decision last night that even though I love my show and we have had an incredible week winning an SJA for football focus that it doesn’t feel right for me to go ahead with the show today.. Hopefully I will be back in the chair next week.

Kelly Somers also said she will not be hosting Football Focus.

She tweeted: “Just to confirm I won’t be on BBC television today.”

The move comes after after Gary Lineker was suspended on Friday from the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines after criticising the government’s asylum policies.

Match of the Day, meanwhile, will be broadcast without presenters, pundits or its usual commentators this weekend.

In a dramatic and unexpected escalation of a crisis that has been brewing all week, the corporation took the decision to remove its highest-paid presenter from its flagship football show after he was criticised by Tory MPs and the rightwing media.

His suspension immediately led to displays of solidarity from Lineker’s co-hosts Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who publicly announced that they would not be turning up to present Saturday’s show.

We’ll bring you the latest reaction and developments on the ongoing fallout from Lineker’s suspension.