No MOTD interviews for players and managers
The Premier League has informed the 12 teams playing this Saturday that players and managers will not be asked to do interviews for Match of the Day.
This comes after the BBC told host Gary Lineker to step back following his criticism of his country’s government asylum policy.
The show will however air on Saturday night without a studio presenter, pundits or its regular commentators.
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.
As it stands the Premier League has told the PFA, League Managers Association (LMA) and the clubs not to expect requests to conduct post-match interviews for the programme.
In a statement, the PFA said members had told them they wanted to take a “collective position” and “to be able to show their support”.
“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,” the statement said.
“This is a common sense decision that ensures players won’t now be put in that position.”
On Twitter, the former England striker Lineker compared the language used by the government to unveil its new plans as “not dissimilar to” 1930s Germany.
The corporation said it considered his “recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines”, adding it had been “decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media”. Gary Lineker has presented the MOTD show for over two decades.
Writing by Tersoo Nicholas