Match of the Day review: Without Lineker, this is just 20 minutes of shameful, joyless TV

The embarrassingly truncated and hilariously silent ‘scab’ MotD proves that Gary Lineker is the best in the game – and that the BBC has absolutely shot itself in the foot

Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker

‘GARY Lineker’s the best in the business,” said the BBC director-general, Tim Davie, on Saturday, during a hostile interview with his own organisation in which he insisted he would not resign. “That’s not for debate.” 

An eerily simplified edition of Match of the Day, truncated to just 20 minutes in length, underlined his point.