Gary Lineker’s best moments as Match of the Day presenter after he retired from the programme

Gary Lineker will not present Match of the Day this weekend after comments he made on social media about the government’s new asylum policy.

Lineker will stop hosting the show until an agreement is reached on his use of social media.

The former Leicester and Tottenham striker, who has presented Match of the Day since 1999, likened the language used to describe a new government crackdown on migrants arriving across the Channel in small boats to the Germany of the the tirthies. Lineker’s tweet was found to violate the BBC’s impartiality rules.

The BBC has announced there will be no presenter for Match of the Day on Saturday, while other pundits will not appear to show solidarity with Lineker.

A BBC spokesman said: “Some of our experts have said they don’t want to appear on the program while we try to sort out the situation with Gary.

“We understand their point of view and we have decided that the program will focus on competition action without studio presentation or knowledge.”

Sportsmail takes a look back at five of Lineker’s best moments during the Match of the Day presentation.

1 – Presenting the show in his pants

In 2016, Lineker vowed to present Match of the Day in his pants if his beloved Leicester delivered the remarkable feat of winning the Premier League title.

The Foxes managed to win the league in one of the biggest upsets in football history, and Lineker kept his promise… more or less.

For the first episode of the 2016-17 season, Lineker opened the program wearing only very large shorts with the Leicester badge on them.

Alan Shearer and Ian Wright couldn’t contain their laughter in the background.

2 – The porn sounds incident

In January this year, Lineker was the presenter for Liverpool’s FA Cup match against Wolves, but it certainly didn’t go to plan.

A serial prankster left a device in the BBC’s live studio and played ‘porn sounds’ on TV for millions of viewers.

Lineker seemed to find the incident hilarious, with the noises continuing to disrupt the show for about ten minutes.

Youtuber Daniel Jarvis claimed responsibility for the porn sounds, while Danny Murphy admitted he was concerned the sounds could be coming from his own phone.

3 – Mock Lacazette’s screams

Lineker has never been afraid to show his sense of humor and he did just that in 2021 when he mocked then Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette.

In a match against Burnley, when matches were played without spectators due to COVID regulations, Lacazette was heard screaming very loudly after a challenge from Erik Pieters, but then returned to his feet without needing treatment.

Lineker introduced the scream’o’meter on Match of the Day, and at the end of the program he, Dion Dublin and Ian Wright were all seen practicing their best screams.

4 – His bald jokes

Lineker’s humor is certainly not to everyone’s taste and in 2019 he was criticized for mocking bald people.

Introducing the program, Lineker said: ‘It’s a strong start to the Premier League season. Really chilling stuff sometimes – unless you’re Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy.’

Lineker certainly didn’t seem bothered that the BBC received a complaint over his comments.

He tweeted: ‘The BBC has received a complaint about bald jokes on @BBCMOTD (sincerely). Very unfair I feel to call @alanshearer @IanWright0 & Danny Murphy jokes.’

5 – His presenting debut

Lineker previously worked as an analyst for Match of the Day, but he stepped down to replace Des Lynam in 1999.

In 2021, the BBC’s official match of the day was posted a clip of Lineker joking in 1999, in which he said, ‘Hey, tell me something. Football is back. Good? Do I have the job?’.

Lineker was certainly a hit with viewers and has been at the helm for over 20 years.