Gary Lineker cancelled his appearance on Match Of The Day Live due to his voice ‘deteriorating.’
The sports pundit, 62, was removed from the football highlights programme last weekend after criticism of government policy on Twitter and the BBC’s sport coverage was thrown into chaos as pundits, commentators and other presenters refused to work in solidarity.
The matter was resolved, with the BBC relenting and the host resumed hosting duties to work on Saturday.
However, the star was forced to skip Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final between Brighton & Hove Albion and Grimsby Town.
BBC Sport tweeted this morning: ‘Due to illness, we’ve got a line-up change for today’s live FA Cup coverage of Brighton v Grimsby on BBC One.
‘As viewers will have noticed yesterday, Gary Lineker was struggling with his voice and unfortunately it has deteriorated overnight. Alex Scott will be hosting instead.’
Lineker confirmed the news soon after, and couldn’t resist poking fun at his recent absence from the BBC, tweeting.
‘I’ve been silenced…. literally, by a nasty cold so, annoyingly, won’t be working at @OfficialBHAFC this afternoon.’
Following Linker’s absence last weekend, there was an outpouring of support for the former Leicester City player, with fellow broadcasters including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, also pulling out of the belove d programme.
When asked by LaLiga Sports TV about how his week has been on Friday, the former England striker said: ‘Really quiet. Nothing much going on. You could say it’s been an interesting week but I’m still here, still punching.
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