Match of the Day without Gary Lineker was oddly soothing

Well, did you enjoy MOTD? Did you miss Gary?

Thanks to, let’s just say ‘circumstances’, we were able to take part in a unique television experiment last night. For the first time in its 60-year history MOTD consisted of all action and no talk. No presenters, no expert comment, no fancy graphic preview packages, no post-match interviews, not even the title sequence and iconic theme tune. Shorn of these adornments the programme was just 20 minutes long.

The BBC appeared to have various options when Gary Linker decided not to play ball with his employers. They could have gone ahead with the programme with an alternative host; they could cancelled the programme altogether, or they could have had some fun with whole affair and done what HIGNFY did when Roy Hattersley dropped out at the last minute – used a prop (they filled his chair with a bucket of lard). For Lineker I would have suggested a multi-pack of Walkers crisps.