BBC should part ways with ‘insolent’ Gary Lineker, says former director of TV

Lineker is 'running rings around the BBC'

Danny Cohen has claimed that Lineker is "running rings around the BBC" with his activity on social media and "it is both offensive and embarrassing to see."

Cohen added that Match of the Day wouldn't be any different without the presenter as people tune in for the games and not the analysis that follows.

In a column for The Telegraph, Cohen urged Tim Davie to follow in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson.

"If there were any signs that a player believed he was bigger than the club, Ferguson would quickly show him the door, even when it came to players of the world-class quality of David Beckham and Roy Keane," he said.

"At the moment, Mr Lineker is behaving as if he is much bigger than his club - the BBC - with the insolent inference that there is nothing that his manager - the director-general - can or will do to stop him.

“If the BBC does nothing about it, its management looks ever weaker and ever less in control of the social media output of the people who represent it in the eyes of the public."

The comments come after Lineker's critical comments of Grant Shapps MP and Jonathon Gullis MP "thick".

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