News

6 of the worst moments from GB News' 'alternative' Match of the Day

6 of the worst moments from GB News' 'alternative' Match of the Day
GB News announce their 'alternative' Match of the Day without any football …
content.jwplatform.com

GB News decided to broadcast their own "Alternative Match of the Day," amid the Gary Lineker drama and viewers have roasted the programme.

Lineker was suspended from presenting Match of the Day by the BBC in an impartiality row after he criticised the government's controversial asylum policy on small boats, comparing the government's language on the matter to 1930's Germany.

Pundits such as Ian Wright and Alan Shearer dropped out of appearing on Match of the Day last night in support of Lineker and the show aired with a "focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry."

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

And so GB News decided to take a punt at football punditry - with their show hosted by Mark Dolan and Patrick Christys who promised "an hour of football action, great punditry and no virtue-signaling in sight."

But it ended up being a pretty embarrassing affair.

Here are some of the worst moments from GB News's "Alternative Match of the Day":

Mocking rainbow flags branded as "homophobic" by viewers

During a discussion about the Leeds United and Brighton game, Christys couldn't resist having a jab at Lineker.

"Brighton, I’ve never been to," he said.

"Though I imagine that Gary Lineker would quite like Brighton, because it’s full of rainbow flags and woke people.’

In response, Dolan quipped: "I think that’s a fair point. The tofu-eating wokerati!"

Some in-depth football analysis there and not political in the slightest…

Viewers made their feelings abundantly clear on Twitter where they branded the segment as "homophobic."



indy100 has contacted GB News for comment on this allegation.

There was no actual football footage

When tuning into a football programme, footage of some actual footy being played is a minimal requirement.

But not when you don't have the sporting rights, like in the case of GB News.

"We won't be able to show recorded footage of goals or anything like that," Dolan admitted in the initial announcement but added there will be "top level punditry" without political commentary.

So viewers would just had to use memory (or imagination if you hadn't seen the match) to envisage what the goals looked like.

Big problems with big screen

As the topic turned to Leicester v Chelsea match, even the big screen didn't want to be on since it went to black as Christys stood beside it.

The screen managed to work in the end - and when it was back on, people couldn't help but point out how confusing the graphics were, as well other mistakes.




Gary Lineker being called a "rabid leftie"

Despite promising no politics or virtue-signalling, Gary Lineker was described a "rabid leftie."

Chrisys described Leicester loss as "bad news" for the BBC presenter.

"Obviously a beloved fox, he was in the stands. I don't believe there was a massive clamber to have his name chanted or a flag," he said.

"Anyway, he indeed is a rabid leftie."

Cringeworthy quotes

  • "You are watching the Alternative Match of the Day live on GB News - at last a football programme with balls," Dolan said.
  • On Bournemouth's win against Liverpool: "How on earth did Liverpool manage to stick seven past Manchester United and then lose to a team named after a fruit," Christys said.
  • "If we look at this guy here, Erling Haaland, I mean he's just like a particularly muscular horse isn't he?" - Christys.
  • "Everton vs Brentford - now Real Madrid v Barcelona is El Classico, this is very much El Working-classico." - Christys.

A compilation to sum the chaos up:

In conclusion: Gary Lineker come back, we miss you.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)
x