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Gary Lineker has dispelled claims of bias from Match of the Day against Nottingham Forest after their victory over Liverpool.
The pundit discussed the accusations levied his way from Forest fans on the latest episode of The Rest is Football podcast with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. It was a stunning weekend for the club, who continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield – their first win at the stadium since 1969.
Given the magnitude of the victory, some may have expected the match to feature first on Match of the Day on Saturday evening. However, it was bumped off top spot by Aston Villa’s comeback over Everton and ultimately relegated to second billing.
That gave Lineker the chance to discuss claims from Forest fans of perceived bias against them on Match of the Day. “It’s interesting with Forest, a lot of their fans think that us on Match of the Day, we really don’t like them and [that] we don’t give them their flowers Micah or their petals,” he said.
“So they complained a lot and they were on again ‘they’re gonna have to say something nice about us, they’ll hate that’ which is quite fun because one of our producers as you know, Finchy, is a big Forest fan and our floor manager Marco is another Forest fan.
“I always find it quite amusing that fans think that we could probably be against their particular side and be biased against them.”
Lineker was asked by Richards much say he has in the running order of the show, to which the former England great revealed that it was in fact Forest who were originally planned to lead Saturday’s (September 14) show following talks with editor Richard Hughes.
“Rich and myself talk through it but I think it generally picks itself, it looked almost certain that Forest would lead the show yesterday and then obviously another incredible comeback by Villa against Everton with that incredible goal from Duran.
“If you’re picking the game of the day, that probably just edged Forest which we thought would definitely lead but that went second.” Forest sit seventh in the Premier League table and are just one of five teams left this season who are yet to lose a game.
