co. uk/v8/us/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox. html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - -> Advertisement The pundits' choices were commended by many including Match Of The Day pundit and former Manchester City defender Micah Richards also backed Wright and Shearer's decision to boycott the BBC show on Saturday. "I was not due to be working on MOTD tomorrow, but if I was, I would find myself taking the same decision that @IanWright0 & @alanshearer have," he tweeted. Broadcaster Piers Morgan, a friend of Lineker's, also tweeted his disgust, branding the BBC's decision 'pathetically spineless'. Morgan added: 'I now demand the BBC suspend every presenter who has made public comment about news or current affairs - starting with Sir David Attenborough and Lord Sugar. ' Channel 5 News presenter Dan Walker earlier said on air that Lineker told him 'they've [the BBC] told me I have to step back'. Speaking on Channel 5 News, Walker said: 'It's one of those strange situations where I'm actually texting the man himself (Lineker) at the moment. 'And I have asked Gary Lineker the question about whether he is stepping back or whether the BBC have told him to step back and I've told him that if he responds to me that I will read out that text on air. 'There's one word in there I can't use, but he has said 'No, they've told me I have to step back'. Alex Scott has also ruled herself out of tomorrow's show, sharing a meme with the word 'nah' Lineker's son George tweeted mischievously: 'RIP MOTD tomorrow' Gary Lineker will step back from presenting Match of the Day pending further discussions with his bosses, the BBC announced today. He's seen outside his London home this morning Channel 5 News presenter Dan Walker said Gary Lineker has told him 'they've [the BBC] told me I have to step back' The Match of the Day host accused ministers of using 'language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s' 'So Gary Lineker wants to continue to present Match Of The Day and is not apologising for what he's said but he's said it's a BBC decision to force him to not present the programme at the moment. ' Lineker's son George tweeted mischievously: 'RIP MOTD tomorrow. ' BBC bosses had told Lineker either to stop his politicised posts or give up working for the corporation. Last night a senior source said: ‘It’s now up to Lineker – he needs to choose. ’ Another well-placed insider described the presenters’ mutiny as a ‘proper BBC crisis’. However the decision has been welcomed by some, with former Tory leader William Hague said it was 'appropriate' for Gary Lineker to step back from hosting Match Of The Day. 'He broke the guidelines I think of the BBC with comments that are highly politicised, which BBC presenters are not meant to do. So that's against the rules and we've got to do something about that, otherwise every presenter can do so on every programme,' he told Times Radio. 'I think it is appropriate for him to step back. ' Lord Hague added 'I don't know if you can separate' Lineker's personal social media and role as a BBC presenter. The BBC said Lineker would 'step back' from presenting the programme until he and his bosses had reached an 'agreed and clear position' on his use of social media. The BBC's highest paid star sparked a huge political row this week after comparing the language used to launch a new government crackdown on migrants arriving across the Channel in small boats to 1930s Germany. Elsewhere, members of the public who support Lineker will likely view his ban as a sign that the BBC is acting 'at the Government's behest', the BBC's former controller of editorial policy said. Richard Ayre, who also served as a member of Ofcom's content board, told BBC Radio 4's Today PM programme this afternoon that the BBC had 'no choice' but to take action against Lineker after his tweets criticising the Government's asylum policy. He said: 'I think it was inevitable. ' 'He [Lineker] has the letters BBC written across his forehead and yet he's plunged right into the most controversial story of the day. ' 'The fact is this was an immediate issue which Tim Davie, the Director General, couldn't sit on over the weekend, he had to solve it this week. He's clearly tried to solve it and reach an agreement with Gary Lineker, they've failed, so this has been the BBC decision. Whether this story moves on depends on what Gary Lineker says himself in the next few hours. ' 'It's inevitable now that having in effect not sacked him but removed him temporarily at least, the BBC will not come under a torrent of criticism saying it's acting under the Government's behest. ' Former BBC Newsnight host Emily Maitlis, who was herself reprimanded by the BBC for sharing a tweet the corporation viewed as 'controversial', said her former employer could face a 'much, much bigger battle' after its Gary Lineker decision. 'I'm not sure when they suggested to Gary Lineker he step back from (Match Of The Day) the BBC realised it might be starting a much much bigger battle,' she tweeted. Former BBC executive Richard Sambrook said there is 'a lot of confusion' around whether freelance broadcasters such as Gary Lineker - who do not work in news - should be subject to the same rules as permanent staff. Mr Sambrook, who was director of news at the BBC and director of BBC Global News and the BBC World Service, was asked Lineker's comments. He replied: 'I think the language he used was unnecessarily provocative but the wider question here is whether a sports presenter in his private life has to be bound by BBC policies. 'Traditionally, the BBC would always want that to be the case but I think in the current day and age when we live in a world full of social media, when journalism broadcasters have the ability to go and work for other people or do their own podcasts and all the rest of it, that's a bit of an unrealistic expectation. ' Lineker's comments were criticised by Downing Street and a raft of Tory heavyweights including Home Secretary Suella Braverman and James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary. The former Leicester striker has a history of controversial political interventions on everything from Brexit and the Tories to protests by Just Stop Oil and the fate of Shamima Begum . Gary Lineker, 62, reportedly refused to apologise for his comments comparing the Government's migration policy to Nazi Germany and he has been roundly supported by colleagues Lineker's tweeting history has raised more than a few eyebrows over the years A BBC spokesman said: 'The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines. READ MORE: WHAT DID GARY LINEKER SAY? TWEET COMPARED UK MIGRANT POLICY TO NAZI GERMANY