A five year plan for Gary Lineker

 

So Gary Lineker has signed a new five year deal with the BBC. 

But, as well as taking a pay cut, he will have to adhere to BBC impartiality rules as part of that deal.

Tim Davie clearly realised that he had to do something about Gary Lineker. Leaving him out of his declared crackdown on social media use drew a lot of flak and risked making him look weak, especially after Gary seemed to be mocking him over it. So he appears to have closed that loophole. 

Mr Davie has now said that that Gary "knows he has a responsibility to the BBC in terms of social media". 

The question is, will Gary stick to his side of the deal, and what will happen if he doesn't?

I'm already seeing some scepticism. BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford, for example, tweeted this in response:

So Gary Lineker has taken a pay cut. And is supposed to more careful about his social media use. Still managed to mention grouse shooting today though!

That came after Gary tweeted this earlier this morning:

Lovely day to mingle and murder some grouses.

Sorry Tim, but I think it's going to be a long and winding road with Gary. He loves his Twitter.

😕

Update: So much for that then, apparently! 

Replying to a tweet from the Guardian saying that he'd agreed to tweet more carefully, Gary Lineker has now tweeted:

Not true, but hey-ho. BBC recognise that I tweet carefully and will continue to do so.

So, why are all these media outlets reporting otherwise? Have they got the story wrong? Is it to be business as usual with Gary Lineker and Twitter?