Gary Lineker thought he was free to tweet about issues surrounding refugees and immigration before his BBC saga kicked off, according to his agent Jon Holmes.
Holmes has worked with Lineker since 1980, when he was a footballer for Leicester, and was the man fighting his corner as the broadcaster and the BBC sought a resolution. It was Lineker's tweet criticising the Government's new asylum policy and drawing parallels to Nazi Germany that saw him taken off air on Friday - 24 hours before Match of the Day.
It sparked a mass walkout with a host of Lineker's colleagues refusing to take part in the BBC's football coverage on Saturday and Sunday. The likes of Alan Shearer and Ian Wright chose to stick by Lineker, who thought he had an agreement with the BBC's director general that allowed him to air his views on refugee issues.
