A former head of BBC has said it was a mistake to take Gary Lineker off air following the presenter's criticism of government asylum policy.
Greg Dyke's comments come as the BBC's flagship football show Match of the Day descended into crisis, with staff withdrawing in support of Lineker.
The show's six main pundits and its entire commentary team have stepped back from Saturday's programme.
Mr Dyke said the BBC "undermined its own credibility" by suspending Lineker.
"There is a long established precedent in the BBC that if you are an entertainment presenter or a sports presenter then you are not bound by those same rules," Mr Dyke - who served as director general between 2000 and 2004 - told the BBC's Today programme.
"The real problem today is that the BBC has undermined its own credibility by doing this," he said, adding that the move could create the impression that the "BBC has bowed to government pressure".
Mr Dyke's comments came as the organisation faced further withdrawals from its broadcast coverage of Saturday's English football fixtures.
Ex-Arsenal and Lionesses captain Alex Scott has pulled out of presenting the Football Focus programme in solidarity with Mr Lineker. The programme was subsequently withdrawn from Saturday's BBC1 schedule.
Her withdrawal followed the decisions by the pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, along with six commentators, not to appear on Saturday evening's Match of the Day.
The growing boycott forced the BBC to issue a statement on Friday saying the highlights programme would air "without studio presentation or punditry" and instead "focus on match action".
In a later statement, a spokesperson said: "Some of our pundits have said that they don't wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.
"We understand their position and we have decided that the programme will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry."
Meanwhile, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) has confirmed that players and managers from the 12 Premier League clubs playing matches on Saturday will not receive requests for MOTD post-match interviews.
"The PFA have been speaking to members who wanted to take a collective position and to be able to show their support for those who have chosen not to be part of tonight's programme," the PFA said in a statement.
