Having thought it was all over, several times, it is now – for Gary Linker as presenter of Match of the Day. Lineker who has occupied the hot seat since 1999, has announced he will be quitting the show at the end of the season, though he will remain at the corporation until the end of an 18 month contract extension taking him up to the 2026 World Cup.
It is tempting to think that Lineker may have thrown in the towel as a result of certain political events across the pond, that the crushing defeat of all things woke stateside had caused a tsunami that has engulfed our progressive public broadcaster and swept our most right on presenter away. In truth though, Lineker’s phased exit has clearly been in the works for a while.
Lineker never seemed to understand was that it wasn’t his political views that people found so annoying, but that he chose to broadcast them to the world while an employee of the BBC
Last month a leaked email apparently quoted Director General and Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski referencing Lineker’s departure. And when asked about his future by doorstepping journalists recently Lineker didn’t deny it. He reportedly told them, in his usual classy way, to ‘f…. off’.
Lineker has probably timed things about right though. He has had a good run and speculation about his future was becoming as tedious as the weekly VAR inquests on the show. His tweeting had become a considerable embarrassment to the corporation and it was highly unlikely to cease given the rise of conservative parties on the continent and the return of Trump. His huge salary (though recently reduced apparently) in an era of job cuts and trimmed budgets at the BBC was sure to be a running sore of controversy.
And as he said himself, he is getting old and is in danger of losing relevance to his audience. Those, like me, who remember him as a very fine player, are of a vintage that couldn’t ever get used to a BBC presenter broadcasting his non-sporting opinions at will. We didn’t appreciate being lectured to and told that we were living in the equivalent of the Third Reich. Younger football fans may be more tolerant of a politicised presenter, but since they were born long after Lineker retired, may have wondered who he was.
What Lineker never seemed to understand was that it wasn’t his political views (which he was perfectly entitled to) that people found so annoying, but that he chose to broadcast them to the world while an employee of the BBC. His salary is paid, in a form of tax, by people who have no choice, many of whom will have no interest in football. Whatever his complex contractual status, he was effectively a public servant and with that comes responsibilities. His apparent disregard for this undermined the corporation’s public service role and tarnished its reputation. It was also, rumour has it, a source of discord within the BBC sports department, where many were sceptical that anyone else would have got away with it.
I often wondered why Lineker insisted on being provocative. He had a great job, loads of money and an all-access pass to the top sporting events in the world. Why jeopardise that? I thought perhaps it was tactical, a form of self-defence or camouflage. Did Lineker feel endangered, as an ageing white heterosexual male front man in a corporation seemingly devoted to making the species extinct? Did his endless progressive tweeting form a sort of woke cloak of protection?
But it doesn’t quite add up. I think he was sincere. He won a human rights award and seemed genuinely proud of it. There may have been a psychological element to it all, though. As an old sporting hero, transitioning from arena to studio is no doubt hard; perhaps each of Lineker’s tweets afforded him a little of the feeling he got when scoring a goal in front of his home supporters, with the roar of the crowd (his millions of followers) recalling his ecstatic heyday. In which case, there is a certain sadness to it.
Lineker’s departure is an opportunity for a reset at MOTD. Mark Chapman, who has been hosting the Sunday version for years, somehow managing to restrain himself from sharing his views on geopolitics with the world, should get the job. And it would be a good opportunity to move on from the blokey ex-pros and promote some clever and perceptive commenters onto the sofa, the likes of Gabriele Marcotti or Henry Winter spring to mind. What absolutely shouldn’t happen, but might well, is the BBC emulating the US Democrats and promoting purely on identity characteristics (again).
Lineker, of course, will be fine. He has his successful podcast empire and will no doubt pop up elsewhere (Strictly? Good Morning Britain?). And with nothing to lose, as he runs down his contract, he has the chance to go out with a bang. He may already be sharpening his witticisms for when Trump hands over the World Cup in New Jersey in 2026, presumably his final presenting gig at the corporation.
But who will really care what he says? Certainly not me. The Beeb lost me years ago. I’ll be watching on ITV.
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