Hate to say I told you so. Ok, I don’t. Tonight it has been revealed that Gary Lineker is leaving Match of the Day at the end of this season. He will leave the BBC completely at the end of the 2026 World Cup. I’ve said for a while that I thought this would be his last season presenting the flagship football highlights show, and that is how it has turned out.
The truth is, this just works for everyone. As The Sun pointed out, Lineker can focus on his growing podcast presence. And he can post even more on social media without having to worry about BBC rules. Aunty itself will get to save some money by having its highest-paid presenter leave.
It’s fair to say Lineker’s departure is not being universally mourned. There has long resentment about the fact he could get away with commenting in a way many other colleagues, from Carol Vorderman to regular newsroom staffers, could not. One former BBC staffer, who referred to Linkeker as a “sanctimonious pain in the arse” said that “it’s good for the DG [Director General Tim Davie] he’s gone.” It probably means there will be fewer public rows and presenter strikes for him to clear up.
Another former Beeb employee told me that they doubted the exit would “make a huge difference to the BBC or BBC Sport. MotD doesn’t stand or fall on its presenters.” They also thought it wouldn’t stop the Daily Mail‘s anti-BBC campaign, “because Lineker was never the issue for the Mail. The issue is undermining the existence of the BBC.”
Who Next After Gary Lineker?
There will be huge speculation as to who will replace Lineker. The former Leicester City, Tottenham, Barcelona and England forward has led the show since 1999. With Jermaine Jenas seemingly out of the picture, Mark Chapman is the obvious choice. His getting the role would mean having to revamp the entirety of Saturday afternoon on 5Live and finding a new MOTD2 presenter.
Match of the Day probably needs a revamp post-Lineker. While Chapman is, in my opinion, the best pound-for-pound sports broadcaster in the country, he is very much part of the existing format. The only presenter I think is as good as Chapman is Colin Murray, who I actually consider the best overall broadcaster in the UK. The Countdown host gave up his nightly 5Live show when he took on the Channel 4 game show but is still connected to the BBC, presenting on 5Live every Sunday morning. He has previously presented an EFL highlights show too. The BBC, under relatively new Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski, could be tempted to look at somebody new entirely to demonstrate we’re entering a brave new era.
