BBC bosses can’t wait to be rid of Lineker – they’ll live to regret it

This Sunday, when Gary Linekerpresents Match of the Day for the final time, it will be a moment of mixed emotions for staff at the BBC. For those working in close proximity to him, it will be an occasion framed by sadness. This, after all, is not only the finest front-of-camera talent of his generation, but he is also someone universally admired by his colleagues; someone entirely lacking in the haughty self-importance that often accompanies broadcasting prominence.

Yet at the same time, there is no doubt that any celebration of his 26 years at the helm of Britain’s most watched football show will be in danger of being drowned out by the sighs of relief wafting out of the executive offices at Broadcasting House. Because, invariably excellent as he may be, Lineker has simply become too difficult for those in charge of the corporation to handle. They cannot wait to be rid of their turbulent presenter.

Initially, the plan was to take him off Match of the Day duties, but retain his services for FA Cup and international matches until after next summer’s World Cup. But now, following his latest round of social media postings about Gaza, he is to go immediately after this Sunday’s broadcast. And there is no question, having him off the payroll has freed his employers of their biggest source of controversy. Whether it be his salary, his politics or just his decision once to present the show in his boxers, Lineker has long since become a rod with which the corporation’s critics could use to beat the bosses about the head. Now he is finally off the payroll, their lives are about to get much easier.

Indeed, when Lineker suggested to Amol Rajan in their interview aired before his latest social media dispatches that executives at the corporation had been anxious to see him off the premises, he wasn’t being paranoid. They really were out to get him.

Late last year, when it was announced that, after contractual negotiations had concluded, he was leaving Match of the Day, public statements insisted that both parties had agreed not to resign a contract to continue. In football vernacular, it was a mutual decision.

This, however, was not the case. Lineker had become aware that senior figures at the corporation, including the freshly recruited head of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, would not be entirely unhappy to see him go. When they were negotiating over what happened after his contract came to an end, he got the feeling they wanted to see the back of him. The truth is, as decisions go, this was about as mutual as Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on some rocky outcrop in the south Atlantic.

Because Lineker was more than keen to stay. He loved presenting the weekly football highlights show. He took great pleasure in travelling to Salford every Saturday to preside over its preparation and broadcast, ensuring it – and he – remained at the centre of the sporting conversation. He may be in his sixties, yet he wanted more. His ambition was by no means sated.

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But, comfortable in his own skin and even more comfortable in his own bank account, he did not make a fuss. He did not argue with the corporate urge to present him with a termination notice. As much as anything, he did not want to look a curmudgeon, particularly as a compromise was reached to enable him to front live coverage of FA Cup and World Cup games for another year. He loves the BBC, loves Match of the Day, and he had no desire to be combative about it. He was at a stage in his life when he could step aside, let the next generation through. But of this there can be no doubt: had the BBC hierarchy made it clear they wanted him to stay, he would have signed a new contract in a heartbeat. His disappointment was made manifest in his interview this week with The Telegraph, in which he demonstrated how little respect he had for Kay-Jelski’s judgment.

Besides, those who enjoy their football on the telly would have been delighted to see him retained. He is, after all, not simply the sharpest presenter of sport in the country, but among the finest in any field. Relaxed, funny, adept at bringing the best out of his studio pundits, he is a model for any aspiring young wannabe precisely how it is done. And it is not easy.

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Indeed the master of the presentational arts Des Lynam, has long since reckoned Lineker is more than his equal. Because not only does he share Lynam’s wit, warmth and twinkle, he marries that to the added authority of having scored 48 times for his country. That is the rarest of combinations.

Though there is one thing he does that Lynam never did: make his politics very public. His many critics insist he has used his public prominence to promote views in a manner which entirely goes against the corporation’s reputation for impartiality. Stay in your lane, they have long shouted as he makes his liberal views known on social media. When he railed against government policy on asylum seekers, the outcry – in several cases from those who self-define as stalwarts of free speech – was loud and long. In panic mode, the BBC suspended him from duty. Then immediately climbed down when his colleagues demonstrated solidarity by withdrawing their labour. Lineker told Rajan that, were he gifted the possibility of reliving things, he wouldn’t issue his tweet again. Not because he felt he was wrong. Far from it. But he worried that the brouhaha stirred up by it might bring damage to the show. Which is why he had agreed with the BBC bosses after that row, it was best not to provide further ammunition to those whose principal motivation is to undermine the corporation and its values.

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Yet last week he was at it again. He reshared a social media post about Gaza. It was, he said, impossible for those with a conscience to stay silent about the issue. The trouble was, the post he endorsed was illustrated with anti-Semitic imagery. He may have taken it down when the connection was pointed out, but the fury was not so easily contained.

And this time, his bosses decided enough was enough. So it is that Sunday will be his final contribution to the Beeb.

Not that we need worry too much on his behalf about losing the gig. His “The Rest Is…” franchise is one of the most successful brands in podcasting; the broadcasting equivalent of a machine printing cash in the basement of his house in Barnes. Besides, he won’t be short of job offers. You imagine every American broadcasting network (with the possible exception of Fox News) would pay top dollar to have him at the helm for their output of next summer’s World Cup.

Though there is one thing we can be sure of. From now on, Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman, the trio of talents brought in to replace him, will be keeping their political opinions under wraps. Which means for the big cheeses in charge of the Beeb’s sport division, life is about to get a lot easier. Now, freed of their biggest loose cannon, they can get on with doing what they do best: losing out in the battle for broadcasting rights to big events.

But while they quietly cheer Lineker’s departure, the rest of us will notice a sizable void opening up in our television-watching lives. The kind of hole that appears when you are deprived of the best.