Gary Lineker to leave Match of the day at the end of the season

[Bingoman]

But will stay til the end of 2026 world cup

Gary Lineker to leave BBC's Match Of The Day at the end of the current football season

The presenter will stay at the BBC until the end of the next World Cup in 2026, and may stay on after that to work on podcasts, Sky News understands.

news.sky.com

 

[skyscraper101]

25 years seems like a pretty good run. Rumour is it’s more to do with the relationship between Lineker and the new head of sport at the BBC but even so maybe it’s the right time.

TBH I actually preferred the show that one week when Lineker was on the naughty step and it had no presenters at all. I like him and Shearer as people but most of the punditry is just boring waffle.

 

[AverageJoe]

25 years is a good shift.

I hope they get Jeff Stelling in. That would be amazing and a testament to his work for sport.

 

[Silas Loom]

I’m not sure what the point is of MOTD now that games are staggered over the weekend and are all watchable via fair means or foul, so anyone with an interest has seen everything they want to see by the time it’s on.

But then almost all scheduled TV looks weird and prehistoric these days.

Anyway, that would suggest that they should get someone even older than Lineker to front it. Des Lynam is still alive, maybe bring him back, perhaps as an AI avatar.

 

[Maggot]

He's a great sports presenter and will be hard to replace. I hope he's leaving cos he wants to and not been forced out.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

He's a great sports presenter and will be hard to replace. I hope he's leaving cos he wants to and not been forced out.

inclined to agree.

and the anti-'woke' types will see it as a win...

 

[pbsmooth]

Haven’t watched it regularly in years. As above, so many matches are live in full now and all the goals are up online before MOTD now. And there’s rarely that much gained from an extra five minutes of highlights. The pundits have been pretty shite for ages too.

 

[Maggot]

I’m not sure what the point is of MOTD now that games are staggered over the weekend and are all watchable via fair means or foul, so anyone with an interest has seen everything they want to see by the time it’s on.

But then almost all scheduled TV looks weird and prehistoric these days.

Anyway, that would suggest that they should get someone even older than Lineker to front it. Des Lynam is still alive, maybe bring him back, perhaps as an AI avatar.

I disagree. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I enjoy watching all the matches in one place with proper highlights, interviews and analysis. On a big screen rather than a smartphone.

 

[WouldBe]

He's a great sports presenter and will be hard to replace. I hope he's leaving cos he wants to and not been forced out.

Said on BBC news that the new head of sport won't renew GL's contract.

 

[WouldBe]

I’m not sure what the point is of MOTD now that games are staggered over the weekend and are all watchable via fair means or foul, so anyone with an interest has seen everything they want to see by the time it’s on.

Who the hell has the time to watch all the matches in full.

 

[mx wcfc]

I disagree. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I enjoy watching all the matches in one place with proper highlights, interviews and analysis. On a big screen rather than a smartphone.

I agree.

Being a Winchester City, and Reading fan, I have little or no interest in the Prem, and am not going to pay for watching games, but I enjoy the highlights show on the beeb.

 

[two sheds]

I really enjoy Lineker and co-presenters on MoTD lovely sense of humour he has and it makes a real difference that they actually played and were record scorers. Great depth of analysis, and I normally can't watch sports analyses.

 

[stavros]

The favourite to replace him:

 

[Humberto]

owwww

 

[stavros]

Rumour has it that following his pants stunt when Leicester won the title, for his final show he'll recreate a famous event from his own playing career.

 

[oryx]

Rumour has it that following his pants stunt when Leicester won the title, for his final show he'll recreate a famous event from his own playing career.

Bloody hell, I thought I was actually at that game until I saw it was World Cup & not a friendly!

 

[marty21]

Great presenter , pissed off a lot of folk , & mostly I agreed with pissing them off, he's 63 , the BBC seem to have given him an OK exit strategy , he's been on a million + a year for years , so I don't feel bad that he's getting some free time.