How he went from football sensation to BBC star

Gary Lineker, who will go away Match of the Day on the finish of this season, BBC Information understands, has been the regular hand who guided tens of millions of followers by means of soccer’s agonies and ecstasies.

As host of the flagship present for 25 years, he’s additionally one of many company’s highest-profile presenters, incomes £1.3 million final 12 months.

His one-line pay-offs on the finish of every present, summing up each the followers’ temper and the match, could have regarded seamless.

However they had been the results of years of honing his craft and presenting expertise.

As a former footballer of appreciable pedigree – together with England captain and striker, with 48 targets in 80 appearances – he famously by no means acquired a purple or yellow card throughout his profession.

His skill to maintain his cool on the pitch stood him in good stead for a profession in dwell broadcasting when he retired as a participant in 1994.

Even whereas he was nonetheless at college, he had his sights set on sports activities journalism, deciding it could be his fall-back if soccer did not work out.

Clearly it did.

Recognized for his skill to search out gaps within the opposition’s defence, and his “poacher’s intuition” , Lineker was the 1986 World Cup Golden Boot winner, and the highest goal-scorer in England 3 times, every with a unique membership: Leicester Metropolis, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur.

However whereas his sports activities profession was at its peak on the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals, Lineker frolicked with journalists staying on the identical lodge because the England group.

“As early as my mid-20s, I knew which course I needed to go in after I retired from enjoying,” he told the BBC in 2014.

“I might watch the newspaper guys write their opening paragraphs and sit with the radio journalists and speak to them about how they did their job.”

His final intention was to finish up because the presenter somewhat than a pundit.

However he admitted his transition into radio and TV “took a whole lot of work”.

His early broadcasting makes an attempt had been “appalling”, he told the BBC’s Media Show’s Ros Atkins in 2021.

Beginning out on Radio 5 Dwell “was all a part of the educational course of,” he mentioned, branding his early appearances as “pretty appalling”.

“I managed to stumble my manner by means of it, and I realized from actually good individuals alongside me who had been extremely useful within the early days.”

Lineker constructed on that have, writing all his own scripts and carving out a job for himself.

Having watched ex-sports stars David Gower presenting the cricket and Sue Barker presenting the tennis, he questioned why it wasn’t the identical in soccer.

“I simply thought, as a participant who’s performed proper on the prime, if I may crack presenting it could give me a distinct segment,” he told BBC Radio 4 podcast Don’t Tell Me the Score in 2019.

“It will give me a bonus over all of the others.”

In the meantime, his recognition as a footballer endured. In 1991, Arthur Smith and Chris England wrote a stage play known as An Night With Gary Lineker, a couple of couple attempting to rekindle their marriage through the 1990 World Cup semi-final.

Starring Caroline Quentin, Clive Owen, Paul Merton and Martin Clunes, it was filmed for TV in 1994 – with Lineker making a cameo look.

He additionally started constructing his wider TV profession, showing as a group captain on BBC One’s comedy panel present, They Assume It is All Over, from 1995 to 2003.

As a presenter, he obtained himself observed when he stood in for Des Lynam on the Saturday afternoon sports activities present Grandstand, in 1997.

By the mid-90s, Lineker was additionally showing on Match of the Day as a pundit.

This gave him a major studying spot – proper subsequent to its skilled and slick host Lynam.

“Des was very useful – I used to ask a whole lot of questions in regards to the little issues that he did, and picked up a few of his nuances,” the previous footballer mentioned.

“He informed me to be courageous often with closing strains, and to not be afraid to attempt to be amusing.

“Once more, the little pay-offs I generally make on the finish of the present are one thing that got here from him.”

By 1999, Lineker was internet hosting the present, and reaching audiences the BBC generally struggled to draw and retain.

Folks would additionally tune in to see his chemistry with the present’s pundits – together with different former footballers akin to Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Micah Richards and Alan Hansen.

Lineker’s questions saved the evaluation flowing, whereas he was all the time keen to share a joke and opinion of his personal.

He additionally memorably introduced the show in his pants in 2016, having pledged to “do the primary MOTD of subsequent season in simply my underwear” if his former membership Leicester gained the Premier League, which they did.

Shearer and Wright could not preserve straight faces.

Their friendships usually shone by means of. In June this 12 months, Lineker and Shearer sent an emotional message of support to Hansen, after listening to the information that he was severely ailing in hospital.

However regardless of his rapport along with his colleagues, off-screen issues weren’t as easy.

As one of many BBC’s highest-paid presenters, often topping the listing of the workers whose salaries are declared, he confronted fixed scrutiny.

Lineker didn’t draw back from talking out about his personal views, significantly on social media, whereas concurrently working for a broadcaster dedicated to impartiality.

In March final 12 months, he posted on X in regards to the authorities’s asylum coverage – ensuing within the BBC briefly suspending him.

Shearer, Wright and different BBC sport presenters refused to seem on air, in protest at his absence.

Match of the Day was decreased to a 20-minute version minus its host, pundits and commentary – and the story made headline information for a number of days, with politicians and media commentators all weighing in on the difficulty.

BBC director normal Tim Davie subsequently apologised to licence fee payers for the disruption, calling it a “tough day” for the company.

Lineker was reinstated 9 days later.

The presenter later said the response to his tweet was “foolish – it should not have been”.

“I really like the BBC. I have been there for practically 30 years however individuals make errors, they recognise that they usually addressed it and in the long run, fortunately, we’re all again to work,” he mentioned.

The headlines and dramas generated by his on-line views bolstered not solely his excessive celeb standing – but additionally how eager the BBC was to hold on to him.

The incident prompted a evaluation of BBC social media pointers. Final September, new guidelines had been revealed for BBC flagship presenters, saying they need to be allowed to specific views on points and insurance policies, however cease wanting political campaigning.

Lineker mentioned the suggestions had been “all very smart”.

By February this year, he mentioned he was utilizing X much less usually, saying the platform had develop into “more and more poisonous” underneath its new proprietor, Elon Musk.

Regardless of this, he and the BBC have nonetheless parted firm, and its flagship soccer present now not has a bunch.

Lineker has loads of outdoors enterprise pursuits, together with the profitable podcast manufacturing firm he co-founded, known as Goalhanger.

It produces exhibits together with The Relaxation Is Historical past, The Relaxation Is Leisure and The Relaxation Is Politics, which won the Champion prize at this 12 months’s Podcast Awards.

However for the BBC, Lineker’s departure comes sizzling on the heels of a number of scandals.

Former Match of the Day and The One Present host Jermaine Jeanas was sacked in August following complaints about office conduct.

In September, the BBC apologised to Amanda Abbington and upheld a few of her complaints towards her 2023 Strictly dance accomplice Giovanni Pernice, whereas clearing him of essentially the most severe allegations.

In the identical month, Mr Davie mentioned he couldn’t see disgraced ex-news presenter Huw Edwards working on the company once more.

Edwards was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted fees of constructing indecent photos of kids.

So the BBC is in want of some good headlines – and Lineker’s departure means it now has to search out an distinctive host to fill his sneakers, which is not going to be a straightforward job.