I felt BBC wanted me to leave Match of the Day

Gary Lineker has stated he believes the BBC needed him to depart Match of the Day as he was negotiating a brand new contract final yr.

The presenter and the BBC collectively introduced in November that he can be stepping down from the flagship soccer programme, though he’ll nonetheless host World Cup and FA Cup protection.

Requested by the BBC’s Amol Rajan why he would select to depart given his profitable tenure, Lineker stated: “Nicely, maybe they need me to depart. There was the sense of that.”

The BBC did not touch upon that suggestion, however on the time Lineker’s exit was introduced, the company’s director of sport described him as a “world-class presenter”.

Nonetheless, the BBC famous in the identical assertion that Match of the Day “regularly evolves for altering viewing habits”.

A brand new trio of presenters – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan – was announced in January.

Reflecting on his departure from Match of the Day, Lineker advised Rajan: “It is time. I’ve performed it for a very long time, it has been good.”

Nonetheless, requested why he’d wish to go away when the scores have been nonetheless excessive and it was a job Lineker nonetheless loved, the previous footballer stated he “had the sense” the BBC had needed him to step down.

“I all the time needed yet another contract, and I used to be umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether or not to do three years [more],” Lineker defined.

However, he continued, the matter of how lengthy to signal for was sophisticated by the cycle of broadcasting rights for matches.

“Ultimately, I feel there was a sense that, as a result of it was a brand new rights interval, it was an opportunity to vary the programme,” he stated.

“I feel it was their choice that I did not do Match of the Day for yet another yr, so they may usher in new folks. So it is barely uncommon that I might do the FA Cup and the World Cup, however to be sincere, it is a state of affairs that fits me completely.”

Lineker added that he was happy his soccer podcasts had been picked up by BBC Sounds as a part of a take care of the company.

Lineker was additionally requested about feedback he posted on social media in March 2023, criticising the then-government’s immigration coverage.

The remarks led to his suspension from the BBC, prompting different sports activities presenters to down instruments in solidarity, one thing Lineker stated he felt “moved” by.

Reflecting on his tweets, Lineker stated he didn’t remorse taking the place he did, however that he wouldn’t do it once more due to the “harm” it did to the BBC.

“I do not remorse saying them publicly, as a result of I used to be proper – what I stated, it was correct – so under no circumstances in that sense.

“Would I, in hindsight, do it once more? No I would not, due to all of the nonsense that got here with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was only a reply to somebody that was being very impolite. And I wasn’t notably impolite again.”

He continued: “However I would not do it once more due to all of the kerfuffle that adopted, and I like the BBC, and I did not just like the harm that it did to the BBC… However do I remorse it and do I feel it was the mistaken factor to do? No.”

The row erupted when Lineker referred to as a authorities asylum coverage “immeasurably merciless”, and stated a video selling it used language that was “not dissimilar to that utilized by Germany within the 30s”.

The house secretary on the time, Suella Braverman, who appeared within the video, referred to as his criticism “offensive” and “lazy”, whereas Downing Road stated it was “not acceptable”.

Lineker’s put up reignited the controversy concerning the BBC’s impartiality steering on social media and the way it utilized to presenters.

Whereas workers working in information and present affairs are anticipated to stay neutral on social platforms, there had been questions over how a lot the foundations prolonged to BBC personalities in different areas resembling leisure and sport.

Lineker argued that the earlier algorithm “have been for folks in information and present affairs”.

“They’ve subsequently modified,” he acknowledged. “However that left folks like me, who has all the time given his sincere opinions about issues, then they instantly modified them and it’s a must to go, ‘Oh, I’ve obtained to be neutral now’. It would not make any sense.”

He added: “I’ve all the time been sturdy on humanitarian points and all the time might be, and that is me.”

Lineker stated that, following his tweets, “the goalposts have been massively moved as a result of it was by no means a difficulty till, instantly, this level”.

The BBC updated its social media guidance in 2023 following a evaluation that was commissioned within the wake of the fallout over Lineker’s tweets.

The company stated presenters of flagship programmes, resembling Match of the Day, “carry a selected duty to respect the BBC’s impartiality, due to their profile on the BBC”.

Requested if he understood that his feedback gave ammunition to the BBC’s critics, Lineker stated: “Sure after all, I perceive that, however does it make it mistaken what I did? I do not assume so. Would I do it if I knew what would’ve occurred and transpired? After all I would not.”

Lineker hit the headlines once more lately when he, together with 500 different high-profile figures, signed an open later urging the BBC to reinstate a documentary about Gaza to iPlayer.

The documentary, Gaza: The way to Survive a Warfare Zone, was pulled from the streaming service in February after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

Lineker advised Rajan he would “100%” assist the documentary being made obtainable once more, arguing: “I feel you let folks make their very own minds up. We’re adults. We’re allowed to see issues like that. It is extremely shifting.”

He added that, though the 13-year-old was narrating the programme, the script had “not been written by [the child], it has been written by the individuals who produced the present”.

“I feel [the BBC] simply capitulated to lobbying that they get rather a lot,” he stated.

After considerations have been raised, the BBC took down the programme whereas it carried out additional due diligence. The matter is at present nonetheless being investigated by the company.

The BBC said it had identified serious flaws within the making of the documentary. The BBC board said the errors have been “vital and damaging”.

Within the wide-ranging interview, which might be broadcast on Tuesday, Lineker additionally mentioned his footballing profession, his son’s leukemia battle as a child, and his views on playing sponsorship in sports activities.

Lineker stated the soccer business ought to rethink its duty relating to taking cash from playing companies.

“I do know folks [for whom] it turns into an habit, it will possibly fully destroy their lives,” he stated.

“There’s speak about taking [logos] off the shirts, however you see it on the boards across the floor in every single place.

“I feel soccer wants an extended, onerous have a look at itself about that, I actually do.”

On prime of his presenting roles, Lineker can be the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, which make the profitable The Relaxation is Historical past sequence and its spin-offs about Politics, Soccer, Leisure and Cash.

The 64-year-old indicated to Rajan his subsequent profession transfer “will not be extra telly”, including: “I feel I will step again from that now.

“I feel I will in all probability focus extra on the podcast world, as a result of it is such a enjoyable enterprise and it is simply been so unimaginable.”

Amol Rajan Interviews: Gary Lineker is on BBC iPlayer from 06:00 and can air on BBC Two at 19:00 BST on Tuesday.