Gary Lineker has mentioned he thinks the BBC needed him to step down from Match Of The Day whereas reflecting on the fallout from his controversial tweets.
The 64-year-old, who has offered the flagship soccer highlights present since 1999, will depart the company after fronting its protection of the 2026 World Cup.
In an interview with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, Lineker expressed a way that his time was up, stating: “It’s time (to go away).
“I’ve finished it for a very long time, it’s been sensible, it’s been nice… Effectively, maybe they need me to go away… There was a way of that.”
The announcement marks the top of an period for the previous England striker’s tenure on one of many BBC’s hottest programmes.
“I at all times needed another contract. It was their choice that I didn’t do Match Of The Day for another yr so they might herald new individuals, so it’s barely uncommon that I’d do the FA Cup and the World Cup, however, to be sincere, it’s a situation that fits me completely.”
A trio of presenters – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan – will change him on MOTD.
Lineker was additionally grilled in regards to the furore in March 2023 over his tweet evaluating the then British authorities’s asylum coverage with Nineteen Thirties Germany.
The previous England striker was briefly taken off air, and different sports activities journalists and presenters walked out in solidarity, earlier than he returned to fronting MOTD.
Lineker mentioned: “I don’t remorse saying them publicly, as a result of I used to be proper – what I mentioned, it was correct – so by no means in that sense.
“Would I, in hindsight, do it once more? No, I wouldn’t, 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 added: “However I wouldn’t do it once more due to all of the kerfuffle that adopted, and I really like the BBC, and I didn’t just like the injury that it did to the BBC… However do I remorse it and do I believe it was the fallacious factor to do? No.”
The presenter additionally mentioned the BBC ought to “have ignored it, and it could have been high-quality”, and referred to as the company “foolish” for its “overreaction” in taking him off air.
His tweets, which sparked a row about BBC presenters expressing political beliefs on social media, led to enhanced guidelines for BBC flagship presenters, together with a ban on making assaults on political events.
Requested in regards to the guidelines, Lineker questioned why he needed to be “neutral”, saying he was a “freelancer”, and the foundations had been for “individuals in information and present affairs – they’ve subsequently modified”.
He added that this “left me, who at all times gave these sincere opinions about issues”, having to be neutral which, he mentioned, “didn’t make any sense”, and referred to as it a freedom of speech difficulty.
“I believe that is the error… the BBC tries to appease the folks that hate the BBC, the folks that at all times go on in regards to the licence charge, assault the BBC. They fear method an excessive amount of about that, relatively than fear in regards to the folks that love the BBC, which is the overwhelming majority,” he mentioned.
“Why shouldn’t I’ve an opinion on issues? I’m a bloody footballer who’s was a sports activities presenter.”
Lineker dominated himself out of a profession in politics, saying he has “by no means had a view”, earlier than laughing.
“I believe I’ll in all probability focus extra on the podcast world, as a result of it’s such a enjoyable enterprise and it’s simply been so unbelievable,” he added.
His firm, Goalhanger Podcasts, based in 2019, has launched in style podcasts resembling The Relaxation Is Politics, The Relaxation Is Leisure, and The Relaxation Is Soccer, which he co-hosts with MOTD colleagues Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
Lineker has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air expertise for seven consecutive years and was estimated to have earned £1.35 million within the yr 2023/24, in line with the company’s annual report revealed in July.
When he stepped down, it was reported that he was open to staying on at MOTD however was not provided a brand new deal for the present.
He may also host BBC Sport’s protection of the FA Cup within the 2025-26 season, proceed with the MOTD High Ten podcast and the BBC may also host The Relaxation Is Soccer podcast, that includes Lineker, on BBC Sounds.
