A BBC presenter has delivered a withering parting shot to Gary Lineker after his departure from Match of the Day was confirmed.
Adam Fleming, who presents the broadcaster’s Politics Live daytime magazine show, had a dig at the 63-year-old’s whopping salary as he opened the show on Tuesday.
Lineker earns somewhere between £1,300,000 to £1,354,999 according to the BBC’s own list of its top-earning stars – which was not lost on the Beeb politico as he opened the show.
As he introduced the panellists, Fleming wryly noted that he was unlikely to contribute to any parting gift for the star.
He then turned to the other panellists to ask if they might do the same.
BBC Politics Live presenter Adam Fleming didn’t hold back as he tore into Gary Lineker’s salary
Lineker is one of the BBC’s highest paid stars, earning up to £1.35million last year from his presenting duties
Fleming asked the panellists, including Labour MP Nesil Caliskan and Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty (left and second from left) for their views on Lineker’s departure
As he started the show, Fleming said: ‘I reckon we will not be having a whip-round for the leaving present for Gary Lineker at the BBC because he is paid £1.3million a year.
‘So he can buy his own leaving present, thank you very much,’
Turning to Labour MP Nesil Caliskan, Fleming asked if she would be making a contribution to his leaving gift.
The member for Barking replied: ‘I think he will be alright.’
Fleming kept up the questioning, asking the panel if they believed Lineker had been paid too much to front Match of the Day.
Ms Caliskan added: ‘I think there was always a question of value for money, people have strong opinions about it.
‘But he has been there for 25 years, he’s negotiated well, he’s earning a lot more than others, so I recognise that, but it’s a very very popular programme and a major feature for the BBC.’
Tory MP for Huntingdon Ben Obese-Jecty added: ‘I think Match of the Day was around for a long time before Gary Lineker and I’m sure it will do okay.’
Lineker has become as well known for the storm of controversies around personal comments made on social media as he is for his punditry and even his skills on the pitch.
The ex-England forward’s comments criticising the Tory government in 2023, when he said the language of its asylum policy was ‘not dissimilar’ to that used by Germany in the 1930s, prompted particular fury.
BBC bosses took Lineker off air – prompting his co-hosts Ian Wright and Alan Shearer to pull out of Match of the Day in solidarity – and later overhauled social media guidelines for all staff to keep him in line.
Mr Obese-Jecty added: ‘Latterly, he has blogged his copy book a little bit.’
Lineker seen walking his dog this morning after the news broke that he was leaving Match of the Day
Lineker hosts The Rest is Football podcast with Alan Shearer, left, and Micah Richards, centre. The BBC will now offer it on their own Sounds app
Fleming is a former BBC News chief political correspondent and Brussels correspondent who attended Glasgow’s plush Hutchesons’ Grammar School.
His BBC salary is not known. The broadcaster published the pay of stars who earned more than £178,000 in its annual report in July.
The BBC’s external events register shows Fleming earned between £1,000.01 and £5,250 for non-work engagements between July 2023 and June 2024, per Press Gazette.
Reports that Lineker would leave Match of the Day surfaced last night before the BBC confirmed them this morning – announcing that the ex-footballer would leave MotD at the end of the season and front international football coverage until 2026.
In October Mail Sport revealed an email purportedly from the BBC’s director of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, which featured a statement announcing his imminent departure from the show.
That email, which suggested a show earlier this season would be his last – which has not been the case – also included comments from director general Tim Davie, who hailed an ‘incredible’ stint and described Lineker as a ‘world class presenter’.
Lineker is reported to have offered to take a pay cut to stay on the BBC One show but Kay-Jelski declined to give him a new contract.
The sport boss is thought to be on the hunt for fresh blood to front the show – with several top female presenters believed to be in the running for the hot seat.
‘Lineker was open to staying on at Match of the Day, but the BBC did not offer him a new contract for the show’, the corporation’s culture and media editor Katie Razzall has said.
Former BBC director general Greg Dyke believes that Lineker’s penchant for giving personal views, and the headache it has caused his bosses, will have been ‘in the mind’ of the BBC when they decided to go for a new host.
Lineker and his new boss BBC’s director of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, started talks with the broadcaster six weeks ago. But no contract was offered
The former England striker first started presenting the iconic highlights show back in 1999
‘In the end, people watch Match Of The Day for the football’, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Lineker is unlikely to suffer as he leaves Match of the Day. The BBC announcement on his ‘contract extension’ also included news that his The Rest Is Football podcast will be syndicated on BBC Sounds – adding to its
It’s welcome news for his Goalhanger podcast firm, which also produces shows such as The Rest Is Politics, hosted by former Tory MP Rory Stewart and ex-Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell.
The BBC syndication deal will add to the podcast’s blossoming advertising revenue on other platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Industry sources believe Mr Lineker’s Goalhanger podcast business charges £45 for every 1,000 listens to an advert voiced by Lineker or his co-hosts, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, on the show.
