[Football] Sir Gary Lineker - 25 years at the MotD helm

[hart's shirt]

Nice to see someone in the public eye with some morals and the nuts to stand up for what he believes in.

I have a lot of time for Lineker, he's clearly not anti semetic and made a mistake that he has not tried to weasle out of.

I hope he will continue his work in football and highlighting the injustices of our time.

I'm sad to see an excellent presenter leave MOTD for predominantly non-footballing reasons just as much as I was to see Hoddle forced out of the England job for his personal beliefs at the time however offensive, ill-judged and theologically unsound they were, but just as then, there was a degree of inevitability about it.

In a time of instant communication, taking 2 days to apologize for sharing the social media post having previously taken it down was far too long. The apology should really have come with the deletion IMHO. Leaving it until later might either suggest that he hadn't really considered how offensive it might be or that he might get away with it. When one factors in his previous encounters with BBC management, he's either been incredibly naive or badly advised.

You can rest assured that there's little doubt that he'll continue to voice his opinion on issues he feels strongly about without being hindered by the stipulations and expectations that come with the unique nature by which the BBC is funded. As someone who seems drawn like a moth to a flame to social media, Lineker's found out the hard way that however social he may want it to be, it's still media and subject to the corresponding scrutiny that goes with it.

 

[The Clamp]

The upside is that the focus of most critics of the BBC seems to be Linekar.

Now he’s gone can we leave the Beeb alone?

Just about the only thing this sorry excuse for a nation has going for it.

Seriously though, another example of the idiots winning over sense. It’s all that seems to happen these days.

 

[nicko31]

Shame. I like him as a presenter and especially as an interviewer.

Very few individuals make it to the top their game on and off the field. He also calls us wrong uns, something most of media is capable of doing.

Big fan of the Beeb, but they do seem to be determined to do themselves self harm purging so much of their talent pool.

For GL not a bad outcome, if I were ITV I'd snap him up to head up the WC coverage.

 

[nicko31]

Exactly.
Tragically overconfident & thick.
Dangerous combination

Well that dangerous combination has given him a career 11 years longer than any other MOTD presenter. A real thicko

 

[dsr-burnley]

I'm pretty sure there is an open market on TV presenters and their wages, it's not like he drives trains for London Underground or something.

I'm pretty sure that if he had said he was working for ITV or Sky on days when he wasn't working for the BBC, he wouldn't have got away with it. As no doubt we all know, the BBC for years has been trying the tax dodge of counting employees as contractors to save tax and NIC for both themselves and the employee, and to ensure the employee doesn't get workers' rights such as holiday pay and sick pay. Some of their staff were keener on this than others. Lineker was one of those who is very keen, and he got away with it.

He does have quite a lot of left-of-centre views on TwitterX, but when it comes to tax avoidance,. he's as right wing as they come. Though for some reason he chooses to keep it quiet.

 

[aolstudios]

Well that dangerous combination has given him a career 11 years longer than any other MOTD presenter. A real thicko

You can be good at some things & thick (or suspiciously incurious) at others. Trump is president, ffs

 

[nicko31]

You can be good at some things & thick (or suspiciously incurious) at others. Trump is president, ffs

Well whilst I see Trump as a danger to world stability, the one thing I wouldn't describe him as is thick.

 

[Paris]

Who is hated more....Gary Lineker or Megan Markle? A poll is needed.