Gary Lineker to step down from Match of the Day as BBC source says 'no one is immune to change'
Gary Lineker will stop placement Match of the Day at the expire of the period and will leave the BBC after the 2026 Planet Mug as execs scheme “reboot to keep it fresh”.
Lineker will have staged MOTD for 25 years as speedily as he actions down at the expire of the current project, at which juncture he will snatch a considerable remuneration gash before securing the Planet Mug in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
The former England demonstrator presently possesses a wage of £1.35m, administering him the highest paid broadcaster at the BBC.
A BBC source alerted The Sun: “Gary altogether adores Match of the Day, and possesses been profoundly favourable at the BBC.
“But he possesses been at the helm since 1999, and by the time he dropped vacates, he will have been at the Beeb for 30 years.
“He wishes to leave on a high – and if England win the Planet Mug, it doesn’t recover much better.
“It’s one of the sector’s worst preserved enigmas that the new BBC Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski and Gary aren’t specifically comfy. The former is terribly distressed to render his mark by bringing in new faces, and suppressing wage bills.
“Transactions have been persistently for days gone by 6 weeks and ultimately a provision possesses been struck that every individual is glad via.
“Gary is profoundly newfangled via both players and viewers, and descriptions of his exit will send out shockwaves around the Empire. In polymorphous other words, certainly no-one is immune from readjust.
“Gary will be 65 as speedily as he dropped vacates; frankly, he isn’t receiving youthful and altogether genuinely feels the time is right to emphasis singular on his mogul inquisitiveness outdoor the BBC – namely his Goalhanger podcasting undertakings which is becoming large Stateside.
“BBC directors, at unchanged time, will be imparting Match of the Day a reboot to keep it fresh in the wake of such a large exit.”
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There possesses been vast speculation in current months over Lineker’s future as MOTD host and at the BBC totality amount.
A reported seeped e-mail last month affirmed he might be quitting mid-period, prompting Lineker to joke on air it was his “last arcade”, before clarifying he opined before the international break.
In a current meeting via Esquire Magazine, Lineker was enquired if was tipping down from the Match of the Day hotseat.
He responded: “I might lugging out. Whether that will be the pod I wear’t come to be aware.
“At some juncture, I have to slow-moving down someplace… I’m receiving old.”