Colin Sheridan: World has not seen the last of Gary Lineker

Irish Examiner

24-05-2025

It's an irony that writes itself: The professional footballer who played over 600 games for club and country, without ever being booked, gets dismissed for causing trouble at work.
Even then, his dismissal is a kind of self-sacrifice. He walked before the red card was out of the referee's pocket, head bowed, his hand raised in apology for a tackle his manager would argue he never needed to make.
Gary Lineker left the BBC this week a hero to many and an over-privileged upstart to plenty more. How you feel about him might say a lot about your private politics.
Sports presenters should present sports, regardless of the egregious censorship of their employers, right? Just as Dunnes Stores workers should just shut up and stack shelves regardless of the sullied origin of the product they handle. More people think this than you think.
That's why Lineker is out of a job at the BBC.
Former England captain Gary Lineker appeared in Walkers TV adverts with Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midfielder Roy Keene dressed as a Leprechaun. Picture: Walkers
His departure marks the end of an era in football punditry. In replacing Des Lynam as presenter of Match of the Day in 1999, Lineker's transition from player to personality represented a shift from the 'good night and good luck' school of old-world journalism Lynam personified with such inoffensive grace to a more nuanced, Gonzo-style that allowed Lineker play both sides of the studio.
His record as a goal scorer was impeccable, such that he easily could've settled for a comfortable life beside Alan Hansen and Jimmy Hill on the couch.
Instead, he chose the challenge of learning a new language, exactly as he had done as a player, and modernised an ageing relic.
If Lynam was the funny uncle everyone liked to see coming, Lineker was the cool older brother
While his playing persona was a tad too teacher's pet for some, his off-field voice was articulate and self-effacing. He could also make fun of himself.
Born in Leicester in 1960 to working-class parents, there was little glamour in his upbringing.
'My mum was always around,' he told The Guardian in 2019, 'but Dad worked long hours, got up at 4am to go to the wholesale market, bought fruit, sold it all day in Leicester market, came home to do his book work, then fell asleep on the sofa.
'My abiding childhood memory is playing football in the back garden.'
Gary Lineker joined Barcelona following a terrific display during the World Cup in Mexico 1986. Picture: David Cannon /Allsport
A talented footballer and cricketer, he joined the youth ranks of his hometown club, Leicester City, making his professional debut at 18 in the old second division.
Despite scoring regularly as the club yo-yoed between the first and second flight, it took Lineker seven whole seasons to secure the move his talent deserved.
In 1985, aged 25 and with one England cap, he signed for Everton. From there, he never stopped scoring.
In his first full season at Goodison Park, Lineker scored an astonishing 40 goals in all competitions
Though Everton narrowly missed out on the league title, his goal tally earned him the Golden Boot and the attention of Europe's elite.
While other strikers such as Luther Blisset, Clive Allen, and Kerry Dixen found the weight of leading England's line to heavy a burden, Lineker reveled in it.
His six goals at the World Cup in Mexico 1986 — a tournament dominated by Diego Maradona — catapulted him into an elite bracket of attackers on the world stage and was enough to secure a £2.8m move to Barcelona, making him the first Englishman to play for the famous Catalan club.
Lineker spent three years at Barca under three different managers; Terry Venables, who signed him, was succeeded by Luis Aragonés. He was only a placeholder for the grand return of Johan Cruyff.
The Englishman's time at the Nou Camp coincided with rivals Real Madrid winning five La Liga's in a row, ensuring discontent was rife across the club.
Lineker endeared himself to the fans with a hat-trick in an early Classico. His embracing of the language and culture was all evidence of a player desperate to make the move work. Cruyff had other ideas.
Gary Lineker, of Everton, beats Liverpool's Bruce Grobbelaar and Alan Hansen to score during the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium in 1986. Liverpool won the match 3-1. Picture: David Cannon /Allsport
'He wanted me out from day one,' Lineker told the Stadio Podcast in 2019.
'You could only have two foreign players back then, so I totally understood he wanted his own.
'He should have just told me, but instead played me out of position, so I'd get pissed off and ask to leave.'
The Classico hat-trick remains the stuff of legend, however, especially for the man himself.
'It was an unbelievable game. After I'd scored twice in the first five minutes, for the first time in my career, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
There were 120,000 fans at the Nou Camp, and the noise was incredible
Unwanted by Cruyff, Lineker had no shortage of suitors. However, he chose to reunite with Venables at Tottenham Hotspur.
Alongside Paul Gascoigne, he flourished once again. He scored 80 goals in 138 appearances, leading Spurs to FA Cup glory in 1991.
With an aging body imposing more upon his career, Lineker gambled again. He left England for a stint at Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan. While his two-year hiatus was interrupted by injuries, his status nonetheless helped pioneer the professional game in the country.
Despite rumours of one final roll of the dice in the newly formed Premier League in England, Japan was to be the last stop on a journey that was defined by many glorious moments and heartbreaking near misses.
His 40-goal season at Goodison Park coincided with the genius of Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool, who just pipped Everton to the title.
His magnificence in Mexico was overshadowed by the otherworldly Maradona, the classic character-counterpoint to Lineker in terms of personality.
His time at Barcelona ran parallel with a Madrid side that — with a front three of Jorge Valdano, Hugo Sánchez, and Emilio Butragueno — came to be considered as one of the greatest in the club's history, a fact recognised in their dominance of La Liga. Even his choice of Spurs as an on-ramp back to English football ensured his club career would end without the silverware it deserved.
Perhaps the defining moment of his England career — or at least the one many of us came to remember him by — came in the closing moments of their World Cup semi-final against West Germany at Italia '90.
Lineker, who had another fine tournament, reacted in typical big brother fashion after Gascoigne got himself booked and became emotional, realising the yellow card would rule him out of the final should England progress.
Gary Lineker took over presenting 'Match of the Day' from Des Lynam in 1999.
We can, of course, exaggerate the significance of such moments in retrospect, but Lineker's 'have a word' expression directed at Bobby Robson on the bench perhaps epitomised a man empathetic to the needs of others — even in the white heat of sporting battle.
Such emotional intelligence made his transition into media a seamless one.
He began as a pundit with the BBC before taking over Match of the Day from Lynam in 1999, establishing himself as a young and trusted face.
He quickly made the role his own. Lineker's rapport with fellow pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, combined with his subtle humour and sharp analysis, helped broaden the appeal of a show for so long synonymous with the broadcasters more traditional methods of presenting sport.
He later graduated to chair coverage of major tournaments — World Cups, European Championships, and Olympic Games — eventually becoming one of the most trusted faces in British sports broadcasting.
His private life was less smooth, though never controversial.
His marriage to Michelle Cockayne lasted 20 years and ended in divorce in 2006. The couple's eldest son (of four) survived a rare form of leukemia as an infant.
Consistent with Lineker's philanthropy throughout his public life, he has acted as both donor and patron of various British cancer charities
His second marriage, to Danielle Bux, ended amicably in 2016.
As Twitter emerged, so did Lineker's proclivity for expressing his political views in a personal and very public capacity.
He publicly endorsed a remain vote in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and used his growing following to criticise the Conservative government's policy on refugees.
'The treatment by some towards these young refugees is hideously racist and utterly heartless,' he posted in October 2016. 'What's happening to our country?'
This led The Sun to call for Lineker's sacking from Match of the Day, accusing him of breaching BBC impartiality guidelines.
Undeterred, he continued to express his views on successive government policies. He even went further by housing a refugee from Pakistan for a month at his Surrey home in 2021.
Gary Lineker presented 'Match of the Day' in his underwear in 2016, after he vowed to do so if underdogs Leicester City won the Premier League. Picture: Guy Levy
As public opinion in Britain became increasingly polarised, Lineker appeared more emboldened.
A 2023 post labelled then home secretary Suella Braverman's migrant-stopping strategy as 'beyond awful', adding that it was 'directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s'.
After much establishment outrage, he was suspended from Match of the Day — a move that saw a rare expression of solidarity from other high-profile pundits and presenters such as Wright, Shearer, Conor McNamara, and Alex Scott.
Such was the backlash, the broadcaster was forced to air its flagship highlights show without any commentary or critique for the first time in its history.
Lineker returned privately chastened, perhaps, but publicly willing as ever to voice an opinion.
Since the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, 2023, he has been consistent in posting — and expressing on multiple platforms — his disgust and distress at Israel's continuing genocide in Gaza.
These views were never articulated by him while presenting, but as a guest on various shows and podcasts.
Last month, he told the BBC's Amol Rajan the corporation 'wanted me to leave' as he repeatedly questioned the broadcaster's pro-Israeli bias in covering Palestine.
Each instance brought more pressure on the BBC to act, the criticism being that he was exceeding his brief
The fact he was using his platform to denounce the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century put a target on his back and, last Tuesday, he gave critics what they wanted — a reason to fire him once and for all.
After reposting a pro-Palestine video on Instagram that included a rat emoji (which he later deleted and apologised for, explaining he did not see the emoji), the BBC's Tim Davie and Lineker agreed to an immediate and mutual parting of ways.
A divorce that was inevitable for almost a decade had finally come to pass. Rest assured, we have not seen the last of Lineker.
His stewardship of the burgeoning podcast empire, Goalhanger Productions, was undoubtedly another frustration for the BBC, for whom he was their highest-paid presenter and points to a person willing to gamble — just as he did as player, going to Barcelona, Japan, or simply to the near post for a tap-in.
Unburdened by po-faced protocol, his next chapter may well be his most fascinating.
At 64 years old, Gary Lineker can hardly have come this far just to shut up now.
The fruit-seller's son from Leicester, who brought the Nou Camp to its feet, he will surely look to beat the offside trap one last time. Pity the defender that tries to stop him.
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