Latest news with #BeyondTheTitle
The Irish Sun
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Gary Lineker does not plan to do much TV work after leaving MOTD and will focus on podcasts
GARY LINEKER does not plan to do much telly work after leaving the BBC and will instead concentrate on his popular podcasts. After 26 years as Advertisement 1 Gary Lineker does not plan to do much telly work after leaving the BBC and will instead concentrate on his popular podcasts Credit: Getty Lineker was due to cover next year's FA Cup and World Cup but bowed out early, sparking a battle for his signature between rival broadcasters. But the ex- Just days before announcing his exit from the BBC on Monday, Lineker told the Beyond The Title podcast: 'Professionally, I've got a big podcast company and I think it takes up quite a bit of my time and it will probably take up a bit more now. 'It's really exciting and it's a lot of fun. We're doing really well. I don't think I'll do much television. Advertisement Read More on Sport 'Really proud' 'Hopefully I'll be in a position where I can just pick and choose things I quite fancy doing. So the podcast world really I think.' Lineker also insisted his broadcasting career has made him prouder than his on-pitch heroics for teams such as He added: 'I'm actually probably a bit more proud of what I've done in broadcasting than possibly football because I always said I was born to be in the box, not on the box. 'I had to work really hard at television. Advertisement Most read in Football ' I had to work hard at football but it came naturally, whereas television didn't come naturally. 'It took a lot of hard work and effort and determination and studying and stuff of other people and how they do it. How Gary Lineker's BBC exit will spark intense rivalry between new Match of the Day hosts to lead BBC's World Cup coverage 'Eventually I got there. Probably I'm proudest of the fact I made it to the top in broadcasting.' Leicester fan Lineker runs production company Goalhanger Podcasts which is behind hit series The Rest Is Football with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. Advertisement How Gary Lineker became the BBC's highest paid star Gary Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day for more than 25 years but will leave the role earlier than expected following a row over his use of social media. The Leicester-born star, who moved seamlessly from footballer to one of the most famous and highly-paid presenters at the corporation, began his career at Leicester City, the club he had supported since childhood, in 1978. The 64-year-old striker scored 103 goals for the Foxes in all competitions before signing with Everton for £800,000 in 1985. He scored 40 goals in 57 games for the Toffees in his only season with the Liverpool-based side, before his six goals for England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico won him the competition's golden boot award and attracted the attention of Spanish football giants Barcelona. Moving to the Catalan side in 1986, Lineker went on to become the highest scoring British player in La Liga, Spain's highest football division, under English manager Terry Venables. His record 42 goals was only beaten by Welsh winger Gareth Bale in 2016. Lineker spent three years in Spain before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1989 for £1.1 million. He played a part in England's run to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, which resulted in a defeat on penalties against West Germany. After the match, Lineker, who captained the Lions from 1990 to 1992, coined the phrase: "Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win." He won the 1991 FA Cup final with Spurs, beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 despite having a goal controversially disallowed for offside and Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley saving a penalty. In 1992, Lineker became the first English footballer to play in Japan's highest division, the J League, when he joined Nagoya Grampus Eight for £2 million. He retired after an injury-hit two-year spell at the club which saw him play just 23 times. Throughout his career Lineker was renowned for never receiving a yellow or red card booking from the referee. Following his retirement, Lineker joined BBC Radio 5 Live as a football pundit before becoming a team captain on the sports game show They Think It's All Over from 1995 to 2003. In 1997 he took over as host of Grandstand when then-presenter Desmond Lynam was at Aintree for the Grand National which was abandoned due to a bomb alert. He replaced Lynam as presenter of the BBC's flagship football highlights programme Match Of The Day in 1999, when Lynam defected to rival ITV. Lineker would later become the corporation's highest-paid presenter, with the BBC's annual report for 2023/24 showing his salary to be to around £1.35 million a year. He was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the then-government's new asylum policy. In November 2024 he announced he would be stepping down from presenting Match Of The Day at the end of the season, but would still host World Cup and FA Cup coverage. He exited the broadcaster early, however, after apologising for sharing and then deleting a post on his Instagram account from the group Palestine Lobby, illustrated with a picture of a rat, which prompted calls for him to be sacked from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA). After this the BBC said Lineker would leave his presenting role following the conclusion of Match Of The Day for the 2024/25 season and added that he would not present its coverage of the 2026 World Cup or next season's FA Cup. Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman will share the presenting role on the football show from the next Premier League season. The former England striker is also the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, makers of the popular The Rest Is History series and its spin-offs about politics, football, entertainment and money.
Campaign ME
26-03-2025
- Business
- Campaign ME
#BeyondTheTitle: Al-Futtaim cracks conventional clichés of IWD storytelling
Every March, International Women's Day floods our feeds with familiar messages — often uplifting yet predictable, encouraging yet oversimplified. To show that true empowerment isn't neatly packaged or confined to a single day, and recognising the need for a more authentic dialogue, Al-Futtaim has launched its #BeyondTheTitle campaign. The campaign aimed to shift how the industry addresses women's achievements, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, celebrating the diversity of women's experiences and shedding light on challenges they still face today. Central to the campaign were three Al-Futtaim women: Dr. Farah Sarraj, Chief Corporate Officer at Al-Futtaim Education Foundation; Rubina Chander, Head of Omnichannel at Al-Futtaim Automotive; and Maya Sultan, Assistant Development Manager at Al-Futtaim Real Estate in Egypt. To build community momentum, Al-Futtaim introduced a bespoke LinkedIn badge bearing the #BeyondTheTitle emblem. Employees enthusiastically embraced the badge, visually marking their support sharing their diverse narratives, effectively turning individual stories into a shared, collective movement. The campaign quickly resonated across platforms. Women across LinkedIn and Instagram, both within and outside Al-Futtaim, embraced the opportunity to share a fuller picture of themselves. This culminated in an authentic LinkedIn Live event, where participants openly discussed diversity and inclusion at the workplace, as well as the challenges faced by women in leadership roles — offering a glimpse of authenticity and vulnerability within a corporate context. The response was powerful. Within ten days, #BeyondTheTitle achieved more than 114,000 views, nearly 4,700 interactions and, crucially, an organic reach that exceeded projections by more than 50 per cent. The LinkedIn Live event alone drove an impressive organic increase of followers that spilled over to other channels, underscoring the campaign's significant impact and resonance. Reflecting on the campaign's success and future potential, Nina Kromann, Global Head of Employee Engagement at Al-Futtaim, said, '#BeyondTheTitle is only the start of a more authentic conversation around diversity and inclusion. This initiative has shown us the power of genuine storytelling, and we're committed to keeping this meaningful dialogue going beyond International Women's Day.' The campaign highlighted how, too often, women are celebrated for isolated aspects of their identity: the successful executive, the devoted mother the influential leader. This singular approach misses the richness of women's full stories and their true selves. With #BeyondTheTitle, Al-Futtaim took a step towards changing this narrative, giving space to diversity and celebrating the multi-faceted dimensions and personalities of the women of Al-Futtaim. By celebrating their true selves, including their backgrounds, experiences, passions, and skills, the campaign showed that the industry can create meaningful success in the workplace for the women, their teams and for Al-Futtaim as a company. CREDITS: Client: AL-FUTTAIM GROUP Ben Schroeder – Chief Communications Officer Nina Kromann – Global Head of Employee Engagement Olivier Bockenmeyer – Global Head of Brand Dr. Farah Sarraj – Chief Corporate Officer, Al-Futtaim Education Foundation Rubina Chander – Head of Omnichannel, Al-Futtaim Automotive Maya Sultan – Assistant Development Manager, Al-Futtaim Real Estate Aaesha Alblooshi – Employee Communication Specialist Raghad Malkawi – Communication Manager Yazan Barghouti – Sr. Manager, Digital Creative agency: MRM MENAT
