Gary Lineker, the BBC and celebrity influencers
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s the end of an era for Match of the Day – with Gary Lineker hosting for the final time after 25 years in the hot seat. He will now leave the BBC a year earlier than expected in the wake of an antisemitism row. Amol – who recently sat down with Lineker for a long television interview – reflects on the former footballer’s run-ins with the BBC over impartiality and use of social media – and his legacy both as a presenter and a modern celebrity influencer. He’s joined by former culture minister, Conservative peer Lord Vaizey, and by former Sun editor David Yelland, now co-host of BBC Sounds podcast When It Hits the Fan. To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme make sure you hit subscribe on BBC Sounds. That way you’ll get an alert every time we release a new episode, and you won’t miss our extra bonus episodes either. GET IN TOUCH: * Send us a message or a voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 * Email today@bbc.co.uk The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor. This episode was made by Lewis Vickers and Tom Smithard with Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Izzy Rowley. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.6 | It will be the end of an era, the last match of the day presented by the BBC's |
| 0:08.7 | erstwhile golden boy, that now somewhat tarnished Gary Linneker. |
| 0:12.5 | He has helmed the programme, Match of the Day, on Saturday nights since the turn of the millennium. |
| 0:17.1 | He's become the BBC's highest paid and highest profile presenter and in recent years, |
| 0:21.6 | of course, one of its most controversial. He is a man whose career has fascinated me for a long |
| 0:26.0 | time. I know him a little bit, having interviewed him for my TV show, Amul Rajan interviews. That was |
| 0:31.0 | pretty recent. We talked about his career on and off the pitch. We talked about his campaigns, |
| 0:35.2 | his humanitarian work and his run-ins with the BBC |
| 0:38.0 | over impartiality and his use of social media. |
| 0:42.1 | Ah, social media. |
| 0:43.7 | Because when we spoke, Linneka thought he had another year of presenting on the BBC to go |
| 0:47.6 | before he departed, but one repost on Instagram showing a picture of a rat, alongside a video |
| 0:53.8 | titled Zionism |
| 0:54.9 | explained in two |
| 0:55.9 | minutes has |
| 0:56.7 | unceremoniously |
| 0:57.8 | brought forward his |
| 0:58.8 | departure from |
| 0:59.7 | the BBC to |
| 1:00.9 | this weekend. |
| 1:02.2 | Linneka said, |
... |
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