Gary Lineker has “tarnished his career” with his regular political commentary, GB News host Stephen Dixon has claimed.
Rumours were rife about the BBC star’s future yesterday when the Mail on Sunday reported he was locked in a stand-off with bosses over his contract, with some suggesting an announcement on his future was imminent.
But Lineker appeared to dispel rumours yesterday with a joke in the opening stages of the football highlights program.
Sports reporter Aidan Magee spoke to Stephen Dixon and Ellie Costello about the 63-year-old’s importance to the BBC as its highest-paid presenter.
“It’s one of the only shows at the BBC in the last 10 years which has seen a rise in ratings”, he said.
“I think he is good at what he does, but the tragedy about him is, no one remembers how good he was at football. He was a magnificent player.
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“People don’t really talk about him as a footballer, they just see him as a presenter.
“He’s got plenty of other irons in the fire, but he can’t go forever, he’s 63-years-old.”
Stephen commented: “I think Gary Lineker is very good on Match of the Day.
“The problem is, he has tarnished his career by venturing into politics and being controversial in his own way.
“Sometimes, you have to put a dividing line between your work life and what you do in private.”
Magee said Lineker’s recent political controversies are surprising given how he never was known to be an outspoken individual.
“The venture into sounding off about politics was very strategic on his part”, he said.
“I used to interview him for News of the World back in the day, he had an opportunity to talk about it then, we had a huge reach.
“It was a bid to stay relevant. He saw a lot of his contemporaries dispensed with in the past 5-10 years, so maybe this was a way to diversify a bit and get into the public eye.”
Despite the reported contract squabbles, Magee added that he expects Lineker and the BBC to enter into talks for a possible extension in January.
