Lineker

Gary Lineker made a candid confession about his presenting future after his surprising win in the Best Presenter category at this year’s National Television Awards

Gary Lineker opened up on his BBC exit as he took home the award for Best Presenter at the National Television Awards. The shock victory at London’s O2 saw the former Match of the Day presenter finally knock Ant and Dec from the top spot for the award.

For the first time in 23 years, the Geordie duo were left empty handed in the category, with 64-year-old Gary even joking he had won the “Ant and Dec trophy” in his winner’s speech.

However, despite his award coming from his time on the BBC’s main football show, he has admitted he won’t work with the organisation again following his early exit.

Speaking after his win, he said: “I really don’t know. At the moment, I’m really looking forward to working with ITV and I’ve got a podcast business that I have to run so I’m not so sure. I’ve got so many great memories from such a long period at the BBC.”

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He added: “I don’t think anyone thought I was cancelled. It was obviously just a mistake, an oversight. I was never in the slightest bit concerned for that but this is lovely and there’s no doubt that there’s perhaps a message here that it’s ok to share your views and speak up for those who don’t perhaps have a voice.”

Gary departed his role as the main presenter of BBC’s huge football show earlier than first expected. His exit came after he had shared a series of controversial comments during his social media activity.

One comment specifically saw him post in May 2025 concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that included a rat emoji.

The rat image has been historically used in anti-Semitic propaganda and while Lineker said sorry for sharing the post, explaining he was unaware of the image, he said he “would never knowingly share anything anti-Semitic”.

Despite Gary’s apology, the controversy led to the BBC confirming his early exit from the show. He later confirmed he would not be part of their coverage for the 2026 World Cup or the 2025/26 FA Cup.

Prior to his win on Wednesday night, Gary had received the backing of his The Rest is Football podcast pal Alan Shearer. Whilst many might have expected former Magpie Shearer to support his Geordie pals, the ex-Premier League legend is thought to have bucked the trend and voted for his sports mate.

After laughing off the suggestion that he was only going to attend the ceremony if he won, Gay told the podcast it was the “Ant and Dec award anyway”. He hinted he thought he had little hope of winning.

However, Shearer acted shocked before adding: “I have voted for you, though.”

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Gary Lineker has received his first National Television Award nomination since 2017 in the wake of his exit from Match of the Day.

Lineker left the football show after 26 years at the end of the Premier League season in May. It was also his last appearance for the BBC after the latest in a string of controversies about his social media use led him to announce he would be leaving the corporation.

Lineker has been voted onto the shortlist for best TV presenter – and could pull off a major upset if he breaks Ant and Dec’s 23-year winning streak in that category at the ceremony in September.

Elsewhere, Netflix’s Adolescence is up for three awards – with on-screen father and son Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper going up against each other for the best drama performance award.

The show, which became a runaway hit and national talking point earlier this year, will also be the hot favourite to win best new drama.

Gavin and Stacey’s finale, which attracted more than 20 million viewers at Christmas, is likewise the frontrunner in the comedy category.

Michael McIntyre and Stacey Solomon are nominated for three prizes each – with Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out and Stacey & Joe occupying two spots on the shortlist for best factual entertainment show.

The public will bote for the winners, which will be revealed on 10 September.

People have been left in stitches of laughter after hearing about a woman’s story while holidaying in Ibiza – she thought she had hit the jackpot and met Wayne Lineker but the truth left her red-faced

A young woman on a girls’ holiday with her mate was absolutely buzzing after she believed she’d encountered her “hero”, Wayne Lineker. Gary Lineker ‘s brother can frequently be found chatting to punters at his cherished party destination, Ocean Beach in Ibiza – with countless visitors clamouring for snaps with his during their visit.

The Spanish beach club has enjoyed tremendous success since launching 13 years ago, and remains essential for Brits visiting the party isle. Celebrities including Ed Sheeran, Jason Derulo, Jack Grealish and Conor McGregor have been photographed at the San Antonio venue. One woman was thrilled after meeting who she believed was Wayne Lineker, who has remained single for seven years.

She became even more excited when he reportedly offered to buy her a drink. The party-goer was holidaying with a friend she’s called Faye, and the duo were staying at Ibiza Rocks. One day while at the poolside party hotel, the two women were approached by some “absolute sorts” they nicknamed “Ibiza Final Bosses”. The blokes invited them to Ocean Beach for the day, which they accepted.

She and her mate headed to the beach club with the group and claims she was “having the time of her life” with them, until something caught her attention. She revealed in a frank TikTok video : “Out the corner of my eye I could see Wayne Lineker. I know exactly who Wayne Lineker is, I know he is into brunettes.”

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She continued: “My mate Faye doesn’t know who he is. He approaches and asks ‘do you want a drink’. I respond ‘I’ve got my own drinks but sure I’d love you to get me a drink’. So we end up spending time with Wayne Lineker and his companion, let’s call him Barry for the story.”

Lacy explained she and her friend departed from the initial group they’d joined at the beach club, hoping to spend their day with ‘Wayne’ and his mate. She observed they were having “a great time”.

The pair were invited to an afterparty at the location where the two men were staying. Lacy revealed: “I’m like absolutely, I’m thinking there’s going to a party, this is going to be lit, me and Wayne are going to be a thing, I’m literally going to come back to Torquay engaged. I manifested the whole thing.”

However, she began feeling doubtful when they climbed into a vehicle to reach the party. “I thought we were going to get into a Range Rover, it wasn’t quite that,” she revealed.

Lacy explained she hadn’t realised how intoxicated they were until that point. She described how they exited the car and entered a hotel, despite anticipating a large villa gathering.

“It is a disappointment to say the least,” she remarked.

Please note the follow video contains strong language.

She continued: “So we’re all sat in this twin room with Wayne, Barry, my mate Faye and me. They’re like ‘do you want a drink’, I’m like ‘yeah sure’. Anyway we do the whole formal thing of asking each other’s names.”

Lacy revealed she jokingly asked ‘Wayne’ what his name was, completely convinced it was him, and was stunned when he replied saying ‘Tim’.

She explained: “I said you’re so funny. He goes, ‘what do you mean’. I go ‘you’re name’s not Tim’, he goes ‘yeah my name’s Tim’. So it’s at that moment I realise what I’ve done. This ain’t Wayne Lineker.”

She continued: “I realised I have royally f***ed up. I have brought us to the back end of Ibiza where I have never even visited with this guy Tim – and now come to think of it, he doesn’t even look anything like Wayne Lineker. I am that lit, I’m stuck in this crazy hotel room with my mate.”

She feigned illness so she and her pal could make their getaway.

But matters got worse when they couldn’t find a taxi for more than an hour.

Lacy continued: “I am stuck in a hotel room with f***ing Barry, Wayne, Faye, and me drinking the worst f***ing prosecco while all the Ibiza final bosses are at a party.”

Wayne Lineker, who also runs Linekers bars and Bam-Bu-Ku, spotted the post and replied in the comments.

Wayne quipped: “Who’s Barry? Must be Dean Gaffney.”

Lacy fired back: “No way has Wayne entered the chat. Deffo not as hot as Dean Gaffney, more like Barry from Eastenders. Don’t worry Wayne I would recognise you in a crowded room any day of the week…it was an off brand night.”

The video was a hit with viewers, with one quipping: “What in the Jet 2 Holidays is going on here.”

Another chimed in with: “Wayne Lineker from Temu,”. A third couldn’t contain their laughter, commenting: “I am crying,” while another person penned: “I have never laughed so much at 7am on a Sunday morning.”

Another fan added: “Haha brilliant. Knew that was coming. Sounds like something I’d do. At least you have a great story to tell.”

One viewer shared a personal anecdote, stating: “Wayne Lineker tried chatting me up in his bar in Tenerife 35 years ago! He’s spent his life trying to pull women. I think you can do better.”

Gabby Logan maintained a stern demeanour when asked if she was to receive the same salary as her predecessor Gary Lineker after she was confirmed as his replacement

Gabby Logan’s role as presenter of Match of the Day appears to have reignited the discussion over the gender pay gap within the BBC. Gabby, 52, who has been a recognised sports presenter for many years, is set to replace Gary Lineker after he stepped down from his coveted role on the BBC show in May.

At the time, Gary was considered to be the highest paid star after securing an estimated salary of £1.35million a year. When speaking to The Times, Gabby was asked if she had also asked for the same salary. But her response was unexpected. She bluntly responded saying: “That’s all sorted.”

And when asked if she could elaborate on her answer, her reply was even shorter. She said: “It’s sorted.”

Gabby will be splitting her duties on Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 with co-stars Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates.

It has been reported that the presenters set up a secret WhatsApp group to discuss their takeover of the show and create more of a bond.

But according to the Daily Mail, certain messages were deleted in a bid to avoid leaks. Despite presenting changes to the show, Gabby was keen to reiterate that the changes will not be huge.

Speaking on the ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast, she explained: “Nobody wants to throw the baby out with the bath water.”

She added: “It’s a football highlights show, we’ve got the same kind of pundits… and it’s all about the football. There are now so many great male and female broadcasters.”

She went on to explain: “But also, so many more females working in sports, not just in front of the camera or the microphone, but also behind the scenes. It’s like any business, if you say we have a 50/50 male and female split but all the women are doing the low paid jobs, that’s not 50/50, that’s a hierarchy that’s male-dominated.”

On concluding her point, she said: “It’s been really good development to hear women’s voices in your ears and hearing them say they’re the director which is great. Hopefully it’s a better environment than when we were starting out. It’s definitely a much more positive place generally.”

In addition to her brief discussion of her new role with The Times , Gabby also opened up on her time on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2007.

Her husband Kenny Logan also competed on the show and made it to the top five contestants. However, Gabby was unable to share the same glory as she was eliminated far sooner.

She claimed that at the time she remembered crying into her sofa believing the public did not like her.

She told The Times: “It was a harsh lesson, learning that sometimes not everyone likes you. You realise the parts of your personality that you thought were attributes as a sportswoman are not valued.”

She added: “I was told I was being too competitive, whereas I was thinking, ‘I thought that was good. That’s what I did in sport — and it worked — and that’s what my husband is doing.'”

Gabby firmly believes that there was a definitive cultural shift on the show as competitive women are now more “appreciated.”

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‘Responsible course of action’

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‘In the best of hands’

Britain’s top football host will not front 2026 World Cup coverage and is ‘bowing out by mutual agreement’ after backlash to a social media post about Zionism.

Gary Lineker, a former England captain and the face of football on British television for more than two decades, will leave the BBC, the public broadcaster said in a statement on Monday.

Lineker, 64, had been due to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the BBC, but his early departure comes after he apologised last week for sharing a social media post about Zionism which featured a picture of a rat, historically used as an anti-Semitic insult.

Lineker said that he deleted the posts after learning of the offensive references.

According to multiple British media reports, the high-profile host is “bowing out by mutual agreement”.

He rose to become the BBC’s highest-paid star after presenting its Match of the Day (MOTD) highlights show for 25 years. The BBC announced last November that he would step down from MOTD this year, but carry on working for it until 2026.

“Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season,” BBC director general Tim Davie said in a statement.

Lineker repeated his apology on Monday, saying he would never consciously repost anything anti-Semitic.

“I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am,” he said. “Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”

Voicing Palestinian support

In recent years, Lineker’s desire to put forward his political views on social media has caused headaches for the BBC, which has strict rules on impartiality.

He was temporarily taken off air in 2023 after he criticised the previous government’s immigration policy on social media. In 2018, he opposed Brexit and called for a second referendum.

But it was Lineker’s support for the Palestinians affected by the war on Gaza that most recently brought him into conflict with the BBC.

Lineker had already caused friction at the public broadcaster when he recently said Israel was to blame for the origins of the Gaza conflict, because it turned the occupied territory into an “outdoor prison”.

Speaking on May 9 in an interview with The Telegraph at the Football Business Awards, just days before he was accused of the anti-Semitic social post on X, Lineker expressed that his issues are with the Israeli government rather than Jewish people.

“Obviously, October 7 was awful, but it’s very important to know your history and to study the massacres that happened prior to this, many of them against the Palestinian people,” he said in the interview with The Telegraph, which was published last Thursday, on May 15.

“Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears that Palestinians don’t – and that is where it’s wrong. Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it’s an outdoor prison that they’re bombing,” Lineker added.

In the same interview, the TV host also disputed whether Israel could justifiably argue that it was still acting in self-defence. “I understand that they needed to avenge, but I don’t think they’ve helped their own hostage situation at all,” Lineker said.

“People say it’s a complex issue, but I don’t think it is. It’s inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems, and I just feel for the Palestinians.”

The former striker played for England for eight years until 1992 and had been a top scorer for Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in the 1980s and early 1990s.

He is also the co-founder of a podcasting production business, Goalhanger, which makes series such as the podcasts The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Football.

Lineker will leave his role at the BBC on Sunday after his final episode of Match of the Day.

GARY LINEKER has roasted Wayne Rooney over his managerial record – live on the BBC.

The Manchester United legend joined Lineker for the Beeb’s coverage of the FA Cup final.

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Rooney, 39, has launched a media career after being sacked by Plymouth Argyle on New Year’s Eve.

The ex-England forward’s managerial record is chequered at best, with Argyle bottom of the Championship when he was axed.

Rooney has failed to achieve a win rate of over 30 per cent during stints with DC United, Derby County, Plymouth and Birmingham.

Lineker couldn’t resist sending a brutal dig Rooney’s way during the panel’s half-time analysis of Crystal Palace’s win over Manchester City.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead into the break at Wembley thanks to Eberechi Eze’s goal.

Micah Richards asked Rooney: “Being a manager and you’re 1-0 up, what do you tell the players at half time?

“Do you change the way you play?”

Quick as a flash, Lineker quipped: “His teams were never 1-0 up.”

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The panel burst into laughter, with an apologetic Lineker adding: “Sorry Wayne!”

Laughing himself, Rooney hit back: “Let’s just get back to the game.”

The exchange quickly made its way onto social media.

One fan laughed in response: “Gary Lineker has just cooked Wayne Rooney, my God.”

Another said: “Lineker bodying Wayne Rooney is the best bit of the final so far

While a third joked: “Mr Lineker is off the leash today…brutal to Rooney at HT. Rate it.”

Lineker is leaving his role as Match of the Day host at the end of the Premier League season.

The 64-year-old has been in the MOTD hot seat since 1999.

Lineker will make his final appearance on the highlights show on May 25.

But he will continue to front the BBC’s live FA Cup coverage next season and will also lead the coverage of the 2026 World Cup finals.

The BBC’s boss has reminded stars to follow the corporation’s rules and avoid damaging “mistakes”, after Gary Lineker attracted renewed criticism for his use of social media.

On Tuesday, the Match of the Day host deleted an Instagram story post he shared from the group Palestine Lobby, which said: “Zionism explained in two minutes” and featured an illustration of a rat.

A rat has historically been used as an antisemitic insult, referring to language used by Nazi Germany to characterise Jews. His representatives said he was not aware of the connection.

Asked whether the post had broken BBC guidelines, director general Tim Davie said: “The BBC’s reputation is held by everyone, and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us.”

He added: “I think we absolutely need people to be exemplars of the BBC values and follow our social media policy. It’s as simple as that.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it was submitting a complaint to the BBC, adding that Lineker’s “continued association with the BBC is untenable”.

The charity posted on X: “Nothing to see here. Just Gary Lineker’s Instagram account sharing an anti-Israel video misrepresenting Zionism, complete with a rat emoji.”

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said “the BBC should ask him to leave now rather than allowing him to dictate his own terms”.

“He has caused great offence with this video – particularly with his egregious use of a rat emoji to illustrate Zionists.”

Lineker’s agent said: “Whilst viewing and reposting a video, Gary did not notice a rodent emoticon added by the author of the post. Although if he had, he would not have made any connection. The repost has been removed.”

Zionism refers to the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East, roughly corresponding to the historical land of Israel, and thus support for the modern state of Israel.

The BBC, when asked on Tuesday if it had any comment on Lineker’s now-removed post, responded by referring to its guidance on personal use of social media.

The former England striker has attracted criticism before for his posts on social media in the past.

He was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over a post in which he said language used to promote a government asylum policy was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

The BBC’s social media rules were then rewritten to say presenters of flagship programmes outside news and current affairs – including Match of the Day – have “a particular responsibility to respect the BBC’s impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC”.

In November 2024, Lineker announced his departure from Match of the Day, but he will remain with the BBC to front FA Cup and World Cup coverage.

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‘I know where I stand’

Lineker hitting headlines

Speaking on ITV’s The Assembly, Gary Lineker opened up about his son George’s cancer battle as a baby and reflected on feeling ‘lucky’ that he survived

Gary Lineker has candidly opened up about his son’s cancer battle, revealing he initially “wasn’t given much chance”, during an interview on ITV’s The Assembly.

The ex-footballer, 64, is one of the celebrities appearing in the new four-part series of The Assembly, which sees stars quizzed by a group of interviewers who are autistic, neurodivergent or learning disabled, with no topics off the table.

Gary was asked about how he felt when his eldest son George was diagnosed with cancer as a baby, with the dad-of-four becoming emotional as he reflected on the extremely difficult time.

“That was really tough – it changes you,” he admitted. “He was only two months old. We got told he had leukaemia, he wasn’t given much chance.”

“It was really awful. We were in the hospital for around seven months with him,” Gary went on to add. “But we were the lucky ones, because there were other parents in there that lost their kids so we felt quite fortunate in the end. It was really scary.”

Gary shares four sons, George, Tobias, Harry and Angus, with his ex-wife Michelle, who he split from in 2006 after 20 years of marriage.

The pundit reflected on the ways in which he and ex Michelle coped with George’s cancer diagnosis, also adding: “I felt I needed to talk about it. Michelle, she would bottle things up. But ultimately we got a good ending.”

Elsewhere in The Assembly, Gary spoke about his suspension from the BBC in 2023, admitting that the media frenzy that followed “upset” him at the time, but the support he received from colleagues was “beautiful”.

“It was a crazy week and it upset me,” he added. “I had all the press outside my house every minute of the day, for about five/six days. It got a bit silly but it was actually also lovely because the backing I got from the people I work with was beautiful.”

Gary was temporarily removed from Match of The Day in 2023 after being accused of breaching BBC impartiality guidelines, due to a tweet he shared criticising the UK government’s immigration policy.

Fellow pundits including Ian Wright, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards all stood in solidarity with Gary and said they would not be appearing on MOTD in the wake of his suspension.

After several days, the dispute was resolved with Gary back on MOTD. Tim Davie, BBC’s Director General, released a public statement at the time, saying the BBC has a “commitment to impartiality” as well as “freedom of expression”.

The Assembly: Gary Lineker airs Sunday 11th May at 10pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player