I’m going to miss Gary Lineker over the next few weeks. The fact that the BBC has decided it needs four presenters to replace him – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott – tells its own story. To be fair, Cates, Chappers and Logan are excellent presenters, Scott of more modest talent, but it won’t be the same without Lineker.
I’d probably be looking forward to the tournament a bit more than I currently am if the boy Lineker was there. As it is, the 2026 bloated 48 team version of the World Cup, in a country run by a demented madman and narcissist holds about as much attraction as the prospect of root canal surgery. I am joking, of course, but only a bit.
Quite apart from his footballing knowledge, his humour and his brilliant presenting, Lineker is a great bloke. Yes, he has been prone to foot-in-mouth disease on occasion, but haven’t we all? More than anything, he is an honest man and cares deeply about the direction of our country. Take this recent comment:
“I think 80-90% of the country (England) just want to get on with their lives, be friendly with their neighbours. They don’t look at people of different religions, skin colours, beliefs, traits, and think badly of them. I think we’re divided deliberately to distract.”
Doubtless, his critics will accuse him of being ‘woke’ and I will argue that Lineker is as woke as you can get. So am I. I am proud to be woke given that it literally means being educated, alert, and actively attentive to systemic injustices—such as racism, sexism, and LGBTQ+ inequality. If those of a more conservative standpoint decide to invent their own meaning of woke, then that’s a matter for them. I happen to agree with him and indeed the original definition of the word.
When he was still with the BBC, the gutter press was often frothing at the mouth if he made, for example, a sympathetic comment about desperate refugees, not on Match of the Day, but on social media, clearly in a private capacity. I found I liked him even more, but then again I am another dripping wet, lily-livered, totally woke snowflake.
More than anything, I will miss the presence of a seriously brilliant, charismatic and slightly rebellious presenter who has forgotten more about football than most of us will ever know and who may just have made the odd little dig about the location of this tournament, the ludicrous FIFA chief Infantino and of course Dementia Donny. Now it will be just about the football. Will it be enough?
