Amid the controversy around Gary Lineker’s exit from the BBC, a couple of points need making, entirely unrelated to the circumstances of his departure. First, how vanishingly unlikely it is we’ll ever again see an elite footballer become an elite presenter. Second, that when he started out on the road to being a consummate broadcaster, he was absolutely hopeless.
I say this as someone whose broadcasting career covers roughly the same period. Someone who played a distant second fiddle to Lineker’s first violin at BBC Sport, before becoming his rival and opposite number when I took on the role of lead sports presenter at ITV. In that contest, there turned out to be only one winner. And it wasn’t me. I must admit, I did occasionally give in to annoyance and bitterness along the way, but whatever. I know when I’m beaten. There’s no shame in being beaten by the best. And I wasn’t alone: naming ITV football presenters seen off by Lineker is a bit like remembering failed US presidential candidates. I’ll be Mitt Romney.
