Gary Lineker claims to have no regrets about publicly criticising the former government’s stance on immigration.
Match of the Day
In an interview with Amol Rajan for the BBC, Gary Lineker discussed his departure from the football highlights programme, which was announced late last year.
“It’s time,” he told Rajan. “I’ve done it for a long time, it’s been brilliant.”
Pressed on why he would want to leave, Lineker, 64, said: “Well perhaps they want me to leave … there was a sense of that.
Gary Lineker has suggested the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day, ahead of his departure next month after more than a quarter of the century at the helm of the show.
“I think it was their preference that I didn’t do Match of the Day for one more year so they could bring in new people, so it’s slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and World Cup but to be honest it’s a scenario that suits me perfectly.”
BBC impartial
“The impartiality rules were for people in news and current affairs. They have subsequently changed,” he told Amol Rajan. “But that left people like me, who has always given his honest opinions about things.
“Then they suddenly changed them and you have to go, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be impartial now’. It doesn’t make any sense. Why worry about the people who don’t like you. This is the mistake the BBC makes.
“The BBC tries to appease the people that hate the BBC. The people who always attack the licence fee. They worry far too much about that, rather than worrying about the people who love the BBC.
“Why shouldn’t I have an opinion on things? I’ve always been strong on humanitarian issues and always will be, and that’s me. The goalposts were massively moved because it was never an issue until, suddenly, this point.
“It was always stipulated in the BBC guidelines that in terms of impartiality, it was for people who work in news and current affairs. I am very, very thoughtful about what I say. They took me off air and it was a silly overreaction.”
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