Of all the inboxes in the world, the one you wouldn’t necessarily want on your desk right now is the one facing BBC Sport’s shiny new director, Alex Kay-Jelski.
He may be a rookie broadcasting executive, but as a former sports leader at the Daily Mail and The Times, and head of sports subscription service, The Athletic, he has shown his determination to climb mountains.
None as big as this challenge: the toughest point Kay-Jelski now faces is what to do with Gary Lineker and the well-being of Match of the Day, the self-proclaimed “most famous football program in the world.” In truth, it probably is.
Certainly the statesmanlike nature of a show that has run almost discontinued since 1964 (who can forget that ITV version of 2001-2004?), portends trouble for anyone who tries to tackle it and gets it wrong. It is a ticket for certain relegation to the lower leagues. Kay-Jelski is smart enough (or should be) to know this.
For many, weekends are incomplete without their diet of goals, interviews, analysis and ‘banter’, and the Beeb’s highlights show is a must-see for anyone who cares about football. He continues to attract four million viewers per show, despite the multiple ways in which similar scoring opportunities can be obtained wherever you look.
BBC Sport’s new director Alex Kay-Jelski must decide what to do with Gary Lineker (pictured) and match of the day.
Kay-Jelski joins the Beeb as former sports editor of the Daily Mail and The Times
He was also director of the sports subscription service, The Athletic, and now takes control of a program that still has 4 million viewers each broadcast.
It is a curious point in the television landscape. Almost no one watches the highlights anymore, as football fans only have to point their mobile phones in the right direction to see all the goals and highlights within seconds of them happening. Live sport is where a lot of money is spent and there is a feeling that highlights, once celebrated as a shorthand way to follow the sport, are now prehistoric.
Instead, the BBC is packaging Match of the Day alongside radio commentary from 5Live to strike a free-to-air deal worth millions with the Premier League, with the current deal running until 2029.
The BBC has been trying to streamline its coverage everywhere else, from Radio 4 to the failed and weakened Football Focus, in search of a younger audience. But at least Match of the Day (or MOTD, as some like to tiredly call it) on a Saturday night is refreshingly similar to all those shows from yesterday.
The first match of the day, featuring highlights of Liverpool against Arsenal, was watched by an estimated audience of 20,000 people. Kenneth Wolstenholme was the presenter and since then sports broadcasting luminaries such as Frank Bough, David Coleman, Jimmy Hill, Bob Wilson and Des Lynam have sat in the presenter’s chair. Lineker has worked in this role since 1999 and earns £1.35 million a year for presenting events in his charming, affable style.
The show currently features a charming, affable style, with experts such as Alan Shearer and Ian Wright (pictured) working on it.
Lineker has followed Frank Bough, David Coleman, Jimmy Hill, Bob Wilson and Des Lynam in sitting in the presenter’s chair.
Match of the Day is a rare and fitting jewel in the BBC’s sporting tiara, not least because the national broadcaster no longer has much real live sport. Partly it’s the chemistry between the presenters, although that’s about to change with Ian Wright retiring after the Euros this summer. So is this a good time for Lineker to step aside as well? Perhaps Wright could move on while Arsenal win the Premier League title and Lineker could go after England win the Euros? Everyone is a winner…
Crucially, who replaces Lineker as he dances through his 25th year as host in the same way he once left defenders in his wake?
Mark ‘Chappers’ Chapman, who has the battered charm of a man who has seen too many Shed Seven concerts, has to be the frontrunner. He already hosts Match of the Day 2, Sunday’s little cousin show, which is very watchable. He also knows the sport from many years on BBC Radio.
Former England player Jermaine Jenas, who has become such a skilled presenter that it is almost impossible to get him off the screen, is another popular alternative. Inevitably, there is also Alex Scott. She will surely be in the conversation, regardless of whether Football Focus sinks like a ship at sea with a hole in its hull.
There is the minor issue of who will get the job of presenting the BBC’s new Champions League highlights program from September, which will be another drain on resources. But without Lineker, BBC football highlights lose much of their watchability.
Mark Chapman will likely be the leading candidate to replace Lineker when the day is done.
Alex Scott will also surely be in the conversation, regardless of whether Football Focus sinks like a ship at sea with a hole in its hull.
There are other challenges for Kay-Jelski, too. Stand or fall on successful live events. They no longer have the best Olympic coverage, the best rugby coverage, the best cricket coverage, the best F1 coverage, the best boxing coverage, the best golf coverage. Others just do it better, what can he do about it, if anything?
But put on Lineker’s expensive custom-made loafers for a moment. Surely he is the BBC’s highest-paid employee, taking part in Match of the Day and other broadcasting commitments: Sports Personality of the Year, for example, for whom he retains a strange affection.
He enjoys a fantastic deal that allows him to work for other people and advertise. What’s not to like? It’s also a job he clearly loves. And the number of broadcasters that voluntarily step aside is extremely small. A new contract apparently remains unsigned until the new man takes over.
On the other hand, he is publicly annoyed by BBC Director-General Tim Davie, who is a totemic figure for anti-wokeists around the world, and his freedom to say what the hell he likes, when he likes him on Twitter/X, has been severely controlled. Away from the BBC, he can do whatever he wants.
Let us not forget that just over a year ago the BBC was in the midst of one of its biggest crises, when Lineker was suspended for criticizing the Government’s asylum policy, leading to a wildcat strike in solidarity with him, and a Match of the Day episode will air without ANY hosts. So you can do without it.
Meanwhile, Lineker’s social media army is colossal, with nearly nine million followers on Twitter/X and 1.2 million on Instagram. His podcast leviathan, Goalhanger Productions, is sweeping everything that comes its way, creating some of the most popular shows in the country, including ‘The Rest Is…’ series, and now expanding into live events. He has even hinted that he might leave MOTD to focus on podcasting. “Maybe,” he said in an interview. ‘Who knows? It’s a very, very good business. Life has thrown a lot of things at me.’ And he is 63 years old.
Lineker’s podcast leviathan, Goalhanger Productions, is sweeping everything before it
When he leaves, it will mark the end of another era for Match of the Day, and that may be soon.
As a former high-level athlete, one of the best, he knows that it makes sense to reach the top, like Roger Federer or Stuart Broad. Before he leaves, he should give us one of those quotes you never forget. Like his great idol, Des Lynam, presenting the BBC’s coverage of the England vs Tunisia match at the France ’98 World Cup. It was the start of lunchtime and Lynam asked, all the wrinkled, shiny charm of him: “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
Speaking recently with fellow regulars Alan Shearer and Micah Richards on a podcast, Lineker jokingly suggested that his advanced age could end his tenure as presenter.
‘I am old. My time is almost up.
Gary, eldest son, you may be right.