News of Gary Lineker’s impending exit from the BBC left colleague Danny Murphy ‘a little bit surprised’.
The BBC confirmed reports Lineker would be departing his role as the host of flagship show Match of the Day at the end of the 2024/25 season.
However, The Sun reports Lineker has penned an 18-month extension to see him through until the end of the 2026 World Cup.
He will also present the BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup during that time.
Lineker’s contract with the BBC, which made him the broadcaster’s highest-paid talent, was due to expire at the end of this season.
Although speculation regarding Lineker’s exit had been rife, which the host cheekily fuelled on-air, Murphy was still taken aback by the news.
The former Liverpool midfielder also paid tribute to how welcoming and inviting Lineker had been to him whenever they worked together, as Murphy insisted he would ‘never forget how good he made me feel.’
“I didn’t know [he was leaving],” Murphy told talkSPORT’s Kick Off in immediate reaction to the news.
“I knew the contract was up at the end of the season. So there’s been a lot of talk about it. I am a little bit surprised.
“I’ve got, you know, Gary’s a friend of mine and he’s been phenomenal to me since the day I walked in the building. And a warm, charismatic, intelligent man who knows his football and has become part of everybody’s furniture, if you like, on a Saturday evening.
“I’ll just tell you quickly, I mean, from my first… I’d done a few shows and he was always great.
“And in my first tournament, I was thrust into the World Cup in Brazil really quickly.
“And it was quite daunting as Alan Hansen was there, Alan Shearer, you know, a lot of these people who I’d looked up to. And between Gary and Alan, and Gary especially was the first one to always, even if I wasn’t working on the same show as him, leave me a message saying, ‘we’re going to be eating here, we’re going to be in this bar, we’re going to be in this hotel. Come and meet us, get a cab to there, we’ll be there.’
“You know, all those type of little things that brought me in. And I’ll never forget how he treated me and how welcome he made me, how good he made me feel.
“And just a very intelligent football man, loves his football. You know, him and his sons, they all love the football as well. And he’s doing so many good things.
“He’s getting on a bit, just because he looks good for his age doesn’t mean he isn’t old. He’s getting tired in his old age, probably wants to just cook his Sunday roast.”
Lineker has hosted Match of the Day since 1999 having replaced iconic broadcaster Des Lynam in the role.
By the end of the 2024/25 season, Lineker will have been host of the show for 26 years.
