Who decreed that the subsequent Match Of The Day host (or head of the Church for that matter) needs to be a girl? AMANDA PLATELL writes that it should simply be the very best particular person for the job

No sooner had Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker been forced out by the BBC, and the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned in disgrace as head of the Church of England, than the clarion call went out – replace them both with women!

Received wisdom had it that the solution to these two very different crises was a fair and steady female hand on the tiller.

All I can say is: What utter tosh! What snowflake ignorance!

As a fanatical football fan and lifelong, practising Christian, I have skin in both these games.

And I have no hesitation in saying that propelling women into top jobs simply because they are female would be disastrous for everyone concerned.

First, football. I watch any game I can on Sky Sports, especially if my beloved Spurs are playing, and every Sunday I sit down to watch the Match Of The Day repeat (before church at 11am). I’m no fan of Gary Lineker’s political outpourings, for instance of the way he compared the language used by the last Tory government in relation to its migrant policy to ‘that used by Germany in the 30s’. And I remain outraged that the BBC agreed to his £1.35million pay package.

Yet for 25 years he has been a passionate, well-informed presenter of Match Of The Day, having first won our respect with 80 caps for England, and become the country’s World Cup record goal scorer.

When he’s telling us about football, he knows what he’s talking about. I only hope the person they choose to replace him does, too. But the way things are going, I’m filled with foreboding.

This week, it was reported that the new BBC Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski – who was instrumental in jettisoning Lineker in order to ‘shake things up’ and attract a more youthful audience – was in talks with former Lioness star Alex Scott to replace him.

She became the first female football pundit on the BBC during the men’s World Cup in 2018 and she is a bonny lass.

Yet when commenting on the men’s game, I find her both plodding and, more importantly, uninformed. Which is what you would expect from someone who, despite triumphing in the women’s game, has never played at the far quicker and more skilful level of the men.

The men’s English top flight has been a powerhouse of world football for many years but the fact is that she has had no experience of it. And, inevitably, that shows in her punditry.

What on earth makes the BBC think Alex would be suitable as a replacement for Lineker? It’s not as if she has been a box-office draw. As presenter of Football Focus on Saturday lunchtimes, she reportedly managed to lose a third of the show’s viewers in three years, with many fearing it would be axed entirely.

The Beeb has also apparently been considering replacing Lineker with a ‘job-share’ between the presenter of the sister show Match Of The Day 2 (shown on Sundays), Mark Chapman, and sports presenter Kelly Somers – an offer Chapman understandably refused.

Auntie seems determined to shoe-horn a woman into Lineker’s seat.

It is no coincidence staff at the BBC now fear Lineker’s departure could mean Match Of The Day heading for a woke graveyard – following the path of Football Focus, which seems to be geared towards ‘millennials and snowflakes’ instead of the bulk of MOTD viewers, who are mostly middle-aged, footy-mad men (and some women like me), an audience the Beeb seems hell-bent on shedding.

The talented Gabby Logan, whose own sporting career as a rhythmic gymnast sadly ended through injury aged 17, is also in the running for a key football presenting role.

Yet she’s never kicked a football in her life except with her kids or rugby-ace husband Kenny – nor, to be fair, has lifelong broadcaster Chapman.

Meanwhile, The Sun newspaper reveals that BBC staff fear Match Of The Day fans’ favourite pundits could also be red-carded to reduce the number of ex-players who are middle-aged and male.

The news comes as Football Focus has been derided for using influencers and celebrities such as Love Island’s Jordan Mainoo-Hames, a model.

His connection with football? His brother Kobbie plays for Manchester United and England.

All I can say is that if Alex Kay-Jelski thinks ditching former stars who played at the highest level in the world’s toughest and best league for the likes of Alex and Gabby is a good idea, he is in for a rude awakening.

As will be those leaders infected by wokery at the Church of England if they insist the vacancy soon to be left by Archbishop Justin Welby is filled by a woman.

Already any number of female bishops are being touted as his replacement.

The Iranian-born LGBT-champion and Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, 58, was straight out of the blocks as the frontrunner, having already been the first minority-ethnic woman to be ordained as a bishop.

Then we have the Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, 61, the first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords, who preaches that God is neither male nor female and has criticised the CofE for its ‘lack of diversity’.

And Rose Hudson-Wilkin, 63, the Church’s first black female bishop, a ‘powerful symbol of change’ who has decried the CofE for its ‘institutional racism’.

All jolly good and progressive, but such speculation about who should become our first woman Archbishop fails to consider the complexities of the Worldwide Anglican Church, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is the global head. Its followers encompass conservative traditionalists all over the world, not least in Sub-Saharan African countries from Kenya to Namibia.

Such congregations are unlikely to readily embrace a woman as head of their Church. Even here in Britain, 600 parishes are still refusing to accept female vicars.

At my church, when consulted over choosing a new vicar, most of the largely small-c conservative congregation stipulated a High Church, traditional Anglican pastor, with ‘no happy clappy’ and certainly no women.

Berate us for our bigotry if you will, but we are traditionalists –just ordinary folk who seek solace in prayer – who believe God is a man, and Jesus died for us. For people like me, a woman reading the sermon and preaching the Gospel somehow still seems odd.

To my mind, a woman Archbishop would discomfit the Worldwide Anglican Congregation of churchgoers. That is more than 85 million people, of whom the UK constitutes around a measly 685,000.

There, I’ve said it and expect plenty of opprobrium for my views.

I’m not saying the Church of England or Match Of The Day – or, indeed, any other organisation – should not have a female figurehead. I’m simply arguing that the best, most qualified person should get the job, and that progressive values should not hold sway.

The Church now has so many challenges, the selection of a new Archbishop could not be more vital. As for who presents the football – well, it may not be as pressing, but let’s not forget that it is a national religion, too.