Revealed: How ruthless new BBC Sport boss lastly solved Auntie’s ‘Lineker downside’ – as we reveal his prime candidate to exchange him, writes KATIE HIND
When Alex Kay-Jelski was handed the prestigious role of the BBC’s Director of Sport in April, he knew he had to shake things up. And fast.
Kay-Jelski had two immediate problems to solve. The first was pressure from higher-ups to attract a younger audience. The second, and more urgent, issue was Gary Lineker, the Match of the Day presenter who had caused the Corporation repeated headaches over impartiality issues.
Taking on Lineker, who is paid £1.35million a year by the BBC, was a formidable task that many staffers had avoided over the years.
After weeks of speculation, it was confirmed on Tuesday that former striker Gary Lineker will step down from MOTD at the end of this season
It took Alex Kay-Jelski (pictured) just seven months to see off the BBC’s biggest disclosed earner, following a high-stakes stand-off that included an offer from Lineker to take a £350,000 pay cut
Kay-Jelski, however, took just seven months to see off the BBC’s biggest disclosed earner, following a high-stakes stand-off that included an offer from Lineker to take a £350,000 pay cut.
Yesterday, after weeks of speculation that Lineker, 63, would be leaving MOTD, it was confirmed the former striker will step down at the end of this season. He will host the BBC’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US, as well as next season’s FA Cup.
Last night, it was reported that he has already left the presenting line-up for the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year awards ceremony in December.
One BBC insider tells me: ‘Gary has done what he has liked at the BBC for so many years.
Kay-Jelski is said to be already discussing Lineker’s job with Alex Scott, the Football Focus host and former England Lioness. ‘He thinks she would be just great,’ said one BBC source
‘Alex wasn’t scared though. He knew he didn’t have long to wait around and make a change, and it was pretty much an open secret at the BBC that Alex wanted to change things up when it came to Gary. What a coup for him.’
In fact, the Mail can reveal that Kay-Jelski is already discussing Lineker’s job with Alex Scott, the Football Focus host and former England Lioness. ‘He thinks she would be just great,’ said one BBC source.
Rumours that Lineker was leaving the BBC, which first appeared in the Mail, had been circulating after a draft press release announcing his departure was leaked in October.
At the time it prompted anger among Team Lineker, who said: ‘Gary doesn’t deserve to be treated in such a way – he has been an excellent servant to the BBC for 25 years.’
But this week, Lineker appeared to want to get his word in first – and on Monday briefed his favourite newspaper, The Sun, that the rumours were true.
‘He wants to leave on a high,’ said a source close to him.
The BBC was able to ‘see straight through’ the star’s PR strategy, a source says. And so, at 10am yesterday, news that Kay-Jelski had won his war with Lineker was confirmed in a short, cold statement: ‘The BBC and Gary Lineker have agreed in principle a contract extension through to the 2026 World Cup.’
Lineker said in his own statement: ‘I’m delighted to continue my long association with BBC Sport and would like to thank all those who made this happen.’
So what changed in the month between the leaked draft announcement and the one released yesterday?
Sources tell me dethroning Lineker was not easy. Working on behalf of the footballer was his fearsome agent Jon Holmes, who has done his negotiations for decades. He is known to be staunchly defensive of Lineker and had been briefing for weeks that his client would leave the BBC ‘when he wants to’.
‘Jon has been at Gary’s side for years and you certainly don’t want to get on the wrong side of him,’ said one industry insider. ‘This time, Team Lineker didn’t manage to keep him on the TV. Perhaps times really are changing.
‘Even the offer of taking a pay cut as big as £350,000 wasn’t enough, so there must have been a tremendous power shift in the end. There was always going to be a stand-off; both sides were fighting hard for what they wanted.’ Indeed, as Team Lineker briefed that it was his decision to quit, the Corporation’s culture editor Katie Razzall claimed yesterday that this was not the case.
‘Lineker was open to staying on at MOTD but the BBC did not offer him a new contract for the show,’ she said.
Despite the best efforts of Kay-Jelski – who has been described by former colleagues as a ‘no-nonsense kind of guy’ –Holmes pulled off one significant coup during negotiations.
Lineker on MOTD in 2016 when he hosted the show in Leicester City boxers after his beloved team won the Premier League
The BBC agreed to stream one episode per week of The Rest Is Football – Lineker’s immensely lucrative podcast with his MOTD sidekicks Alan Shearer and Micah Richards – on BBC Sounds from next month.
It is produced, of course, by Lineker’s production company Goalhanger, which is also behind podcasts such as The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Politics, which collectively boast more than 40 million downloads a month.
The amount the BBC is paying for the podcast is unknown, but expected to be in the low six figures. Whatever happens next is firmly in the hands of Kay-Jelski.
The 40-year-old replaced the long-serving Barbara Slater when she retired after 15 years in the job. He was poached by Director-General Tim Davie, from US sports website The Athletic.
Kay-Jelski started his career as a sub-editor at the Mail, before working his way up to the role of sports executive and moving to The Times as sports editor.
He was criticised after writing a column in 2019 saying athletes who spoke out on trans issues, such as Martina Navratilova, were ‘not experts’, and biological men competing in women’s sports was ‘not a huge problem’.
But he is said by colleagues to be ‘staunchly professional’. BBC sources say he is ‘very likely’ to appoint a woman to Lineker’s role, and mooted alongside Alex Scott are Gabby Logan, ITV’s Laura Woods and Sky’s Kelly Cates.
Meanwhile, Mark ‘Chappers’ Chapman, the popular host of MOTD’s sister programme, is still in the running – although some in the BBC think appointing him won’t be ‘enough of a shake-up’.
‘Alex has done the unthinkable and got Gary out so now we are all waiting to see whether he gets the next bit right,’ said a BBC source. ‘But that, ironically, might be far trickier.’
