Gary Lineker admitted to Match of the Day secret that only BBC insiders knew about
Gary Lineker spoke about one of Match of the Day's biggest secrets, as the player-turned-pundit nears his final days presenting the widely-watched Premier League football highlights show on the BBC
by Aaron Morris · The MirrorGary Lineker revealed that he doesn't always come up with his witty puns at the end of Match of the Day shows.
From "Wow Pedro" in a nod to Joao Pedro's winning goal against Manchester United at the start of the season, to his "Final show... before the international break" quip amid rumours he was stepping down from the widely watched football highlights show in October, Lineker has never been one to let the opportunity to crack wise pass him by.
However, it came to light that the 64-year-old isn't always the mastermind behind his moments of wit, which is adored by viewers across the UK. Speaking on an instalment of the Rest Is Football podcast earlier this season, Linker was asked about his MOTD jokes, before lifting the veil on what happens behind the scenes of the BBC show.
He explained: "I'm going to share a little secret here. Our editor Richard Hughes and myself have a disease, a thing that we can't help but make dad jokes. We basically come up with them together – 50 per cent of the time it will be him and 50 per cent of the time it will be me.
"We sit down at the end of all the games, and we figure out the best story to close the show. We then think of some crappy and cheesy and occasionally funny pun." He added: "I always think you are going to make it really, really bad or really cheesy, because that in itself is fun."
In a separate instalment of the podcast, which he shares with Micah Richards and Alan Shearer, Lineker also explained what a day looks like working on MOTD coverage. He explained: "I love the three o'clock thing where we sit down. You've got five games at 3pm, and you each give yourself a game or get designated a game to watch through so you can focus on it properly analytically.
"And I'll sit there and just watch all-round or Leicester when they're playing mostly." He added: "And then we've got a big table at the back of the room of goodies right. You know, there's crisps – Walkers, obviously – there's chocolate, there's all sorts of things.
"And every Saturday I go in and I say 'do not get involved with that table this Saturday' because once you start, once you're in, you don't stop. And once again, I failed miserably. So I kept snacking away, snacking away." On the topic of food, he continued: "Then we usually eat don't we, about half-time of the evening game, so around 6ish, 6.30pm something like that.
"And it's basically whichever takeaway... I mean I've been going up there now for 13 years, and I think we've exhausted every possible take-out. But it's usually Nando's, Wagamama's, all sorts of Chinese, Caribbean food – all sorts of stuff we get in don't we?"
Lineker then revealed that he heads to the studio at around 9.30pm, rehearsing his lines before delivering the show and ending the long working day around midnight.
The poster boy of the show since 1999, Lineker announced late last year that he will step down from his Match of the Day presenting duties at the end of the current Premier League campaign. However, the presenter will stay on with the BBC to do the FA Cup for one more season and then front their coverage of the 2026 World Cup in the summer of next year.
Speaking about Lineker's departure back in November, Director of BBC Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski said: "After 25 seasons Gary is stepping down from MOTD. We want to thank him for everything he has done for the show, which continues to attract millions of viewers each week. He’ll be hugely missed on the show but we’re so happy he is staying with the BBC to present live football."
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