Former Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker has revealed he was “a bit nervous” after his final BBC show.
Speaking to pundits Micah Richards and Alan Shearer on his company Goalhanger Podcasts' Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker, 64, admitted he struggled to hold back tears as the highlights clip was shown on Sunday.
Lineker told the men who often appeared with him on the programme: “I was a bit tired and a bit emotional last night but it's OK.
“I'm doing well, thank you both for your kind words yesterday. I must say, when they showed the video, I certainly knew something was going to happen, but I didn't know what.
“(I) had a hard time holding myself back, especially when I saw my boys. You know how it is when it comes to family and things like that, and luckily it wasn't the last segment because at that point I was already out of it, I needed time to get myself together and try to finish the program.”
The former Barcelona striker was left in tears after the video, which featured messages from experts past and present, including Richards, Shearer, former Liverpool defender and pundit Alan Hansen, Danny Murphy and ex-Arsenal man Ian Wright.
Words were also heard from Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and former Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, as well as former teammates Alan Smith, Paul Gascoigne and Peter Shilton, and Lineker's sons George, Harry, Tobias and Angus.
On Monday's edition of Rest Is Football, Lineker also revealed how he lost a copy of the sheet of information he was due to read out over the Premier League table during his final broadcast, forcing him to improvise.
In the podcast, he shared: “For the first time in my life, I completely lost that document, which was essentially the text I was supposed to read at the tables.
“It was written by the replacements, it had to be accurate, obviously, in all aspects, no mistakes could be allowed.
“For the first time in 26 years I couldn't find it and it wasn't there, so I just (improvised), which was a little unusual.
“But there were tears, I held them back a little in my final words.”
Richards paid tribute to Lineker, saying: “Just sharing the studio with you, and like I said in the video, all the help, all the guidance, I genuinely meant it and it was nice to see you get the send-off you deserved.”
Lineker left the programme after 26 years, telling viewers it had been an “absolute privilege” and a “huge joy” to host it.
His departure from the channel followed a scandal that erupted after he published a post about Zionism that included an image of a rat, historically considered an anti-Semitic slur.
Lineker, the BBC's highest paid presenter, apologised for the social media post as it was confirmed he would leave his BBC presenter role early and would no longer cover the 2026 World Cup or next season's FA Cup.
In his final message on the show, Lineker said: “As in my football career, everyone else did all the hard work and I got the applause. It has been an absolute privilege to host Match Of The Day for a quarter of a century.
“It was incredibly nice.”
Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman will replace the Leicester-born star and share the hosting role from next season's Premier League; Lineker wished them “all the best as they take over”.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
