Gary Lineker has admitted that his sharp quips at the end of Match of the Day aren’t always his own creations.
Despite delivering memorable lines like “Wow Pedro” after Joao Pedro’s goal against Manchester United, and a playful “Final show… before the international break” amidst speculation of his departure from the popular football programme in October, it turns out Lineker isn’t the sole genius behind these moments of humour that have endeared him to UK audiences.
On an episode of the Rest Is Football podcast earlier this season, when quizzed about his MOTD jokes, Lineker unveiled some backstage secrets of the BBC show. He shared: “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. I always think you are going to make it really, really bad or really cheesy, because that in itself is fun.”
Lineker gave fans an insight into the behind-the-scenes action at ‘Match of the Day’ (MOTD) on his podcast with Micah Richards and Alan Shearer. Discussing his routine, he said: “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. 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. 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?”
Reflecting on the workflow, Gary concluded by mentioning that he typically heads to the studio around 9.30pm to rehearse before delivering the show, wrapping up around midnight. Lineker, the shining face of Match of the Day since 1999, disclosed that he’ll be hanging up his presenting boots at the close of this Premier League season, marking an end to an era.
Nonetheless, he’s not turning his back on broadcasting just yet, as he’s poised to continue with the BBC for one more whirl around the FA Cup and then take the helm of their 2026 World Cup coverage in the following summer.
Reflecting on Lineker’s eminent departure, Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, remarked last November: “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.”
