Typically, Gary Lineker can extricate himself from even the thorniest tangle with a jovial one-liner. “Ah, the joys of being allowed to stick to football,” he said, attending a Manchester City match in 2023,

Gary Lineker has just one edition of Match of the Day left to present before leaving the show at the end of the season after 26 years. The Leicester icon announced earlier this season that he was standing down from his role on the show at the end of the current campaign.

Lineker’s £1.35m position is said to have become untenable after the latest controversy that angered BBC colleagues, insiders say