Gary Lineker's £1.75million BBC salary was once described as an "outrageous" amount of money by former Mastermind host John Humphrys. The ex-England footballer has topped the list for being the highest-paid employee at the Beeb for several years.
Even following the pay cut he accepted in 2019, which decreased his staggering salary to £1.3m, he remained comfortably at the top. The pay cut was voluntary and offered by Lineker during negotiations for a five-year contract, which expires this year. The 64-year-old is now set to leave MOTD at the end of the season after 26 years leading the BBC's flagship show.
Humphrys - who hosted the BBC Radio 4 breakfast programme Today for 34 years - was asked for his thoughts on Lineker opting to reduce his salary. "We don't know how much so ask me when we know. I don't know," the Welshman said in 2019. "I thought £1.75million for a wee bit of chatting was outrageous."
Lineker announced his decision to leave MOTD last November with it being revealed months later that a trio of Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan, and Kelly Cates would share hosting duties when replacing him. The former Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur striker conducted an interview with journalist Amol Rajan and claimed he believes the BBC wanted him to leave his MOTD post.
"Well, perhaps they want me to leave," he told Rajan last month. "There was the sense of that." Admitting that the cycle of broadcasting rights for matches made his departure likely, remaining to lead coverage of the FA Cup and the World Cup has meant that Lineker now finds himself in a comfortable situation.
Reflecting on his departure from Match of the Day, Lineker told Rajan: "It's time. I've done it for a long time, it's been brilliant. In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme.
"I think it was their preference that I didn't do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people. So it's slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and the World Cup, but to be honest, it's a scenario that suits me perfectly."
