What the BBC should do with Gary Lineker - and its certainly not pay him £1.3m - Kelvin MacKenzie

The Times is reporting that Lineker’s agents have spent the last year going round rival networks attempting to drum competition for his ‘’talents’’. That search has been futile.

Nobody wants him. Nobody wants to pay him. Nobody wants the aggro. At the BBC he doesn’t care if he upsets the viewers with his Lefty political views since the Corporation’s bosses probably agree with him.

That would be different in the commercial world. Amazon and TNT were pushed to return his calls and only Channel 4, with their Left leaning attitude, showed a spark but they only have a handful of games every year and that wouldn’t be enough profile for Lineker.

Which is why the BBC have got Lineker by the balls. And they should give them a mighty squeeze as he has done to them over the years.

You see Lineker wants a big national stage as it makes him a fortune in his own commercial investments. He runs a successful podcast business, much to the annoyance of his BBC bosses who should have tied him down to the Corporation.

As you might expect one of the strands is football. And he uses the same presenters on the podcast on Match of The Day, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. For instance, during this summer’s Euros from the first game alone his company took £125,000 in ad revenues.

And he worked out that by saying something controversial it attracted even more views and therefore more money. By describing England’s performance as shit he hit the financial jackpot.

But after 25 years as presenter of Match of The Day the well is running dry for Lineker. But being the caring sort I have a solution which will keep Lineker front and centre for football (important for his money-making ambitions) and at the same time please the viewers who will no longer have to fund his lifestyle.

Under my contract he has to give two undertakings. 1) To keep his trap firmly shut about political matters. If he can’t do that, there will be no contract. 2) That he agrees to effectively pay for his airtime by paying £100,000 a year to the BBC.

After all most TV types make more money off the screen through their fame than they do on it. Advertising deals, making speeches, opening stores, endorsing fashions, ‘’writing books’’. It all adds up. Being famous is a licence to print money. And Lineker and his clever agent know that.

There would be a queue twice round Wembley of rich ex-footballers who would pay to front MoTD. It would be for the producers to decide who was the best option. After all neither Shearer or Richards (both of which cleaned up in the Euros) are Broadcaster of the Year quality.

For the viewer it will help with their blood pressure. Their natural reaction has been ; How can that work be worth £1.3million?

The reality is that it isn’t but has been lucky the BBC bosses are stupid and even worse don’t care about the money as it isn’t there’s.

That luck has just run out for Lineker. Thank God for that.