Having a Gary. Lineker's gift to my lexicon and why leaving the BBC was the right thing to do

Football is what people watch Match of the Day for not Lineker

When I was working in radio in the 1990s with the brilliant Peter Gordon we had a wonderful time. Being silly and having fun was a daily occurrence and made the 4am starts bearable. It was the magic and innocence of that time, when critics of content were restricted to the energetic letter writers or the occasional drunken caller. I am sure a lot of my early radio performances were dreadful and I hate to think how social media would react to my bad jokes!

Back then I really typified the cliche grumpy early morning newsreader and would often have to be 'defrosted' at 5-30, before we went on air. One morning, Peter was 'enjoying' another of my pre-sunrise rants, when I waggled my finger by my eye to signal my anger. As I did this he said, "you looked like Gary Lineker during the 1990 World Cup when Paul Gascoigne was booked". It is a very famous clip, where Lineker is telling Bobby Robson to have a word because Gazza knew he was out of the final, if England progressed.

From that moment, every time we were annoyed about something or in a bad mood, it was called a 'Gary'. It became part of our regular daily lexicon. I have even passed this on to my stepchildren and occasionally they will still talk about being in a 'Gary'. Crazy how one little moment in a radio studio can turn into something. A colleague even tried to explain this to the man himself at a charity golf event months later. I think it is fair to say he was bemused.

I was thinking about this recently when Lineker announced he was leaving the BBC. Back then he was still known for being a (good) footballer and was just starting out on his media career. National treasure status would come decades later. But without the BBC I do not think Lineker would have found that place in so many people's hearts. Despite its many faults, the BBC still has huge cultural impact and presenters on the Beeb have greater 'reach' than those who remain in the commercial sector.

I have felt for many years that Lineker had outgrown the BBC because of his pay. No person should be paid that much by our public broadcaster. Once a presenter becomes too big, we know it can go very wrong. The BBC has more responsibility than other broadcasters and outlets to manage this well. Lineker felt he should be able to express his views, without compromising the BBC. But his association with the organisation was so intrinsic that whatever he said would be linked to it. I think Lineker needed the BBC more than the BBC needed him. It was time to go. No one really watches Match of the Day because of the host, they watch it for football highlights.

Controversially I think Lineker is a competent presenter but nothing more. He has become too chummy with the pundits, rarely asks a decent question and struggles to deal with the unscripted and unexpected. All of this is fine if he is paid £1.5m by TNT or Sky - but not if it is the BBC. Save that money and use it to train the regular pundits how to analyse football matches in the way Gary Neville does on Sky. But that is a whole different blog because I am feeling a bit 'Gary' about the quality of punditry on the BBC!