Gary Lineker could not resist a dig at the BBC after making a surprise appearance during ITV's World Cup coverage on Saturday evening. The 65-year-old, who left the BBC last year, is based in New York for the World Cup this summer to host his daily Netflix show The Rest is Football.
Lineker's Guest Appearance on ITV
Lineker made a guest appearance on ITV's pre-match coverage of Germany's game against Ivory Coast and jokingly introduced the show before host Laura Woods interjected. 'Thank you very much for joining us on ITV for this one – another day, another game, another channel,' Lineker said after the show's opening montage had ended.
Woods then said: 'Woah, woah, woah, Gary, that's my job,' and Lineker replied: 'Sorry, sorry, old habits Laura, old habits.' Woods continued: 'As you'll notice Gary Lineker is our very special guest, England's joint top goalscorer with Harry Kane. Gary, great to have you all jokes aside, welcome to the New York and welcome to ITV family, you have a new show which we'll be talking about in a minute.'
Subtle Dig at BBC's Studio Decision
Lineker then said: 'I've been doing a show daily for Netflix in Times Square but I did desperately wanted to come and see your set. I think it's absolutely amazing, and I can confirm that it's real. What a backdrop. And obviously I wanted to do TV, I haven't done it for a little while.'
Lineker's subtle dig at the BBC was in reference to the broadcaster's decision to present the World Cup from a studio based in Salford, Manchester. In contrast, ITV's coverage is broadcast from a rooftop studio in Brooklyn which has the Manhattan skyline in the background.
Lineker's Previous Criticism of BBC
Earlier this month, Lineker branded the BBC 'soulless' over its decision to not have a studio based in the United States for the World Cup. 'I am very surprised the Beeb are not coming,' Lineker said in an interview with The Telegraph. 'It doesn't make sense to me. I understand that whatever they do they get criticised because that is the nature of the BBC.'
'But I must say this World Cup is the biggest deal over the next five or six weeks. It will probably get the vast majority of the most watched television programmes of the year. Almost certainly therefore it justifies a presence. And they [the BBC] will cover it fine… but I have done many shows when we have not been able to go to tournaments and you are in a green box. Even if it looks like you are not at home – you are. And it's soulless.'
BBC's Defense of Salford Studio
BBC director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski has claimed that the broadcaster has saved 'millions' by being based in Salford for the World Cup and insists the decision has no impact on the 'actual end product' for viewers. 'It's not a green box in Salford. It's a beautiful state-of-the-art studio. No one's seen it until now,' Kay-Jelski said.
'It's completely fine to assume that what was there before was what it was going to be. And I'm really proud of this. To have what would probably be an extra couple of hundred people out there, and that's before you build a studio, you're talking millions. The actual end product people are getting at home, I don't really think it's that different.'
'If I was standing here saying, 'Everything is going to be done from a studio in Dallas', you would rightly be saying to me, 'How can you justify that spend?' We've still got the people on the ground. You've got pundits. Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy are out there. Various commentators, journalists. I don't think we're going to have a problem bringing that feeling across. If these people were sitting somewhere else, would your viewing be massively changed? Right now I'm incredibly happy with it. It's a six-week, high-profile tournament. We're going to get some stuff wrong and we're going to get, hopefully, way more right.'
