When Match of the Day legend Des Lynam left the BBC in 1999 after signing a deal with ITV , he reportedly more than doubled his salary from £500,000 to £1million. He now admits it was an extraordinary amount of money. But when he considers what the BBC is now paying Gary Lineker , the man who took his place as MotD host, he questions whether £1.
35m is a bit much for sitting around blethering about football. Des, 81, says: “I don’t suppose you can justify it in terms of what a nurse or firemen does, but it’s the market – that’s what the BBC feel they have to pay to get his services. You can’t say that anybody saying a few words into a television screen is worth more than someone who saves lives, but money dictates.
” Des, who was paid £2,000 per year – equal to about £33,000 today – when he started as a sports commentator with BBC radio in 1969, concedes that Gary is a “first-class” pundit. Gary, 63, who was with Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Barcelona , and won 80 England caps in his playing career, is now the BBC’s top earner, ahead of Radio 2 breakfast host Zoe Ball, who is on £950,000. Des says Gary, who caused controversy when he called England “sh**” after their 1-1 draw with Denmark at the Euros, was “lucky” to have had two successful careers, as a player then pundit.
As Match of the Day celebrates its 60th anniversary, Des tells Radio Times: “He wasn’t comfortable (as a pundit) at the beginning. Of course, he’.