Gary Lineker refuses to discuss MotD exit and ignores transgender issue on podcast

Ex-England captain requested questions for latest episode – and was challenged by Martina Navratilova to debate transgender rules

Gary Lineker failed to mention his Match of the Day departure or address football’s transgender rules despite inviting the public to suggest questions for his latest podcast episode.
The former England forward said he had received some “quite imaginative” requests but he declined to discuss the two hottest topics that had been raised in recent days.
The latest The Rest is Football episode, released the morning after his Match of the Day exit was confirmed, instead discussed Ange Postecoglou and Virgil van Dijk.
Lineker had first asked for suggestions for a “question and answer” version of the podcast with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards on Sunday, prior to his BBC exit becoming clear.
After the post on X, he was quickly challenged by Martina Navratilova, Sharron Davies and other women’s campaigners to discuss football’s failure to stop biological males playing in the women’s game.
Many cited Telegraph Sport coverage last week of a 17-year-old girl banned for questioning during a grass-roots match whether an opponent was “a man”.
Lineker previously declared “cut out the divisive nonsense” as he expressed agreement in 2022 with former defence secretary Grant Shapps who suggested that transgender people should “be able to get on and live their lives”.
When he came under attack from campaigners at the time, Lineker wrote on social media that his comment referred to “the war on woke and not any specific subject”.
But there was no mention at all of the issue on the episode which went out three days after hundreds of requests for the question on X.
The other obvious talking point for Lineker was clearly his departure at the end of this season from Match of the Day. Lineker’s MotD exit was confirmed on Tuesday after the two parties agreed a new 18-month reduced-rate contract that will see him continue to work on live FA Cup coverage and the 2026 World Cup.
The joint statement by the BBC and Lineker left the door open to a potential extension to that deal by not confirming whether he will leave the BBC entirely when the new contract expires.
But even as his £1.35 million salary is slashed, the remarkable success of his Goalhanger company, and The Rest is Football podcast he fronts, will ensure Lineker continues to make millions.
He will also continue to receive BBC pay cheques after executives agreed to host The Rest is Football on the corporation’s hugely popular Sounds app, which has five million users in the UK.
That revenue will be a fraction of his income from commercial podcast outlets, however. Advertisers pay Goalhanger £45 for every 1,000 listens to an advert.
He made £125,000 alone during Euro 2024 via other platforms such as Spotify. Telegraph Sport understands the BBC will only be allowed to stream one podcast episode a week, two days after it has already appeared elsewhere and is, as a result, a far less lucrative offering.
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