Gary Lineker has taken a sly dig at his former employer BBC, claiming ITV’s set to be ‘absolutely amazing.’ Lineker has been brought on as a guest pundit for the ITV for the World Cup clash between Germany and Ivory Coast.
The former Match of the Day host had been following the tournament from New York, where he has been presenting daily episodes of The Rest Is Football for Netflix. Lineker had originally planned to remain involved with the BBC’s World Cup coverage after stepping down from Match of the Day, but it was announced in May of last year that he would be cutting ties with the broadcaster entirely.
His appearance on ITV marks a move to the BBC’s direct rival just over a year after his departure. As ITV began their coverage, Lineker said: “Thank you for joining us on ITV for this one, another day, another game, another channel-
Presenter Laura Woods then interjected: “Woah, woah, woah Gary that’s my job,” before Lineker added: “Sorry, sorry, old habits Laura, old habits.”
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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.”
Lineker replied: “I’ve been doing a show daily for Netflix in Times Square but I did desperately want 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 comes amid criticism of the broadcaster’s World Cup setup, with their studio based in Salford, England, rather than on-site in the United States.
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ITV, by contrast, are broadcasting from a rooftop studio overlooking the New York and Brooklyn skyline.
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