Gary Lineker became a problem for the BBC by growing bigger than football

Gary Lineker is to have a phased exit from the BBC and this looks to be by far the most amicable separation either side could have hoped for given the tension of the last couple of years. A part-time role is a great face-saver for all parties and allows Lineker to be discharged with full honours before continuing his world domination via his podcast conglomerate.

And it means the BBC can be rid of a turbulent priest without having to grasp head-on the issue of having its most high-profile sports personality consistently making a scene. Lineker had become bigger than the highlights programme. Absurdly, and not entirely his fault, he had become bigger than the BBC’s football offering. He had become the story.

How should we judge his telly career, when the time comes?

It should not be forgotten that he had been a magnificent find. Watching him on early Football Focus clips, he was wooden, nervous, gauche. But people are allowed to get better at things and his development as a presenter was remarkable; chapeau to BBC producers for spotting it and nurturing him.

He had become a wonderful sports broadcaster: humble about his own playing achievements, always eager to celebrate the younger generation, never an in-my-day bore. An enthusiast. He was charming to guests, generous and encouraging to pundits of all abilities and fair-minded to players and managers.

He learnt from ‘Dishy’ Des Lynam the value of the wry, cheeky quip, leaning into the eye-rolls where needed. He seemed not to take himself too seriously, and appeared in his pants when Leicester won the Premier League. All things considered, he wore it lightly – the presenter role, not the underwear. He was a comfort in moments of sporting disaster and proved himself a superb live broadcaster in moments of actual alarm, such as Christian Eriksen collapsing. All this from a man who was a gentleman on the pitch and one of England’s all-time greats.

But social media was not his friend, and he began to use his platform to express views that not everyone agreed with. In essence they were harmless Centrist Dad pleas to the tune of “why can’t we all get along?” but once he began to wade into party politics, enemies without and within had plenty to charge him with.

To post on social media that the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill was “immeasurably cruel” is not a view shared by all, clearly, and the reductio ad Hitlerum charge that it sounded like the language of Nazi Germany was a gross overreach for someone in his position. The minutiae of BBC guidelines and how they apply to staff versus independent contractors may have been a fair defence on this and other brouhahas but was too finessed a sell for a large swathe of society who quite understandably wanted to know why the state broadcaster insists it is impartial while allowing one of its best-paid stars to soapbox at will.

On a sporting level, it was poor form of him to be so harsh about the England football team on The Rest Is Football this summer but the unintended consequence of that, perhaps, is that he will spend more time with his podcast empire. The BBC, thank goodness, can find a front person for its flagship programme who can be trusted to stick to football.