Update: Alan Shearer’s comment about Gary Lineker’s MOTD exit dubbed ‘cruel’ by Micah Richards News

Gary Lineker will call time on his 26-year run as Match of the Day host at the end of this Premier League season, and his co-stars are already making jokes about his looming exit

Football legend Gary Lineker had a quick response for Micah Richards after being reminded his tenure on Match of the Day is nearing its end. The Leicester City icon will wrap up his 26-year stint as MOTD host at the end of this Premier League season, with just a month left before his final show.

Lineker, 64, announced in November 2024 he would be departing from the BBC’s Premier League football highlights show this year. Although he will continue to cover the FA Cup next season and be part of the team for the 2026 World Cup, his time working on MOTD around the Premier League is drawing to a close.

While this reality may still be sinking in for some devoted fans, it seems Lineker himself has long since accepted it. And Alan Shearer also appears to have come to terms with the changing of the guard, as evidenced by a joke he made on The Rest Is Football podcast (via The Mirror) about his colleague’s future.

During a discussion about Leicester’s prospects following their 1-0 loss to Liverpool – which confirmed their relegation back to the Championship – former Blackburn Rovers striker Shearer quipped they “might see a happy Gaz on Match of the Day.” That was before he quickly remembered he’ll no longer be part of the show.

Ex-Manchester City defender Richards responded with a sympathetic groan and asked: “Have you really gone there? That is cruel, you know that! Very, very cruel.”

Lineker concurred with Shearer’s amusing remark and called it “a good point” before addressing Richards’ observation by saying: “It’s not cruel at all. It’s a fact. I’m perfectly happy with it.”

Leicester’s drop back down a division was sealed after Trent Alexander-Arnold came up with the decisive goal at the King Power Stadium on Sunday. The Foxes will join Southampton in England’s second tier, while Ipswich Town are on the verge of completing the relegated trio.

Lineker is all too familiar with the feeling having clinched the Championship (formerly known as the Second Division) title with Leicester back in 1980. They suffered relegation soon after, but with Lineker’s help, they rose again to the top division in 1983.

The ex-England star – who scored 48 times in 80 international matches – became the new face of Match of the Day in 1999. His tenure at the BBC started when he filled Des Lynam’s shoes on Grandstand in 1997, two years before he took over the MOTD hot seat on a permanent basis.

Lineker has been intertwined with English football broadcasting for more than 25 years. But despite stepping away from the limelight, he seems relaxed about ending his run and is even welcoming some aspects of the change.

“I’m very much looking forward to getting weekends off for the first time in my adult life,” he told FourFourTwo. “I’ll probably go to the odd game, likely in London because that’s where I live.

“Then I don’t know, I might go away for the weekend, how about that? I can catch the sun somewhere, or maybe visit the Cotswolds, Somerset or Cornwall. I’m a real foodie, I love cooking and eating at great restaurants – there are plenty of restaurants in this country that I want to go to.”

Seemingly reconciled with the fact his broadcast partner won’t be gracing BBC screens on Saturday evenings, Shearer maintained his good humour about the situation. But the subject seems slightly more sensitive for Richards after he felt the urge to stand up for his media mentor.