BBC Salaries - progress

[gradus]

How much audience does Gary Lineker pull in to BBC and would our new £250k person achieve comparable viewing figures? Your call Mr Programme Planner.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

How much audience does Gary Lineker pull in to BBC and would our new £250k person achieve comparable viewing figures? Your call Mr Programme Planner.

This is interesting - do people watch MotD in order to see Mr Lineker? (I have no interest in the sport myself, but it might account for the way it often seems that the BBC think that R3 needs "personality" presenters to boost audience numbers. If it is true that Lineker - rather than the game televised - draws a bigger audience than would be the case if he weren't presenting the programme, then at least there's some kind of corporate "logic" behind their "one-size-fits-all" thinking.)

[P. G. Tipps]

How much audience does Gary Lineker pull in to BBC and would our new £250k person achieve comparable viewing figures? Your call Mr Programme Planner.

Say what you like about Mr Lineker but he's the perfect fit for the BBC. He's almost the huge, 'liberal'-minded organisation rolled into a single human being. He's a safe bet who'll never say anything that might upset his bosses and, for an ex-footballer, he's comparatively articulate and intelligent. Of course he's not worth all that money but that's a management failure and not of any great concern to Mr Lineker, and why on earth should it be?.

Personally I'd rather have an individualistic talent like Mr Chris Sutton in the job, who's also articulate and intelligent, but maybe rather more thought-provoking and challenging to others in his view of things.

However, the bad news is that it's not my call, but that doesn't stop me from making a confident prediction. When Gary eventually retires, or moves on for even more money, the MOTD job will go to either Gabby Logan or Clare Balding, if both are still at the BBC, or maybe even if they are not. Whether either lady manages to attain similar remuneration to Mr Lineker will be very interesting indeed to discover.

Remember, you read about the shortlist for the next MOTD presenter here first, folks ...

[antongould]

I think Lineker is in a class of his own as a footballer presenter .... IMVVHO the best in my lifetime ..... and he has played the game, very well, at the highest level. Remember very ordinary Premier League players are earning much more than he is ...... and if he is too left wing for scotty .... what's not to like .....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

...... and if he is too left wing for scotty .... what's not to like .....

I thought he was Centre Forward?


(Norman Tebbitt is "too left wing for scotty"!)

[antongould]

I thought he was Centre Forward?


(Norman Tebbitt is "too left wing for scotty"!)

These are good points well made .......

[teamsaint]

These are good points well made .......

Interesting that his old pal Smithy made good on the punditry gravy train too.

Lets not get Alison started though.What a great partnership they were. Little and large, Toshack and Keegan, jumpers for goalposts, black and white TV licences ......

[Serial_Apologist]

Interesting that hos old pal Smithy made good on the punditry gravy train too.

Lets not get Alison started though.What a great partnership they were. Little and large, Toshack and Keegan, jumpers for goalposts, black and white TV licences ......

And isn't it high time they changed the theme tune to MOTD??? It's been on since my ex-girlfriend and I were an item, that being in the late 1970s at least!!! At least the Countryfile theme has undergone a succession of fashionable makeovers in order to score with the youth...

[teamsaint]

And isn't it high time they changed the theme tune to MOTD??? It's been on since my ex-girlfriend and I were an item, that being in the late 1970s at least!!!

Jimmy Hill got it re recorded at one point, new arrangement, and the fans demanded the old one was reinstated.

Probably too expensive to commission a new tune anyway,after GL and Shearer have had their wedges......

[P. G. Tipps]

I think Lineker is in a class of his own as a footballer presenter .... IMVVHO the best in my lifetime ..... and he has played the game, very well, at the highest level. Remember very ordinary Premier League players are earning much more than he is ...... and if he is too left wing for scotty .... what's not to like .....

Oh, good gracious, no ... I strongly suspect scotty doesn't know anything about Mr Lineker's politics and, frankly, I very much doubt if he (scotty) would be particularly interested in GL's politics anymore than GL would be in scotty's. Still, all this is pure conjecture, anton!

However, whatever scotty thinks, I am, myself, somewhat aware of the current BBC 'diversity' culture which is open and well-advertised. I agree that Mr Lineker rarely puts a foot wrong in the role. He has an efforless-seeming style and 'chummy' approach which creates a relaxed atmosphere. I'm sure a lot of hard work goes into creating that atmosphere as few successes in life come easily.

However no one, not even Mr Lineker, is particularly indispensable and actually Ms Logan has been very good in the job when she has appeared and would tick all the BBC suitability boxes especially in the current climate of some of the ladies claiming the gentlemen always get the top, higher-paid jobs Maybe even more important to the viewer she also seems to know quite a bit about football.

However there is also the upwardly-mobile Ms Balding in the frame and she ticks all those BBC boxes as well, and some! But does she know much about football? I honestly don't know the answer to that so therefore cannot make an accurate prediction whether Mr Lineker's eventual replacement will be Ms Logan or Ms Balding ...

Nevertheless, whoever is successful, will the BBC then feel obliged to pay either lady somewhere near the same rate that Mr Lineker currently enjoys? I fear that will be the only thing that will particularly interest our mischievous media and tabloids ... and, of course, the ladies themselves!

[cloughie]

And isn't it high time they changed the theme tune to MOTD??? It's been on since my ex-girlfriend and I were an item, that being in the late 1970s at least!!! At least the Countryfile theme has undergone a succession of fashionable makeovers in order to score with the youth...

No should stick with it as it is - otherwise we might have inflicted on us something like that racket on the Championship on 5!
...and for the record, Lineker is a good presenter but his salary is ludicrous, and comparison with players salaries is irrelevant, he is a very well informed retired footballer but should be happy with a more sensible figure for his services.

[Richard Tarleton]

As an aside Emily Maitlis told us on Newsnight last night how she obtained that eye-popping interview with, er, Scarramuchi the other day. She is a formidable journalist, at the top of her game. I gather the Beeb was in the process of renegotiating her contract when all this broke - they'd better get it right.

[jean]

Go on, tell us - how did she do it?

[Richard Tarleton]

Go on, tell us - how did she do it?

The interview http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p059sw1m

How she did it (starts around 6.30) http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...night-31072017

[Serial_Apologist]

However, whatever scotty thinks, I am, myself, somewhat aware of the current BBC 'diversity' culture which is open and well-advertised. I agree that Mr Lineker rarely puts a foot wrong in the role. He has an efforless-seeming style and 'chummy' approach which creates a relaxed atmosphere. I'm sure a lot of hard work goes into creating that atmosphere as few successes in life come easily.

And didn't he once present adverts for junk food of some kind? Well qualified, then...