Gary Lineker gave fans an insight into his final Match of the Day – a day after the curtains drew on his 26-year tenure presenting the flagship show.
Lineker confirmed his departure from the BBC last week and ‘apologised unreservedly’ for sharing a social media post about Zionism with a rat emoji – a derogatory term used by Nazi Germany about Jewish people.
The 64-year-old was visibly moved after a seven-minute tribute video was played at the end of the show, charting his journey from professional football to esteemed broadcaster.
The video featured some legends of the beautiful game, including the likes of Pep Guardiola, Virgil van Dijk, Ian Wright, and even Andrea Bocelli.
After his tribute, Lineker rounded off the show with a recap of the Premier League table and a closing line.
Last night was no different to usual, except that he had to do so off the fly, as he revealed he had lost the copy of his lines.
Gary Lineker revealed he lost his script for the final segment of his last Match of the Day show
The 64-year-old announced his departure from the BBC last week after an antisemitism row
A touching seven-minute tribute video was aired celebrating Lineker’s career on the show
Lineker told Alan Shearer and Micah Richards on the trio’s podcast – The Rest is Football: ‘I always finished with the Premier League table and then a closing line, which I again did last night.
‘For the first time ever, because of everything that was going on, I completely lost what we call “the copy”, which is the written form of what I read out over the tables.
‘That’s written by the subs [sub-editors]. It needs to be accurate, you can’t make any mistakes.
‘For the first time in 26 years, I couldn’t find it.
‘It wasn’t there so I just busked, which was a bit different. There were a couple of tears, I was fighting it back a bit with my closing lines.’
Lineker then addressed the farewells he received in his tribute video, and explained that Paul Gascoigne – his former England and Tottenham team-mate – had initially filmed a segment that ‘never could have been put on air’.
Lineker added: ‘It was something. Even seeing people like Pep, Claudio Ranieri popping up. It was like “Oh no, don’t do this to me [make him emotional]”.’
Alan Shearer then joked about the Gascoigne’s tribute that was shown to the public, where he jokingly invited Lineker to ‘get some botox and go gallivanting’.
Lineker explained that Paul Gascoigne’s initial tribute ‘could never had been put on air’
Several of Lineker’s former team-mates and colleagues sent in messages to him – including ex-England goalkeeper Peter Shilton (pictured)
Micah Richards and Alan Shearer joined Lineker for his final outing on the football review show
Pictured: Lineker on a Bank Holiday walk with his dog – his first public sighting since leaving Match of the Day
Gascoigne said: ‘Saturday night you’re free now! I’ll send you to Turkey to get sorted out. Get you some Botox and me and you can go gallivanting as I know a lot of rehabs to go to afterwards. Match of the Day is going to be a big loss without the Links.’
Shearer joked to Lineker: ‘I hope you’re going to take Gazza [Gascoigne] up on his invitation to get your teeth and your botox and everything done in Turkey.’
Lineker responded: ‘You can always rely on Gazza for something special. Rich [Richard Hughes – editor of Match of the Day] sent me the non-edited version of his [Gascoigne’s] video.
‘There were a couple of bits you could certainly never could have put on air.’
Lineker will leave the BBC without a pay-off from his £1.4million salary while he, Shearer and Micah Richards will continue to work together on the hugely popular ‘The Rest is Football’ podcast.
Lineker has presented Match of the Day since 1999 with his 26-year reign making him the longest presenter in the show’s history.