Mark Lawrenson believes Gary Lineker justifies his high wages (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Mark Lawrenson believes Gary Lineker's £1.35million BBC salary is fair pay for his role as the face of Match of the Day. The former Liverpool defender - who shared the screen with Lineker for 21 years on the BBC's premier football programme - recognises the England legend as one of the nation's leading sports broadcasters, a status reflected in his substantial pay packet.
Lineker has topped the BBC's highest-earner list for six consecutive years, beating out the corporation's second-highest earner, Zoe Ball, by £370,000, according to the BBC's 2023 annual report. And while some have baulked at that figure, Lawrenson is in agreement with it
Speaking on the Disruptors Podcast with Rob Moore (via The Mirror), Lawrenson was quizzed about whether he thought Lineker's hefty earnings were warranted, to which he responded with a resounding "yeah".
Lawrenson praised Lineker's prowess, adding: "Because he's very, very good. If you watch the programme every week, it's funny, they get to the point and he's got a word for everything.
"I don't know of any other footballer who could have done that, and they wanted a footballer, especially wanting a little bit of a change following Des Lynam [who was] right up there."
The old Match of the Day presenting team, from which only Lineker and Alan Shearer remain (Image: BBC)
He also recounted Lineker's early days in broadcasting: "When Gary started on Radio 5, you just thought there's no way in the world he's going to be fronting Match of the Day ever because he was hopeless, his own words not mine. And he slowly but surely got better and from day one, he did really, really well."
It's not that long since Lawrenson's time on the BBC staple came to an end in less-than-glorious circumstances. But while his tenure on the show is over, Lineker continues to reign as one of the UK's most beloved presenters.
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Lawrenson appeared alongside Lineker and Alan Hansen for years (Image: BBC)
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Blaming his departure from the BBC on his age and ethnicity, the 69-year-old ex-footballer spoke out about leaving the corporation at the close of the 2021-22 season, saying he'd been axed for being "65 and white". Reacting further on this during Ben Heath's podcast earlier this year, he also accused the broadcaster of being at the "top of the woke league."
In a pointed dig, he said: "They are frightened to death, absolutely and totally frightened to death. You have seen the stuff with Gary Lineker and obviously people at the head of the BBC, I think day by day, I think the integrity of the corporation gets chipped off. It used to be absolutely fantastic but they are woke, plus 100 per cent."
