During an episode of The Rest is Football, a podcast shared by Lineker, Shearer and Richards, they discussed Lineker’s final show back in November 2024. By then, Lineker had already indicated that his tenure as host was nearing its end.
In one episode of Match of the Day, Shearer was given the task of starting the show with a joke directed at Lineker. When asked about hosting duties on the podcast, Shearer made his position clear with a succinct 15-word statement.
“No, I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing, so I’ll leave that to the experts,” he confessed. “I did [open the show]! By the way, I was so nervous because we’d only decided to do that about a minute before we went on air.
“I only had to say eight words, and I was s******g myself. I’ve got a new respect for presenters. I know it’s not easy, but honestly I was like, for a minute, my throat was bad.
“The countdown in your ear it’s like, ’10, 9, 8,’ and then it went on air and we were waiting for it to go, ‘And cue’. For a second, I was thinking, ‘If you f*** this up now, you’re just going to look a right idiot.’
“I’m even sweating now thinking about it. Honestly, I was thinking, ‘If I get one word wrong here, this is going to ruin me’, with it being so important. I can just see the memes going around if I get a word wrong. Whatever, ‘You just don’t f*** it up here; just get it right.’ Thankfully, I didn’t mess up.”
Despite Shearer and Richards continuing their Match of the Day duties following Lineker’s departure, the Premier League’s record goalscorer offered his colleague a touching farewell.
