Gary Lineker stays top of BBC star salaries list

16 comments
  1. Can anyone explain why this man deserves to be paid so excessively? What does he provide that no one else could? Is his knowledge of sport so high and his fan following so strong?

  2. Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has topped a list of the BBC’s best-paid stars for a fifth year in a row, taking £1.35m in the last financial year.

    That’s slightly down on the £1.36m he earned in the previous year, which came after he took a pay cut from £1.75m.

    Radio 2 breakfast show host Zoe Ball is second on the new list, with £980,000. She also previously earned more but took a 28% pay cut at the end of 2020.

    She’s one of three women in this year’s top 10, down from four last year.

    Fiona Bruce and Vanessa Feltz have also made the cut again, but 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne has dropped out of the top 10 after her salary fell by £15,000 to £380,000.

    BBC on-air talent top earners:

    Gary Lineker – £1.35m

    Zoe Ball – £980,000

    Steve Wright – £450,000

    Alan Shearer – £450,000

    Stephen Nolan – £415,000

    Huw Edwards – £410,000

    Fiona Bruce – £410,000

    Scott Mills – £400,000

    Vanessa Feltz – £400,000

    Greg James – £390,000

  3. Radio presenters being paid a lot makes sense to me because their personality is the USP of the product. People have lots of alternative options for listening to middle of the road pop music if they don’t like the chatter of the hosts.

    Conversely Gary Linekar and Alan Shearer being paid so much makes no sense to me. No one tunes into MOTD for Gary witty asides or Alan’s bland analysis. They’ve got a monopoly on same day, legal, free to air highlights of the most popular sports league in the country: people would still tune in if the host and guests were literally a set of traffic cones.

  4. The worst thing is that Steve Wright is still employed by the BBC. I am convinced he knows a dark secret about somebody high up in the BBC.

  5. Abominable sectarian shit-stirrer Stephen Nolan at number six, who uses threat of legal action to silence his critics. BBCNI have cleared out experienced veteran journalists in order to meet Double-dipper’s grossly inflated income.

  6. I never really understand these stories. They’re free to let him go, he isn’t beating you over the head for it. Blame the directors making these decisions rather than an entertainment personality.

  7. >The gender pay gap widened for the first time since the BBC began recording its figures in 2017.

    It now stands at 5.9%, up on last year’s 5.2%.

    tut tut, BBC!

  8. Oh, good! I’m so pleased for him!

    While many thousands of people in Britain are going to bed starving hungry tonight, I’m sure they can take some real comfort in knowing that at least Gary Lineker is still the BBC’s top earner. And rightly so, too!

    It’s not easy to sit around with your mates talking about the sport you used to play professionally in one medium, and then giving political sermonious lectures on the virtues of being woke on another.

    He deserves every penny, quite frankly, and I’m so happy that a percentage of his wages come directly out of my very own pocket. Thank you, BBC, for giving me (like I have a choice!) the privilege to help, in some small way, to pay for his ludicrously huge salary! 🙂

    Long live Gary Lineker, and long live the BBC!

  9. Ah yes, the politics of envy. I’m sure if Lineker left the BBC to collect probably 3x more at Sky, all of societies ills would be resolved.

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