Gary Lineker leads Micah Richards and Alan Shearer through a sprawling New York apartment, its large windows overlooking the bright lights and bustle of Times Square below. Richards’ booming laugh fills the space as he discovers a bar, a foosball table, a darts board; the ultimate World Cup bachelor pad. And for the next five weeks, Lineker’s home will also be on Netflix.
Of course, Lineker’s exit from the BBC came earlier than expected. In another universe, he would have signed off in July after presenting his seventh World Cup final for the broadcaster. For a certain generation, Lineker’s presence fronting the tournament and his relationship with the BBC felt like it could last forever. But, as he told The Louis Theroux Podcast this week, it was a marriage that had started to “run out of love”. Some of the opinions he shared on social media should not have resulted in the controversies that overshadowed the final months of his 26 years with the BBC. But sharing a picture of a rat alongside a pro-Palestine social media post, even if accidental, was indefensible and, for his aspirations of covering another World Cup with the BBC, a fatal mistake.
It did not, though, leave Lineker with nothing on his hands ahead of the World Cup. His podcast empire, Goalhanger, which this week was named Britain’s fastest-growing company, had already taken off, with ‘The Rest Is History’, ‘The Rest Is Politics’, ‘The Rest is Politics: US’, ‘The Rest is Entertainment’ and ‘The Rest Is Football’ all regularly positioned in the top-10 of the podcast charts. Lineker launched ‘The Rest is Football’ alongside Shearer and Richards during Euro 2024, which, compared to the family-friendly BBC style his audience had become accustomed to, took on an “after-hours” feel. Lineker was allowed to swear, and created something of a “furore” when he said England’s performance in the 1-1 draw with Denmark was “sh**”.
Lineker, after all, understood what would cut through in today’s attention economy, and away from the BBC felt he had the freedom to say something that was punchy and authentic, even if attempting to wear two hats at once during the Euros came off a little awkward. “No would have listened if I said England had played ‘pretty bad’”, he remarked wryly during a Netflix event to promote ‘The Rest is Football’. That’s what Netflix were after, too. The streaming giant “begged” to turn Lineker’s podcast into a daily show for TV; the figure reported is £14m for 40 consecutive episodes during the tournament, for a podcast Lineker was recording anyway – and one that can’t actually show the goals because it doesn’t have the rights.
The result is that Lineker will be in New York and overlooking Times Square throughout the World Cup, rather than the “green box” in Salford the BBC will be presenting all of their games from (co-host Richards, who is doing punditry for the BBC during the World Cup, will end up being beamed into ‘The Rest is Football’ studio via a video link). While Netflix themselves have ventured into the world of streaming live events through sport, such as major heavyweight boxing fights, they have never produced a daily TV show in any of its regions. Despite backing ‘The Rest is Football’, executives have no idea how it will land, or if people will even watch. Episodes, after all, drop at 6am each morning in the UK, before attention turns to the games that evening. Netflix just wanted to have a presence.
As such, Lineker will not be ‘rivalling’ the BBC or ITV in the race for World Cup ratings. But they can compete when it comes to star guests: the appearance of England defender Harry Maguire, surprisingly snubbed from Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad to the public shock and disappointment of his mum and wider family, is likely to generate clips and make some more headlines. That, after all, is the currency in which ‘The Rest of Football’ aims to stand above its true competitor: the multi-platform world of ‘Stick to Football’ run by up-and-coming media conglomerate Gary Neville, alongside former professionals and podcast titans Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott. They will be based in New York, too.
Netflix has “no editorial control” over ‘The Rest is Football’, given it is produced by Lineker’s own company. It means Lineker won’t be stopped from offering an opinion on the off-pitch controversies that are set to dominate this World Cup, four years on from the former England striker opening the BBC’s coverage of Qatar with a monologue on the “most controversial World Cup in history”. There were shades of that with the first episode featuring a discussion on Africa referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was denied entry into the US by border control on the eve of the tournament. Lineker called that development “concerning”, reading out a Gianni Infantino quote from last year that claimed everyone would be “welcome” at this World Cup, but the discussion quickly moved on to whether England should start Jude Bellingham or Morgan Rogers and how to get the best out of Harry Kane.
And there is banter, oh is there banter; little jibes at “Big Meeks” the “legend off the pitch”, throwing shade at Lineker continuing to live off his World Cup golden boot from 1986. The lads will be enjoying themselves, too, and tales of the New York nightlife, the “Cowboy Bar” in Miami and the “tequila bar” in Mexico City may be another recurring feature. But it’s a still essentially just a podcast, on TV. Whether anyone watches is largely irrelevant. Whether ‘The Rest is Football’ can produce a few seconds to cut through the noise is all that matters.
