Steve Rider has lifted the lid on his relationship with storied sports presenter and former footballer Gary Lineker, revealing he still resents being replaced by the ex-Match of the Day host on the BBC’s golf coverage.
Rider is preparing to bid farewell to a career spanning 45 years on national television, bowing out as the host of the British Touring Car Championship coverage on ITV4.
His portfolio boasts an impressive array of events, including the Olympic Games, Rugby World Cup, Formula One – where he memorably reported on Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident at Imola – and Champions League football. All cementing his reputation as one of the most reliable figures in sports presenting.
Having launched his broadcasting journey at ITV and then crossing over to the BBC for a nearly two-decade-long stint, Rider became synonymous with golf, bringing major tournaments such as the Ryder Cup, the Open, and the Masters into homes across the country.
Lineker’s unexpected appointment as the new face of BBC’s golf coverage didn’t sit well with Rider when he left the station.
His grievances remained unvoiced until 2015 when Lineker controversially branded the R&A ‘pompous’ and criticised their air of ‘superior beings’, sparking a sharp retort from Rider.
Speaking with the Golf Paper, Rider explained: “I hold Gary Lineker in the highest regard as a football presenter, but his reflections on his experiences as a golf presenter need a huge reality check.
“For four years, the R&A and most other observers knew that Gary was the wrong man in the wrong job. Hazel Irvine has just delivered once again at the Open presentation skills of the highest quality. Not many people can do that and Gary certainly came up short.
“Roger Mosey, the head of sport, knew Gary was a golf fanatic and was further encouraged by Gary apparently volunteering for the Masters vacancy within a few minutes of my exit from Television Centre.
“But if Mosey thought long and hard before offering Gary the golf job, it’s even more baffling. Match of the Day is scripted and rehearsed. Golf presentation, especially at Augusta, is seat of the pants, unpredictable and demanding.”
The 75-year-old has not communicated with Lineker since those times, as stated by The Telegraph. Now, he has given his viewpoint on Lineker’s recent departure from the BBC.
Lineker, who hosted his final Match of the Day last month, had been expected to leave the corporation next year, after the World Cup, but his permanent exit was confirmed following an Instagram post in which he criticised Zionism while sharing an image of a rat. He maintains he was unaware of the historical use of rats to convey Jews in anti-semitic rhetoric.
“To put forward his opinions so energetically, you need to step outside the framework of the BBC,” Rider asserts.
“That message was never convincingly conveyed to him by the BBC, and that’s where they are at fault. He needed people looking after him before he pressed the button on some fairly volatile retweets.
“He needed to be saved from himself. So, there was a kind of inevitability about it.”
