GARY LINEKER needed to be “saved from himself” and was let down by the BBC, claims the man he replaced on the Corporation’s golf coverage.
Steve Rider, who hung up his mic over the weekend, left the Beeb in 2005 to join ITV.
GettyGary Lineker previously hosted the BBC’s golf coverage[/caption]
GettySteve Rider hung up his mic over the weekend[/caption]
Rider, now 75, presented the BBC‘s live golf coverage prior to his exit and was replaced by Match of the Day host Lineker.
Rider initially kept quiet about his replacement, until in 2015 when Lineker took a swipe at the R&A in St Andrews.
The former England captain was upset with the R&A’s decision to flog rights to the Open, previously held by the Beeb, to Sky Sports.
Lineker called the R&A “pompous” and “superior” – which Rider took issue with.
The veteran presenter called Lineker at the time “the wrong man in the wrong job”, before adding: “Gary was honest enough to step aside from the golf, but his attack on the R&A was sour and misguided in the extreme.”
Rider has now claimed that Lineker “blundered” into politics during an interview with the Telegraph.
Reflecting on the presenter’s controversial BBC exit, Rider added: “To put forward his opinions so energetically, you need to step outside the framework of the BBC.
“That message was never convincingly conveyed to him by the BBC, and that’s where they are at fault.
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PALineker, 64, has left the BBC in controversial circumstances[/caption]
“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.”
Rider has not spoken to Lineker since criticising his swipe at the R&A a decade ago.
During his stint with the BBC, Rider hosted Sports Personality of the Year alongside Des Lynam.
Taking aim at the current incarnation of SPOTY, the outgoing ITV stalwart said: “The commercial aspect took over.
“The thinking was, ‘Let’s take it to a 5,000-seat arena with a big shiny floor’. It killed the chemistry.
“Unfortunately, this happened just as the BBC’s involvement in sport started declining.
“Now it’s very, very uncomfortable to see. It’s not the type of programme you would invent now.
“It has become a bit of a ball and chain.”
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