BBC LINE UP JENAS TO SUCCEED LINEKER AS FACE OF FOOTBALL
JERMAINE JENAs is primed to be Gary Lineker’s successor as the face of football on the BBC.
Sportsmail has learned that senior figures at the corporation have earmarked Jenas as the man to front Match of the Day and live football coverage once Lineker moves on.
While no timeframe has been set, sources have indicated it could be within two years.
Lineker, we are told, is not being phased out and remains highly regarded. However, there have been rumblings about the 59-yearold’s future at executive level amid talk of his various roles elsewhere, including a new ITV quiz show.
And it is Jenas who has jumped ahead of the likes of Gabby Logan as the person the BBC envisage taking over from Lineker.
The 36- year- old has already been given a hosting role on
MOTDx, a youth orientated
BBC2 show. Jenas has also fronted BBC documentaries, including an acclaimed investigation into knife crime in his home city of Nottingham. The former England midfielder is a regular television pundit on BBC and BT sport football coverage and has cohosted BBC Radio 5 Live’s 606 phone-in. It is understood he has ambitions to move into the presenting chair on a permanent basis and the BBC are keen to give him more opportunities before succeeding Lineker.
Jenas (left) earns a BBC salary of £210,000 but would be likely to treble that in a new hosting role on their flagship football show.
He would not, however, be able to command the £1.75m that makes Lineker the BBC’s highestpaid star.
Lineker said in september that he had volunteered to take a pay cut as part of the corporation’s attempt to bridge the gender gap. The details of his new contract have not been revealed, but the former England captain is now set to sign a million-pound deal with
ITV to host a sunday night gameshow with the working title
Going For A Fortune.
Jenas, like Lineker, played for Tottenham Hotspur and England. He started his career at Nottingham Forest before a £5m move to Newcastle United, where he won the first of his 21 international caps.
He then spent eight years at spurs, before retiring aged 32, having failed to recover from a serious knee injury following a stint at QPR.
Jenas’s first media work came in 2014 and he has quickly risen to prominence at the BBC.