Des Lynam on Gary Lineker, Ian Wright and 60 years of Match of the Day

It’s a rare maudlin moment. Lynam is actually 81 (he turns 82 in September) and while he’s happy to talk about the past he doesn’t want to live in it. I wonder, though, does he keep any mementos of all those special sporting occasions he had the privilege of observing during six decades of broadcasting? It turns out not.

"We moved house recently and I dug out a box of all the press accreditations I had from all around the world. I threw them all out. The past is the past, I’m interested in the present and the future," he says.

OK, so for the time being let’s stick with the present. This month sees the 60th anniversary of Match of the Day. Lynam presented what has become the world’s longest running football show between 1988-1999. Is he still a fan?

"I never miss it," he says, then adds, "It’s a total misnomer, really, isn’t it? Match of the Day worked for Kenneth Wolstenholme, who presented it between 1964 and 1967 because they only did one match, but now it’s every match. So, it’s the wrong title, but they’re not going to change it now because it has such a great cachet."

And what does he make of Gary Lineker, who was a fresh-faced punditry sidekick when he was host, and after 25 years in the hot seat is, by quite some distance, the longest-serving MotD presenter. "He wasn’t comfortable (as a pundit) at the beginning," says Lynam. "Of course he’s been highly critical of the England team in the Euros but when he first came on he wouldn’t criticise anybody.

"When I left, he immediately got the job and he grew into it very rapidly. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for my money I think he does a first-class job."

When Lynam quit, it was an audacious piece of cross-channel poaching by ITV. Does he regret his decision to jump ship? "They [the BBC] were overworking me at the time, I was doing everything, which was very complimentary but also wearing. ITV came in and offered much less work and extraordinary money, which I couldn’t refuse.

"With hindsight I should have thought about it a bit longer. I missed doing Match of the Day. It belongs there at the BBC. If they ever get rid of it, or can’t afford it, they’re finished."

Someone who is finished, at least on MotD, is the infectiously enthusiastic Ian Wright, known to colleagues as 'Wrighty', who left after 27 years on the team, saying that it was time to "have a break". Lynam thinks he’ll be a big loss.

"It’s a shame, because he has developed into a first-class broadcaster and pundit. He speaks from the heart and people like that. He’s never bland. He made his first appearance on MotD when I was there. He came on, as a player, and said 'Des, this is my Graceland' because he’d watched it since he was a boy."

So, which of the existing team should step up to fill his shoes? Speaking before it’s revealed that Joe Hart and Theo Walcott will be pundits/presenters, he names his favourite, although there’s a deliciously gentle, Lynam-esque, sideswipe. "I think it’s Micah Richards, isn’t it? He’s got a sense of humour and he knows football. Obviously he’s played for England and Manchester City, though he didn’t make a huge mark on me playing for either. I think he needs to calm down a little, but his opinions are quite solid, though I don’t think anybody can quite match Wrighty."

When Lynam first joined the BBC as a sports reporter aged 26 in 1969 his annual salary was £2,030. It’s a meaningless, though nonetheless entertaining, comparison, but Lineker, on £1.3million a year, makes in a few hours what it took Lynam 12 months to earn. Is he worth it?

"I don’t suppose you can justify it in terms of what a nurse or firemen does, but it’s the market – that’s what the BBC feel they have to pay to get his services.

"You can’t say that anybody saying a few words into a television screen is worth more than someone who saves lives, but money dictates. He’s a very lucky chap. He’s had two great careers and the second one is helped along by the fact he had the first one."

Lynam’s own career is strewn with memorable sporting moments. Not just football, but the Olympics, Wimbledon… you name it and he’s pretty much done it. Apart from cricket, though. Stick to what you know about, he says.

Out of all those wonderful occasions, is there one he cherishes the most? "I’d have to go right back to Ali versus Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa in 1974. I was a babe in arms at the time – I was thrown to the lions. In the build-up to the fight, Ali invited some British press guys to go to a bungalow he was staying in.

"There were only about five of us and because I had a tape recorder I was sitting next to Ali on a sofa. He was showing us how his jab was going to work against Foreman. He was jabbing away at my hooter and I was flinching and moving my head back and then I thought, 'Bugger this, I’ll keep my head exactly where it is and if he hits me and makes my nose bleed I’ve got a scoop.'

"Of course with Ali’s immaculate timing he still stayed a quarter of an inch away from my nose, and then at the end he used that phrase he used many times with other people, 'You ain’t as dumb as you look.'"

Like Ali, Lynam was lauded for his good looks. He was dubbed the housewives’ favourite by the tabloids and even had a little paean coined by Rory Bremner…'wine 'em, dine 'em, Lynam'. But unlike Ali, he claims not to have welcomed it.

Of course, the best judges of attraction are those who profit from marketing it. Lynam was in great demand for product endorsement. He dyed his famous top-lip tuft purple to promote Nintendo’s Super Mario game and was signed up by the whiskey brand Jameson because they claimed that it was as smooth as he was.

He recalls the photoshoot with relish. "We went to David Bailey’s studio and there were about ten people from the advertising company. But he chucked them all out. He took my photograph in a few minutes and then we proceeded to damage a bottle of Jameson's."

Today, Lynam deflects any talk of his heart-throb status, claiming he was the "ugly duckling" sat between Ruud Gullit and Alan Hansen at the 1996 Euros and then reveals that his good friend Hansen is recovering well after being seriously ill in hospital.

"I got a phone call the other day from Alan, who I’ve always remained in touch with. I was very concerned when I kept reading how ill he was. I couldn’t ring his wife in case the news was bad. We’d written her a note sending our love. Anyhow he rang me and we had a good conversation. He’s made a full recovery – he’s out on the golf course carrying his own bag."

Despite what he says about the past, you sense that Lynam misses the old days. Ask him about the modern game and he laments the influx of international players. "I’ve supported Brighton all my life, but I can’t name the team now. There’s only about two I know, the others are all foreign boys who have come from South America and all sorts of places."

The introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) also dismays him. "You can’t be offside by a fingernail. It might be factually correct but it’s not right in the ethos of the game. Scrap it altogether, go away and think about it and bring it back if it’s good enough when you’ve got it right. But at the moment it’s creating more dissension than we have ever had before."

Another change since Lynam’s day is the increase in the number of female football pundits. What does he think? "I’ve got no gripe with female presenters, but when you’re a pundit and you’re offering opinions about the game, you have to have played it at the level you are talking about – ie, the men’s game." There is a long pause… "In my view."

There are few greater joys for a journalist than to talk to someone of Lynam’s experience. His body might be failing, his memory faltering but he retains a legendary status within the profession, although when marking his own career he downplays his achievements. "I’m proud of the work I’ve done up to a point, and then I realise it’s not that important. The fact I did quite well in broadcasting, well, I’m pleased with that."

When the epitaphs for Lynam are eventually written, "I did quite well" is unlikely to make an appearance.

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