Gary Lineker has shaped the football conversation for 25 years but his controversies got too much for the BBC, writes IAN HERBERT

A chapter of sports broadcasting history began on a Saturday night in early August, 25 years ago, with Gary Lineker’s breezy opening line about his predecessor Des Lynam’s departure. Gary Lineker shapes the conversation around football and brings a deep technical knowledge He has maintained Match of the Day's popularity in an age of digital clips and instant reaction However, he is not a national treasure in the way that his predecessor Des Lynam was - and his controversies have become too much for the BBC to keep a handle on But the 63-year-old, who began on an annual salary of £500,000 which has risen to around £1.35million, has preserved the huge popular appeal of a show against vast odds. ‘To provide the ailing sports department with a boost.’ One of the early TV reviewers of Lineker’s Match of the Day expressed relief that Alan Hansen was alongside him, ‘with his filleting knife to keep in check any soft focus that might creep in from Lineker.’ But even Lynam knew that the 38-year-old succeeding him brought a level of technical insight that he could never match. ‘He put the time in on that and when Des Lynam left, he was the automatic choice to go front and centre of our coverage.’ Lineker started presenting Match of the Day back in 1999 and has been a fixture on our screens In 2016 he presented the show in his underpants after Leicester City won the Premier League Lineker's podcasting empire means he will have plenty to get stuck into after leaving His outspoken behaviour on social media - particularly about immigration and the Middle East - has pushed the boundaries of the BBC's policies He brought that technical football element to the programme when Sky Sports was showing that grown-up discussions about tactics and technique were not necessarily a turn-off. The BBC’s head of sport Peter Salmon rightly observed when Match of the Day returned, with Lineker, three years later that it was like ‘welcoming home an old friend’.