Alex Kay-Jelski was being celebrated by colleagues today as the man who finally got rid of Gary Lineker after years of headaches.
One senior source told MailOnline that the corporation’s Director of Sport had made ‘a lot of people happy at the BBC’.
When Mr Kay-Jelski was handed the prestigious role in April 2024, he knew he had to shake things up. And fast.
And one source claimed that he quickly admitted that he believed that Match of the Day viewers would tune in no matter the host.
This came as bad news to Gary Lineker, who despite repeated impartiality scandals and even attacks on his employer, had said he wanted to stay on the show beyond this year and had even offered to take a pay cut.
Lineker eventually agreed to leave Match of the Day at the end of the Premier League season on Sunday and present the World Cup from America in 2026 – but that deal is now on the cutting room floor.
The BBC‘s Director of Sport, who is Jewish, is said to have considered Lineker’s position ‘untenable’ following the controversy surrounding the now-deleted Instagram video story which featured a pro-Palestine video featuring an anti-Jewish rat slur.
There is clearly no love lost between the two men, especially when Lineker’s boss took the job and immediately said he wanted to ‘freshen up’ Match of the Day to appeal to a younger audience.
It was telling, perhaps, that the 64-year-old presenter could not resist attacking the BBC’s Director of Sport in an interview so he could apologise for an antisemitic Instagram post featuring a rat.
Gary Lineker is set to set to step down from the BBC today over antisemitism allegations and will not helm the broadcaster’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup
Lineker questioned his boss Alex Kay-Jelski’s experience in TV as he tried to keep his job.
Lineker shared a now-deleted reel on Instagram which originated with pro-Palestine group Palestine Lobby
When Mr Kay-Jelski was handed the prestigious role last April, arguably the biggest issue on his desk was how to deal with Gary Lineker and the repeated headaches he has caused Auntie over impartiality issues.
Taking on Lineker was a formidable task that many had avoided over the years and led to staff claiming that previous bosses had even ‘indulged him bending its rules to breaking point’.
Mr Kay-Jelski was in the job for a matter of months before rumours began circulating that he wanted to give Lineker the shove, with the former newspaper executive said to believe a new presenter could help win over young viewers.
Kay-Jelski was also said to be frustrated by Lineker’s outspoken political views and foul language used on his The Rest Is Football podcast, which sources said he believed reflected negatively on Match of the Day.
It took just seven months to see off the BBC’s biggest disclosed earner, following a high-stakes stand-off that included an offer from Lineker to take a £350,000 pay cut.
And now after yet another scandal, his foe will leave the BBC.
Kay-Jelski has been branded ‘the hatchet man’ behind the scenes of the BBC, sources told MailOnline previously, and he played a key role in axing Jermaine Jenas following his sexting scandal.
According to one insider, he believes Lineker’s name no longer carries as much weight as it once did, views his salary as ‘excessive’ and has privately admitted Match of the Day viewers would tune in no matter the host.
MailOnline previously revealed that the BBC had apparently drafted a press release announcing Lineker’s immediate departure from Match of the Day last year.
Kay-Jelski was the alleged author of the email, having only just started his job.
He shipped out Jenas, who according to some reports was being lined up to step into Lineker’s shoes at the helm of the flagship football show.
In the light of rumours Jenas had sent sexually inappropriate texts to younger female colleagues, Kay-Jelski launched an investigation into the case and ruthlessly sacked Jenas in a video call while he was on holiday with his family.
Once the decision was made, Kay-Jelski sent a terse email to the BBC’s entire sports staff announcing: ‘Hello all, I wanted to let you know that Jermaine Jenas is no longer working for the BBC. Thanks Alex.’
According to insiders, he was equally tough in negotiations with Lineker over the renewal of his current contract, which expires at the end of the football season.
It is understood that Kay-Jelski was irritated by Lineker’s often outspoken comments on his non-BBC podcast that he hosts alongside MOTD colleagues Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, which is produced by his own lucrative company Goalhanger.
Despite being given ample opportunity to deny the email’s authenticity, the BBC signally failed to do so, leaving observers convinced he was heading for the exit.
Kay-Jelski prospered in the cut-and-thrust world of print sports journalism, heading the sports desks at the Mail and The Times, before moving to The Athletic as Editor-in-chief and then the BBC.
He is a father of two boys with his husband, high-flying French-born City executive Andrew Kay-Jelski, 38. Alex Kay-Jelski graduated from Edinburgh University in French and Spanish before beginning his career in journalism.
The only controversy in his career to date was provoking the ire of JK Rowling and Sharron Davies with a piece in The Times about trans women athletes.
He suggested that having separate categories for trans competitors was like having ‘special categories for Jamaican sprinters and Ethiopian marathon runners’. He added: ‘Sounds mad, doesn’t it? Nasty, even.’
JK Rowling and others objected to their concerns about the fairness of biological men participating in female categories being compared to racists.
Gary Lineker’s vicious dig at his BBC boss while apologising for antisemitism was the ‘final straw’ for the corporation with the star expected to resign in shame today.
The 64-year-old said that Alex Kay-Jelski had ‘no television experience’ and suggested his plans to revamp Match of the Day without him would fail.
A BBC source has claimed that the criticism of Mr Kay-Jelski may have been the ‘final straw’ for the corporation.
Lineker made the comments about his boss in an interview where he apologised for sharing a pro-Palestine video featuring an anti-Jewish rat slur.
‘I think (a regime change) has (happened), and that’s what I was alluding to (in an earlier interview),’ Lineker told Telegraph Sport.
‘He [Alex Kay-Jelski] has his reasons, he wants to change Match of the Day a bit. Ultimately, I don’t think they will, because I don’t see how you move a highlights show away from being about highlights.
‘I think he wants more journalists – he has come from that background. He has got no television experience.’
The 64-year-old is expected to quit the BBC today after being pushed out of the broadcasting corporation amid his anti-Semitic rat post saga.
He will no longer lead the broadcaster’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup and present FA Cup games after his final Match of the Day on Sunday.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism hailed the news today and said Lineker is ‘an egotist who mistook celebrity for moral authority’ who ‘used his fame to inflame‘.
‘Impartiality at the BBC is dead, and Mr Lineker has been Exhibit A. He could have been the Des Lynam of our generation. Instead, he transformed in front of the nation’s eyes into Mr Not So Nice Guy.
‘At last the final whistle has been blown on his tenure at the BBC, and now it is time to ask how and why management allowed him to play on until now, foul after foul’, they said in a statement.
Sources close to the footballer turned broadcaster have confirmed he will quit today and ‘won’t be back’.
Incredibly one pro-Lineker source has suggested he is leaving to protect the corporation – not that he is being pushed out.
‘Gary acknowledged his position at the BBC, anchoring the most prestigious tournament in world football, was untenable, and he will not be hosting the World Cup.
‘He offered to step down at the end of the season, and did not want the BBC — an organisation he still holds in the highest of esteem — dragged into any further controversy.
‘He remains absolutely devastated by the recent turn of events and is deeply regretful about how his post was interpreted. His last Match of the Day will air on Sunday now and he won’t be back’, the insider told The Sun.
One source told MailOnline there there is anger about the idea he is trying to protect the BBC from further harm given how much damage he has caused in recent years.
‘He has no self-awareness whatsoever’, they added.
Another source told the Telegraph: ‘The BBC’s endless willingness to overlook his apparent anti-Semitism dressed as Palestinian advocacy constantly makes Jewish staff feel how little they matter to the corporation. Perhaps Lineker lacks the sophistication to know the difference, but what’s senior management’s excuse?’
Among the Nazis’ depictions of Jewish people as rats was this poster produced by Adolf Hitler’s regime during their 1940s occupation of Denmark
The ex-Tottenham star will leave with BBC bosses considering the sport’s broadcaster’s position untenable amid allegations of antisemitism.
Following backlash from sections of the Jewish community, the Match of the Day presenter insisted he would ‘never knowingly share anything anti-Semitic’.
Lineker, 64, has apologised unreservedly for the ‘mistake’ saying ‘that image does not reflect my views’.
The image of rats and vermin are considered provocative since they were widely used as propaganda against Jews in 1930s Nazi Germany.
The former England striker was already set to leave his role as presenter of Match of the Day at the end of the season, but will now no longer host the corporation’s coverage of the FA Cup in 2025-26 and the World Cup in 2026.
On Saturday afternoon, he took to TV screens across the country again to front coverage of the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Crystal Palace from Wembley alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney.
Lineker is listed by the BBC as their highest-paid presenter, receiving £1.4million from the BBC last year.
He shared the controversial post, originally uploaded by another account, as it featured a critique of Zionism – the belief that there should be a national homeland for Jewish people in Israel.
The BBC stalwart has previously been vocal with his views on the Israeli invasion of Gaza following the October 7 attacks – among other issues – but is not thought to have ever publicly apologised for content he has shared.
Mr Lineker refused to say sorry in 2023 for comparing the then Tory government’s rhetoric over its immigration policy to that of Nazi Germany.
The remark triggered a BBC suspension but this was lifted when colleagues walked out in support of the presenter.
The BBC’s social media rules were then rewritten to say presenters of flagship programmes outside news and current affairs – including Match of the Day – have ‘a particular responsibility to respect the BBC’s impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC’.
Lineker’s inflammatory tweet from 2023 compared ministers’ language over migration to ‘Germany in the 30s’
Gary Lineker told Amol Rajan that he had the right to give his views despite impartiality rules and said he was ‘right’ to criticise Suella Braverman and the Tories over their immigration polices
Lineker, however, remained unrepentant about the series of incendiary tweets from 2023 that led to his suspension.
In an interview published on BBC2 last month, he said: ‘I don’t regret saying them publicly, because I was right – what I said, it was accurate.
‘Why shouldn’t I have an opinion on things? I’m a b***dy footballer who’s turned into a sports presenter’.
In the same interview with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, he was asked whether it was part of his remit to give a view on Middle East politics.
Lineker said: ‘I’m sorry. It‘s more important than the BBC. What’s going on there [Gaza] is the mass murder of thousands of children — probably something that we should have a little opinion on.’
But on Wednesday, after outrage at the rat image intensified, the former England captain said: ‘On Instagram I reposted material which I have since learned contained offensive references.
‘I very much regret these references. I would never knowingly share anything anti-Semitic. It goes against everything I believe in.
‘The post was removed as soon as I became aware of the issue.
Gary Lineker returned to TV screens for the first time on Saturday to host the FA Cup final after apologising for sharing an ‘anti-Semitic’ social media post
The long-standing sports presenter was at the helm of Match of the Day for 25 seasons but was due to step down at the end of this season even prior to this latest controversy
Lineker has been repeatedly outspoken on the Israel-Palestine conflict, something that has caused controversy within the BBC
‘Whilst I strongly believe in the importance of speaking out on humanitarian issues, including the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, I also know that how we do so matters.
‘I take full responsibility for this mistake. That image does not reflect my views. It was an error on my part for which I apologise unreservedly.’
In an interview with The Telegraph this week, Mr Lineker described what is going on in Gaza as ‘beyond depraved.’
He said: ‘We still seem to be on the side of the people who are doing this. We’re still supplying arms.
‘And you think, ‘Wow, how?’ The vast majority of people see it for what it is now.’
