Inside a full Saturday working on Match of the Day – from choosing games to takeaways

Have you ever wondered how Match of the Day runs behind closed doors and exactly how much effort goes into making the show a widely watched success? Well, now you can find out…

Gary Lineker has given Match of the Day fans an insight into what goes on behind closed doors at the BBC on a Saturday.

Since its inception in August 1964, Match of the Day has been a primetime football highlights show that recaps all of the action across the English top flight, while former players and pundits have shared their analysis on the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of the beautiful game.

Lineker has been the face of the programme since 1999, taking over from Des Lynam after he jumped ship to ITV – and he is joined week in, week out by NUFC legend Alan Shearer and Manchester City stalwart Micah Richards, who offer their analysis and thoughts post-game.

And while many fans will be none the wiser as to how the show runs behind the scenes, the trio recently gave listeners of their The Rest Is Football podcast the lowdown of how they work together from early in the afternoon to late in the evening. Lineker even shared some of the job’s perks, from getting paid to watch football to takeaway treats.

A 3pm start

When asked by Richards to tell listeners what the trio get up to on a Saturday, Lineker responded: “Well we watch a lot of football,” before Shearer jested: “I would hope so.” Lineker added: “Well it’s kind of what we’re there for, so I mean. I love the three o’clock thing where we sit down. You’ve got five games at 3pm, and you each give yourself a game or get designated a game to watch through so you can focus on it properly analytically.

“And I’ll sit there and just watch all-round or Leicester when they’re playing mostly – as I did yesterday.” He added: “And then we’ve got a big table at the back of the room of goodies right. You know, there’s crisps – Walkers obviously – there’s chocolate, there’s all sorts of things.

“And every Saturday I go in and I say ‘do not get involved with that table this Saturday’ because once you start, once you’re in, you don’t stop. And once again, I failed miserably. So I kept snacking away, snacking away.”

Meal planning

On top of their snacking table, Lineker revealed that the presenters then order a lavish take-out at around 6pm or so, exhausting all of the local takeaways that London has to offer. He added: “Then we usually eat don’t we, about half-time of the evening game, so around 6ish, 6.30pm something like that.

“And it’s basically whichever takeaway…I mean I’ve been going up there now for 13 years, and I think we’ve exhausted every possible take-out. But it’s usually Nando’s, Wagamama’s, all sorts of Chinese, Caribbean food – all sorts of stuff we get in don’t we?”

After dinner duties and a midnight finish

Lineker then he heads to the studio late in the evening and will remain there until just before midnight presenting live for watchers across the UK. He explained: “We end up watching that game, you guys do your analysis, I go through the script with Rich the editor.

“In the studio at about half nine rehearsing – that’s me, I do all my lines, listen into the various matches – and then you boys join me and off we go. And eventually it comes round and I say ‘It’s live television’. 10.30pm last night, so we finished just before midnight.” So there you have it, that’s what a full working day on BBC’s Match of the Day looks like for Lineker, Shearer and Richards.

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.