How Gary Lineker and Gary Neville became rival media moguls

So what kind of challenge does Lineker and Neville’s success pose to mainstream broadcasters?

“They’re still perfect, small businesses, admittedly with huge influence on fans and reach, but their turnover is very modest so they’re not taking on the big legacy media brands in terms of hard business numbers”, says Jimmy Worrall, who recently launched the Football Boardroom podcast after setting up a media business with former England manager Gareth Southgate.

“That said, they’re taking eyeballs, and tapping into the shifting patterns of fans and the way they consume sports news.

“Don’t forget they don’t have real gold (premium live content).

“They’re all trying to diversify and because they’re agile and entrepreneurial, and now have access to capital, they can now buy growth and take risks on new shows, both have market momentum and if they invest heavily and quickly, they can become some significant media businesses.

“They have to constantly evolve, that’s for sure.” Worrall believes the pair’s success can be explained because fans “have been underserved with information over the years…this is where long-form podcasts have stepped up…this has combined with a drastic reduction in financial and technological barriers, and new entrants stepping up to meet this changing demand.”

He added that The Rest Is Football will be expected to play an important role for Netflix during the World Cup, when the streaming giant’s appetite for content could be waning.

“It certainly complicates life for the established broadcaster,” said former BBC executive Roger Mossy, when asked about the rise of athlete-driven content.

“Mainstream broadcasters as a whole are bound to be neutral – whether they’re ‘Manchester United TV’ or ‘anti-VAR channels’ or whatever.

“And they’re still regulated and controlled by their traditions, which means they can’t be as loud or sweary or emotional as podcasts.”

During Euro 2024, Lineker faced scrutiny for being more outspoken about England’s performance on his podcast while presenting BBC coverage during the same tournament.

At that time, he had a thirty-year relationship with the BBC Last year ended in controversy via a social media post about Judaism.

In contrast, Neville continues to work for Sky as its leading pundit. Goldbridge insists he will continue to say what he wants since being acquired by The Overlap.

But is there a risk that the furore about United could conflict with Neville’s role at Sky or his relationship with United or their fans?

“If I were Sky, I’d watch Stick to Football every week because there’s no commercial upside if the editorial tone is off-brand but there’s no potential brand downside because the talent is inextricably linked to Sky,” says Worrall.

“If I were Neville, I’d see Mark Goldbridge thinking the same, he just doesn’t have the commercial side.

“It’s one thing for fans to be angry at the club’s performance, it’s another to have one of the most decorated players in their history fund and facilitate that rut. It won’t be easy to shake off.”

“We see it differently,” Melvin insists. “It doesn’t make sense to invest in Mark and turn him into a traditional presenter. What we want to do is grow his channel with him.”

Another reason was Goldbridge’s daily offering through its channel.

“When (former United manager) Ruben Amorim was sacked we didn’t have the Stick to Football show scheduled for 10 days so we didn’t talk about it until then”, recalls Melvin.

“We can’t do that. We have to be agile.”