Gabby Logan has mounted a staunch defence of the BBC's decision to have a work-from-home World Cup studio, after Gary Lineker described it as "a green box in Salford."
Last month, ex-BBC presenter Lineker taunted the corporation and boasted that his sacking freed him up to spend the tournament in New York. He added that he doesn't regret missing out on anchoring the BBC's coverage of this summer's tournament, during an event in London to launch Netflix's Sports Club.
Lineker, who lost his £1.35 million-a-year job as the BBC's highest-paid star last year, said: "I was originally going to do it for the BBC this summer but that didn't transpire and I would have been in Salford in a green box and now I'm going to be in New York City overlooking Times Square with lots of great guests."
Now, Logan, who will be part of the BBC's presenting panel for this summer's World Cup in North America, has delivered a response to Lineker and defended the decision for the corporation to remain in the United Kingdom until the last week of the five-and-a-half-week tournament.
"We did the Women's World Cup like this," Logan said. "We did the Women's Euros – last Euros – like this, where we were in the studio in Salford, and then we went out [to Switzerland] for the latter stages. That's a very expensive cost, to take out a lot of people to major tournaments, so we have to think about that, and the belt is being tightened all the time, as you know, with the licence fee. So there's lots of good reasons why we do that, and I think our coverage has been exceptional in those tournaments and award-winning in the case of last week's Baftas, so I don't think it's harmed our coverage to not be there for the whole tournament."
The BBC announced their star-studded line-up for this summer's World Cup on Monday, with Logan, Mark Chapman, Kelly Cates and Alex Scott among the presenters chosen. Wayne Rooney, Micah Richards, Alan Shearer, Joe Hart, Paul Robinson, Steph Houghton, Ellen White and Danny Murphy are the ex-England internationals that have been picked as pundits by the BBC. Representing Scotland, meanwhile, who'll play at their first World Cup since 1998, will be Scott Brown, Rachel Corsie and James McFadden. To add some global flavour to the BBC's coverage, Olivier Giroud, Gael Clichy, Cesar Azpilicueta, Benni McCarthy and Lucas Leiva have been signed up. Also, former Tottenham and Brentford manager Thomas Frank will be offering his analysis, as well as ex-Wales captain Ashley Williams. Former referee Darren Cann will also provide insight on all the big decisions across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
