Gary Lineker casually admitting he'd love to poach Roy Keane from Gary Neville's operation is the most football thing to happen in the podcasting world all year — and we're absolutely here for it.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV festival, Lineker was asked which pundit he'd want to add to The Rest Is Football alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. His answer? The Irishman currently sitting in the rival camp. "He's box office," Lineker said of Keane, adding — with a dig he immediately half-walked-back — that analytically the former Manchester United captain "doesn't give you that much." He then corrected himself: "He's bloody good at being Roy Keane. I was kidding about the analytical thing, a little bit."
It's a fair assessment, honestly. Nobody tunes in for Keane's xG breakdowns.
The Podcast Arms Race Is Real
What makes this more than just idle chat is the context. The Rest Is Football has landed a Netflix deal after its World Cup run — 40 days of daily episodes, appearing in Netflix's daily top 10 every single day. The show is pulling more than 7 million monthly streams. That's not a hobby project anymore; that's a proper media operation.
Meanwhile, Neville's The Overlap — which includes Keane on the Stick to Football show — responded to the Netflix deal by announcing its own arrangement with Disney. Two of the biggest football podcast outfits in the country, both now on major streaming platforms. [The competition for eyeballs in football content is only going one way.](/getohedz/football/liverpool-are-still-haunted-by-the-mess-of-last-summer)
Lineker, to his credit, didn't pretend the rivalry doesn't exist. He called out The Overlap and Piers Morgan's World Cup Uncensored in the same breath, joking that they were "trying to copy" and "trailing in our wake." Then, with the kind of smile you can practically hear through a transcript, suggested Keane "probably would" jump ship to join him.
Sweet Roy, They Said
The other detail worth clocking here is Lineker's take on Keane the person versus Keane the character. "I've met Roy a few times. He's really sweet … he just plays a character and he's good at it."
That's a genuinely interesting thing to say about a man whose entire media persona is built on barely-contained fury and withering contempt for anyone who doesn't give 110 per cent. Whether it's true or whether Lineker's winding everyone up is almost beside the point — it's the kind of quote that gets people talking, which is exactly what you want when you're doing the rounds promoting your show.
Lineker also touched on why he keeps wading into political territory despite the attention it brings, particularly around Gaza. "I think ultimately you need to live with yourself," he said. Make of that what you will — the man clearly has no intention of quieting down.
Our Take
The streaming deals, the streaming numbers, the cross-podcast sniping — this is a media rivalry that's become as entertaining as some of the football being covered. Keane joining The Rest Is Football was said tongue-in-cheek, and everyone knows it. But Lineker's right about one thing: the Irishman is box office. Whether that charisma would survive in a different setup, away from Neville's world, is a question worth asking — even if the answer is almost certainly never coming.