Alex Scott emerges as frontrunner to host Match of the Day, evoking fiery reaction from Joey Barton

Alex Scott has emerged as the frontrunner to take over from Gary Lineker as the new host of Match of the Day, a development that has left Joey Barton understandably disheartened.

The 63-year-old will step down as host of the corporation’s flagship football show at the end of the season, but will continue to present coverage of the FA Cup in 2025/26 and the World Cup in 2026.

Lineker’s touted replacements include Mark Chapman, the regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter, as well as Football Focus host Scott, now as short as 6/4 with some bookmakers, and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.

Scott enjoyed a successful playing career with Arsenal and England before moving into broadcasting after her retirement in 2017.

She has presented The One Show and has also worked alongside Lineker in the past as a presenter of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year programme.

The 40-year-old was also a contestant on one of the corporation’s flagship entertainment shows, Strictly Come Dancing, in 2019, while more recently has presented Football Focus.

Despite an impressive CV, Scott has encountered regular and significant abuse from Barton over the course of the last year in particular.

Last December, Barton suggested that women ‘shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game’ and criticised what he perceives to be ‘tokenistic’ hiring of women in football.

When invited on Piers Morgan’s Uncensored show, Barton, who represented his country at international level on one sole occasion, turned his ire on Scott, a popular host of the BBC’s Football Focus.

‘She hasn’t played in it [the men’s game],’ Barton told Morgan in reference to Scott. ‘One is 200 years old and one is about 40 years old… It’s the same rules but football is about a lot more than rules… The games are at two different speeds.’

Nearly 12 months on and Barton remains entrenched in his view that Scott, and women in general, have no place in the men’s game.

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Reacting to the news that Scott is now among leading the candidates to succeed Lineker and inherit one of most coveted roles in sports broadcasting, Barton offered only a withering, sarcastic two-word response which read: ‘Fantastic news.’

Lineker, meanwhile, has stepped down from his role as presenter of Sports Personality Of The Year (SPOTY), according to a BBC spokesperson.

The corporation said that last year’s awards ceremony, which he presented alongside Scott, as well as Logan and Clare Balding, was his last.

A BBC SPOTY spokesperson told the PA news agency: ‘We can confirm Gary has decided to step down from the team presenting BBC Sports Personality Of The Year.

‘After 23 years, last year’s 70th anniversary was his final show.’