Pundit Divorces No Shock Horror

So desperate is the tabloid end of the press to sell papers and generate clicks that no-one’s private life is off limits, and especially someone who works for the hated BBC, is popular, and has made a good living out of it. When Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker and second wife Danielle confirmed their divorce, then, it was open season for uninformed speculation and plenty of prurient analysis.

Gary Lineker: sound bloke

The Sun, knowing that anything football related is easily converted into clicks and sales, was in the vanguard: “GARY Lineker and his wife Danielle will divorce today - because the young model wants kids and he feels he’s too old to start another family … The England football legend, 55 and 36-year-old Danielle are still on good terms, but sources say they have been living separate lives for almost a year”. That means they’re guessing.

But hey, it’s an “exclusive” guess! Would the Murdoch doggies care to add anything to their speculation? “Lineker has a personal fortune of around £20 million but the thrifty couple decided to use a government website to formalise their split”. Makes a change from the dosh Wendi made from Rupe, then, doesn’t it? Not that they’re jealous, you understand. There are photos of Danielle not wearing very much, too. Because more clicks and sales.

Then, today, came the Sun’s ritual shaming: “Taxi for Danielle: Last pic of Linekers as pundit’s family is ‘glad she’s going’”. More sales. More clicks. More speculation. And, just in case you thought only the Sun was at it, more opportunities for the magpies at Mail Online to get in on the act - if only to rubbish the Sun’s latest claims.

“Gary Lineker has blasted claims his family were pleased to see him divorce now ex-wife Danielle Bux as 'complete fabrication and utter nonsense’ … The Match Of The Day presenter, 55, and his eldest son George, 23, both took to Twitter on Thursday morning to slam reports suggesting relatives were celebrating the couple's split after eight years together and six years of marriage” was the result of their social media trawl.

But the Mail is nothing if not playing both sides of the field, and so there was the inevitable poring over the marriage: “What DID go wrong for Lineker and his lingerie model? Loving tweets just weeks ago, but 19-year age gap and wildly different personalities could have been behind their split”, before doing a little shaming of their own, with “Lineker, 55, has quietly separated from his wife Danielle, a Welsh former lingerie model, 19 years his junior”. She’s the baddie - because she’s Welsh!

And, just to wring the last drops of clickbait from the story, there just had to be an intervention from pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins: “I’m guessing there is nothing friendly about this split … Anyone who has been through a divorce knows it’s not pretty … Marriages never end well. They aren’t supposed to - in fact, we hate it if they do”. Well, who knows, Katie dearest? And, indeed, who sodding cares?

Gary Lineker is a sound bloke. And he’ll easily weather these cheap and nasty attempts at speculation, shaming and stoking jealousy. Get over it, witless hacks.