Gary Lineker teased by 'cruel' comment from Alan Shearer about Match of the Day exit

Departing host stepped in to correct after made a "cruel" joke about his impending exit. Lineker announced in November he would be stepping down at the end of the current season, rounding off a remarkable 26-year tenure as the face of the BBC's Premier League highlights hit.

The former hitman - who scored 80 goals in 138 appearances for Spurs - will still front the BBC's coverage next season and will join the broadcast team for the . But while many fans have perhaps yet come to terms with his exit, it seems Lineker himself has accepted the change.

And long-time punditry colleague Shearer made light of the departure when talking about 's drop to the Championship on The Rest Is Football podcast (via ). Shearer suggested viewers "might see a happy Gaz on Match of the Day" after his hometown club were relegated on Sunday before remembering he wouldn't feature on the show next term.

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In response, fellow Premier League alumnus Richards responded with a sympathetic groan and asked: "Have you really gone there? That is cruel, you know that! Very, very cruel."

At the same time, Lineker acknowledged Shearer's jibe as "a good point" before reassuring Richards: "It's not cruel at all. It's a fact. I'm perfectly happy with it."

Leicester's demotion to the Championship was sealed when Trent Alexander-Arnold came off the bench to net the winner at the King Power Stadium. Ruud van Nistelrooy's team will accompany in their descent, while Ipswich Town teeters on the edge of completing the trio of relegated teams next weekend.

Lineker is no stranger to this scenario, having experienced both triumph and disappointment with boyhood outfit Leicester at the start of his playing career. He won the Championship (then known as the Second Division) with the club in 1980 during his inaugural senior season.

However, like Southampton and Leicester (and most likely Ipswich), they faced relegation at the first time of asking. Lineker went on to play a pivotal role in catapulting them back to the top tier in 1983 when his career truly took flight, eventually joining Spurs in 1989 towards the end of his career.

The ex- striker - who netted 48 goals in 80 international outings - has been the face of Match of the Day since 1999. He stood in for Des Lynam on Grandstand in 1997, and the BBC elevated him to lead their football programming two years later.

Having become a staple of English football broadcasting over a career spanning more than 25 years, Lineker seems unfazed by his impending departure. And he has said he's even "looking forward" to some aspects of his upcoming semi-retirement.

"I'm very much looking forward to getting weekends off for the first time in my adult life," he recently told FourFOurTwo. "I'll probably go to the odd game, likely in London because that's where I live.

"Then I don't know, I might go away for the weekend, how about that? I can catch the sun somewhere, or maybe visit the Cotswolds, Somerset or Cornwall. I'm a real foodie, I love cooking and eating at great restaurants – there are plenty of restaurants in this country that I want to go to."

It seems Shearer is taking the changes in stride after making light of his colleague's reduced presence on the BBC. The same perhaps can't be said for Richards, however, after feeling the need to rush to Lineker's defence.