Beebo
Guru
He was already *mostly* a private contractor but I believe MOTD was still as a direct employee hence Lineker was still at the top of the BBC Salary List. I would imagine he's already been offered significantly more to present the same stuff for Sky, unless the Beeb get him back through his production company.
He has fingers in lots of pies. His podcast company is very successful, he won’t be out of work for very long.
The BBC’s problem is that it spends a disproportionate amount of time pandering to people who hate it and want to see it closed down. No other organisation has to put up with that nonsense.