How US sport shows are inspiring BBC pundits to make 'outrageous and controversial' statements to raise their profiles - after Harry Kane led criticism of Gary Lineker's 'frank and sweary' podcast

BBC pundits are making 'controversial and outrageous' statements to raise their profiles, publicity experts have told MailOnline following Harry Kane's call for former footballers to think twice before laying into current players. 

American sports shows have long relied on 'shock-jock' moments that are then amplified over social media, with former players including Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards gaining a large audience on Stateside network like CBS. 

In Britain, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have been among the most vocal critics of Gareth Southgate's team in recent days, with both ex-pros offering searing criticism on the BBC following England's draw with Denmark on Thursday.  

Lineker doubled down on his own podcast, The Rest Is Football, where he branded the side's performance against Denmark 's***'. This earned a ticking off from Kane, who hit out at attacks from pundits who knew what it is like to 'wear the shirt'.

Listeners have highlighted the more outspoken tone being adopted by Lineker and the others this summer, with one sports producer putting it down to the launch of his podcast in August.

'It's a lot more frank and sweary - and in that format Lineker is more able to voice his opinion,' they told The Times. 'Plus I think he knows that this is his last tournament and he doesn't give a f***.'

Publicity expert Rochelle White said pundits were increasingly drawn to shock jock style comments they knew would generate more engagement than dispassionate analysis.

'They see how far they can push it so they can go viral and get spoken about,' she told MailOnline. 'The more outrageous and controversial the comment is, the more viral it will go, which means more eyeballs. 

'Commentators know that if they say something on a big platform like the BBC or Sky they will get more followers that they can target for their podcast.'

Viewers have complained that Euro 2024 pundits are competing with each other to generate clicks with over-the-top commentary and analysis. 

These segments are routinely filmed for social media, with 'Commentary Cam' a favourite of the BBC.

For example, Linker's BBC dressing down of Kane for 'barely moving' during the Denmark game was quickly clipped and shared on social, where it soon generated more than a million views. 

Some fans believe pundits and channels are keen to use the Euros as a chance to boost their social profiles, mirroring the so-called 'Roy Keane' effect in which Sky Sports have used his soundbites to produce viral online content.

PR guru Mark Borkowski said compared to previous generations there was now a 'lot of money in football', which had led pundits to focus on creating comment that would benefit their other media pursuits, like podcasts.

'We now have people with lots of different business interests, so people will say one thing on the BBC and something different on their own podcast,' he told MailOnline.

'So people look to create clever clickbait to generate income for their media followings.'

Despite this, he insisted the current crop of pundits were 'really quite bland' compared to what was seen in the past.

'The likes of Brian Clough were much more vociferous, but the difference is we now have social media which spreads their comments and generates outrage.

'If any of that generation had access to social media we'd have a revolution on our hands.

'People want pundits to have an opinion, but nowadays a lot of them don't say anything because they have access to agents and players and want to preserve that.'

Shearer referenced the criticism he and Lineker had received while appearing on the Rest Is Football podcast yesterday following England's 0-0 draw with Slovenia. 

In a complete sea change from his verdict that England were 's***' against Denmark - a comment that brought plenty of backlash from current stars - Lineker turned on the praise tap.

Lineker believes England are 'improving slightly' and showed 'energy' in the second half against Slovenia, he said on the latest episode of his podcast The Rest Is Football.

The BBC presenter and former England star admitted to having downed three glasses of red wine prior to recording.

'I think there were signs in that performance that I quite liked. In the second half, I thought you could see that if this team continue to play a high press, chances will come,' Lineker said.

'We may have been playing that way because Slovenia knew that a draw would get them through, so they were cautious and sat back a bit, I understand that.

'But I saw enough to suggest that England are improving slightly. I think there were downsides, but I think there were real positives.

'I thought when Cole Palmer came on - and we've said this many times, we know we've got a lot of talented young players - but this kid might well be the best of the lot.

'We were still unbalanced on the left and it was a little baffling that he [Southgate] waited so long for Anthony Gordon to come on. Foden was playing there and switching with Bellingham and I don't think that helped either of them because they were neither here nor there.

'What I did see in the second half, trying to put a positive spin on it, was energy. I haven't seen energy apart from the first half-hour of the first game in the other performances.

He added: There's enough there in the second half just to make me think for the first time this England team has some energy.'

At that point, Shearer interjected to suggest that Lineker was cowering after being blasted for his comments about England after the draw with Denmark in their second group game.

He said: 'If I was a cynic, one would say one was frightened of getting criticised again.'

Lineker denied this, saying: 'Me? Frightened of getting criticised? Never in my life. I'm telling it as I see it and I was seeing it during the second half. 

'I thought the first half was really dreadful and again no high press, occasionally a couple of little bits that were really poor, I didn't like the team selection, I thought it was incredibly conservative.'

The BBC declined to comment.