Alan Hansen to Quit Match of the Day: Twitter Users Don't Seem Too Upset

Alan Hansen has revealed that he will be leaving his role as a pundit on the BBC's Match of the Day programme at the end of the season.

In an exclusive with the paper he has written a column for, The Daily Telegraph, Hansen said that he felt it was the right time to move on.

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I’m retiring from Match of the Day at the end of the season. I will have been there for 22 years and will be 59, so it’s the right time for me.

The guys at the BBC know me and I said, ‘Look, this is categorical. I’m leaving and nothing will make me change my mind’. I am contracted to do the World Cup and I will do that as it will be a good way to go out, but I have had a great run.

I’ve been in football for 41 years and I’m going out right at the top, just as I did at Liverpool. The plan was always that I would retire at 55. I kept going, but I finally decided to retire during Euro 2012.

I had just signed a two-year contract and felt that, by the end of it, I would have had enough. But I have worked for a great organisation with wonderful people on the most fantastic programme.

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Hansen has been a BBC pundit since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. Before that, he had a hugely successful career as a centre-half for Liverpool and was an integral part of their domestic and European success in the 1980s. He also won 26 caps for Scotland as well.

Though some expected him to move into management when his career ended, he chose television instead.

His deconstructions of defending have become part of the fabric of match analysis in the UK, but there has been a growing sense that he and MOTD have become too complacent and set in their ways in an era when fans can get their analysis and insight from a variety of different sources.

His reported £40,000-a-week wages have also been a source of criticism in the past.

And judging from the reaction on Twitter, there is not much disappointment that Hansen will be moving on.

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Hallelujah! Alan Hansen to leave Match of the Day next summer.

— Dale @Stretty News (@StrettyNews) September 4, 2013"

"

Alan Hansen leaving MOTD means we'll see a lot more of Shearer. Grim.

— Dan Townley (@Dan_Townley) September 4, 2013"

"

NO MORE ALAN HANSEN!!!! Life just keeps getting better!

— Mike (@Mike_Arsenal) September 4, 2013"

Probably Hansen's most celebrated quote is when he dismissed the Manchester United side early in the 1995/6 season by saying: "You can't win anything with kids" (United went on to win the double).

Now it appears the time has come for the BBC to replace Hansen—there will definitely be plenty of speculation over who they should hire.

Have your say—who would you like to appear on MOTD when Hansen leaves the show? Leave a comment below!