NO wonder Gary Lineker had a puzzled look on his face. Just before he was due to go on air for the Wanderers-Arsenal live match on Saturday, he walked into the studio to find someone sitting in his chair writes Neil Bonnar, on a visit behind the scenes with the Match Of The Day Team

He was a good looking chap as well. Tall, smart and asking questions of Alan Hansen and Ian Wright.

I had presenter written all over me. Well, I would have if there'd been enough room in that claustrophobic studio to take my coat off and show off the suit.

You wouldn't believe the amount of technicians, cameras and wires that are cluttered just out of sight.

On the basis that good newspapers get where water can't, it's not bad going to manoeuvre yourself into national darling Lineker's chair alongside two of the country's best known pundits just before they are about to go live into millions of homes.

I had five minutes to meet the panel and presenter for the Match of the Day live match.

Gary and Alan's warm friendliness and Wrighty's tongue in cheek complaints that nobody had informed him of my arrival didn't fool me.

I was an inconvenience and my part in the deal with the BBC, who had allowed us to see how a live match was put together, was to get in, and ask my questions as quickly as possible.

So, what do Gary and the panel do when they're off air?

Gary makes cheeky jokes at the expense of the panel - 'the best pundits talk a load of nonsense' - Alan sits back with his feet on the table and Wrighty stalks the room, winding up whoever he can.

Interviewing them one at a time, my first hit was Alan. Friendly and relaxed, he became professional at the flick of a switch. "The best presenters are those who you can throw anything at in conversation and they don't get flustered," he said. "And I've worked with two, Gary and Des Lynam."

Gary was next and he said teamwork was as crucial in his current job as it was as an England goalscoring hero.

"If the three of us don't work together, there'll be times when nobody's talking which, thankfully, has never happened," he said.

Is the humour he injects into the show deliberate or natural? "We've got a very well informed football audience and people take their football seriously but you've got to have a light touch."

Wrighty's approach to punditry is simple. "It's not rocket science. I'm just honest about what I see. Alan is technical, I'm passionate. I just tell it like I think it is."

Alan said the hardest part of the job was finding something to talk about when the football was incident-free.

"A good show is all about the football," he said. "If we don't have goals and excitement, it makes it very difficult to fill time, because we don't have advertisement breaks to help us out."

It was a statement which sprung to mind repeatedly while I watched a boring first half on 34 screens with match editor Martin Webster in the BBC truck behind the away end.