Gary Lineker

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Gary Winston Lineker OBE, (born 30 November, 1960), was an England international footballer and is now a broadcaster.

Born in Leicester and educated at City of Leicester School, he became the foremost English striker of his generation. Lineker's intelligence enabled him to cope better than his contemporaries when playing in continental Europe, as well as to make a smooth transition into a role as a pundit and sports broadcaster. He is married and he and his wife Michelle have four sons. His oldest son George survived leukemia as a baby; Lineker has since appeared in adverts encouraging people to give blood as a result.

Lineker is a freeman of the City of Leicester (which entitles him to graze his sheep – should he have any – on Town Hall Square), and he is often referred to as "Leicester's Favourite Son". As a youngster, he famously worked on his family's stall in Leicester Market.

1 Career in football
2 Post playing career
3 Lincs Trivia
4 External links

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Career in football

He began his career at his hometown club of Leicester City in 1976. He broke into Leicester's first-team squad in 1978. He rose to fame with Everton (1985-86) scoring 40 goals in 42 games, before Barcelona signed him just prior to the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico. His Golden Boot winning performance at the finals led to much anticipation of success at the Camp Nou, and he didn't disappoint, scoring 21 goals in 41 games during his first season, including a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over arch rivals Real Madrid. He went on to win the Copa del Rey in 1988 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989.

He then returned to England to play three seasons at Tottenham Hotspur, scoring 67 goals in 105 games and winning the FA Cup, before ending his career with an injury-plagued spell in the J. League with Nagoya Grampus Eight.

He first played for England's national team against Scotland in 1984, winning the Golden Boot at the 1986 FIFA World Cup where he played most of the tournament wearing a lightweight cast on his forearm and reaching the semi-finals in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He retired from international football with 80 caps and 48 goals, one fewer than Bobby Charlton's England record (although Charlton took 26 more caps to score his extra goal). In what proved to be his last England match, against Sweden at Euro 92, he was controversially substituted in favour of Arsenal striker Alan Smith, ultimately denying him the chance to equal the total. He had earlier missed a penalty that would have brought him level in a pre-tournament friendly against Brazil.

He was PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1986 and, despite his long career, was never cautioned by a referee for foul play (never once receiving either a yellow let alone a red card), a feat equalled only by Billy Wright, John Charles and Sir Stanley Matthews. He acquired a "Mr nice guy" image; some cynics have suggested that this was because he rarely joined in defensive duties.

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Post playing career

Following retirement from professional football, he developed a career in the media, initially as a pundit before replacing Des Lynam as the BBC's anchorman for football coverage, including their flagship football television programme Match of the Day, and as a team captain on the acerbic sports game show, They Think It's All Over from 1995 to 2003, where he was heavily (though affectionately) ridiculed for being a "goal hanger". Following the departure of Steve Rider from the BBC, Lineker, who himself plays off a handicap of 4, was announced in late 2005 as the new presenter for the corporation's golf coverage due to the departure to ITV of Steve Rider.

His popularity has enabled him to appear in a light-hearted series of commercials for Walkers crisps, playing a comical role as an arch-villain which sends up his reputation as a nice guy.

In 2001, Gary Lineker was approached by game makers Codemasters to front the LMA Manager series on Playstation. Lineker would pair up with Alan Hansen, friend and fellow MOTD pundit to voice the post match comments on the game with Barry Davies voicing the commentary. Since then the game has sold millions of copies and in LMA 2006, Gary Lineker voices news items and the cup draws on the game. In 2004 he also choose to front the Codemasters England International Football game with him voicing the team selection and the pre and post match menus.

In 2003 Lineker was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his talents.

In October 2003, Lineker announced a £5 million rescue plan for cash-strapped club Leicester City, describing his involvement as charity rather than an ego trip. Lineker said that he would invest a six-figure sum and other members of his consortium would invest a similar amount. Lineker met the fans' group to persuade them to try and raise money to rescue his former club.

In 2005 Lineker was sued for defamation by Australian footballer Harry Kewell over comments Lineker had made writing in his column in the Sunday Telegraph about Kewell's transfer from Leeds to Liverpool. However the jury was unable to reach a verdict. It transpired in the case that the article had actually been ghost-written by a journalist at the Sunday Telegraph.

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Lincs Trivia

His favourite sitcom is Cheers.
He drives a Lexus.
Shares a birthday with Winston Churchill, hence his middle name of Winston.
Once remarked with typical irony "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win."
Has never scored at Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa football club

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