Caption: Gary Lineker
(Picture:Getty)
Gary Lineker, 62, is the sports broadcaster, possessor of the 1986 World Cup Golden Boot for most goals scored in the men’s tournament and now a game show host.
He tells Metro what Diego Maradona once said to him in the Kremlin, his thoughts on his Match Of The Day suspension, and the time someone tried to nick his mobile phone.
You’re back for a second series of Sitting On A Fortune. Are you getting more confident as a game-show host?
It’s something very different to everything else I do but I really enjoy it. I enjoyed the first series and was obviously delighted it got recommissioned.
It’s a lot of fun and the vast majority of times someone is going to walk away with a lot of money. That’s a very lovely thing to make a difference to someone’s life.
Susanne in the first episode declared herself a Spurs supporter. If a rival supporter comes on would your heart sink?
No. Obviously I love my football club (Leicester) and I like Spurs because I played there. When you play there is a rivalry, but I was never one of those that ‘hated’. When people say, ‘You really don’t like our team’ that really is not true. I’m an adult.
I’ve never quite understood the hate thing but most people find that quite hard to fathom that I don’t feel that way towards any particular football club. It doesn’t really matter who the contestants support on Sitting On A Fortune. If they are big football fans we will often have a bit of banter.
Gary Lineker returns to present series 2 of Sitting On A Fortune (Picture: ITV)
Gary doesn’t harbour any hate for rival clubs and is happy to have banter with any big footie fans (Picture: ITV)
There is a clip of you attending a Leicester-Chelsea match at the height of the Match Of The Day furore. What are your memories of that day?
[Lineker was suspended by the BBC after tweeting that language used by home secretary Suella Braverman around immigrants was ‘not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s’.]
The main thing I notice in that clip is me having a sneaky sweet from my pocket without giving anyone else one. But it was my last one.
It was a Saturday afternoon. I watch football on Saturdays. It was a rare opportunity to go and watch my team inevitably lose this season.
Could you focus on the game?
Absolutely. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. And I knew the story and original headline was disproportionate with the tweet.
It was taken a bit out of context. I was always very relaxed about it.
What’s the longest you’ve been without your phone?
Gary Lineker could still focus on the Leicester v Chelsea match despite the controversy over …read more
Source:: Metro
