I’m delighted players have given me big calls to make: Southgate
whether there was any truth in the rumour that he was on the verge of a move to Barcelona — whose manager Terry Venables just happened to be sitting two seats away.
Lineker’s response displayed all the impudent discretion we would later come to associate with him as a presenter.
“No comprende,” he said, with a wicked glint in his eye. It was the start of a long, winking relationship with the small screen that, more than three decades on, sees him going to Russia as perhaps one of the best-known broadcasters in sport.
So the likelihood is that at some point, you’re going to be calling England’s elimination.
“Well, I’ve done it every tournament for quite a long time. People ask what my ambition is, and it’s to say the words, ‘England have won the World Cup’. or ‘England have won the European Championship’.”
How do you find the right words for a moment like that? Do you prepare lines?
“If I think of something that might work at some point, I write it out and stick it in my notes. Sometimes attempts at humour. Des always told me: ‘If you think of something you think might be amusing, just do it.’ Some people will like it, and some people won’t.”
The World Cup draws huge audiences. More than 20 million people watched the last final. Does that play on your mind at all?
“It excites me. It’s the same as when I played football. The games I struggled with were always the pre-season friendlies, the matches that didn’t really matter. When I really loved doing it was with the buzz and the adrenaline. I don’t get nervous; I’ll never understand that feeling. If you’re thinking about 20 million people watching, it gives you a bit more of a lift.”
But there’s huge jeopardy as well.
“Oh, you’re one sentence away from disaster on live television. Especially nowadays.”
Does that not play on your mind?
“It’s not something I think about. I still get it wrong occasionally. I had one nightmare — that could have escalated — when I worked for Al-Jazeera doing the Champions League. We used to do the main match, then the punditry, then we just showed the goals or major incidents from the rest of the games, and I would voice those. But I hadn’t seen them. And it’s live.
“This one game — about the fourth match in — somebody equalised, and then they cut to a picture of the guy with his face in the grass, and I said: ‘And to celebrate, he ate grass’.
“The guys chuckled on the set, they chuckled upstairs, and that was it. Then I get on my phone after the game, and I realise: ‘S***. He’s Muslim, he was praying.” And I was working for Al-Jazeera.
“It went away after a week or two. But that’s probably the only time I was like: ‘Oh, Christ’.”
NOT all of Lineker’s controversies have been generated by accident. In December, he was fiercely criticised for agreeing to host Fifa’s World Cup draw in Moscow, having been one of the organisation’s most vocal critics over recent years. The age of Sepp Blatter may be in the past. But many observers believe new president Gianni Infantino is little better, with numerous accusations of ethics violations, a reluctance to respond to Russia’s numerous doping scandals, and the refusal to stand up to Qatar over its treatment of migrant workers building the 2022 World Cup.
In the circumstances, Lineker’s decision to do paid work for Fifa — even though he donated his fee to charity — felt, in the words of one newspaper columnist, like “a kind of betrayal”. And yet for all the opprobrium he attracted, he vigorously defends his decision to take the job on.
Did you have any qualms about going to Russia at all?
“None at all. I played in two World Cups. I’ve been involved as a broadcaster in every other World Cup since. It’s a competition I love. Being part of the World Cup draw wasn’t endorsing Fifa. I was just doing a draw. At the same time, I wanted to get in a little bit. I had lots of meetings prior to it. It’s a similar thing, in many ways, to the EU. You either decide whether you want to change things from the inside, or you stand on the outside constantly throwing stones.”
How well do you know Infantino (left)?
“Not very well. I spent a bit of time with him after the World Cup draw. I’ve got to know Boban (Zvonimir, the former Croatian player and Fifa deputy secretary general) pretty well, who’s got his ear. So I’m fairly confident that Boban would walk if it went back to how it used to be.” You really think so?
“I mean, he knows Infantino well. It’s just whether he’s strong enough. And they’ve already got rid of so much of the corruption. They’ll make mistakes but as long as it’s honest, that’ll do for me. People will make wrong decisions — increasing the World Cup to 48 teams would be a big mistake — but it’s just a decision. Siphoning money off — hundreds of millions that should be going into the grassroots game — is massively wrong, and corrupt, and illegal. Hopefully, even if they make a few mistakes, they’ll sort out the other stuff. If not, I’ll be the first on the case.”
When you look at the corruptive influence of big money on the game, the Fifa scandals, the power held by states like Qatar… is football these days is harder to love?
“Well, it’s been through the dreadful period of Blatter. Most of them are either locked up, about to be locked up, or suspended. You hope the new bunch aren’t similar. And certainly, I have faith in Boban. There’s an ugly side to the sport, but there’s also a beautiful side: the game itself.
“The top level is as good to watch as anything. There are some beautiful footballers. There are a lot of dodgy dealings, agents ripping the game apart. I think they can change that. Make it a bit more difficult for them. It’s a wealthy sport, but here’s the weird thing. There’s a public perception that footballers shouldn’t be wealthy. Whereas it’s all right if it’s golfers, or American footballers.”
Or even owners. “Businesspeople, actors, superstars. It’s the entertainment business, and there’s big money in entertainment if you’re at the top of your field. But there seems to be a reluctance to accept that for footballers.
“I think people are perfectly fine with someone like Messi being obscenely wealthy. I suppose it’s when you get quite average players earning big money.
“I understand that. But football is a team game, and therefore players will be paid well. Now I’m not trying to justify footballers’ salaries, because how could you ever justify it over that of a nurse, or someone who does a proper job? You can’t. But it’s the nature of the entertainment world that if you are quite near the top, then you will do financially very well. The only point I’m trying to make is that you don’t hear that said of people in other sports. It’s just football, and whether that’s because it’s seen as the working man’s game, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the drastic rise in salaries.”
A lot of the guys you played with won’t have earned enough not to have to work again.
“No, most wouldn’t. There was a period when I was one of the best-paid players in the world, and earning in a year what top players now would earn in a week. Which I’m not bothered about. It just shows you the difference. That’s why so many players have so many problems after football. The divorce rate in the five years after retiring is something like 70 per cent.
“You can see why: the fame goes away, the salary goes away. That causes a bit of friction at home. There’s a separation. The wife takes half of what’s left. And all of a sudden, they’re in trouble.
“They turn to drink or gambling. There’s so many problems that footballers have because there’s so much life left, and they’re not trained to do anything else.
“I was lucky — I found something else I could do.” GARETH Southgate is facing far “more difficult” decisions for England’s World Cup opener thanks to preparations that could scarcely have gone better.
Work for Russia has been as smooth as it has been impressive in recent weeks, with comfortable warm-up victories complementing fine work on the training field and increasing team spirit.
Southgate’s side honed their skills at a sold-out Elland Road on Thursday evening as they followed the win against Nigeria by beating Costa Rica in a manner more stirring than the 2-0 scoreline suggests.
Marcus Rashford and Danny Welbeck secured victory ENGLAND captain Harry Kane is excited to be part of Tottenham’s future after signing a new six-year contract, expected to be worth £90m.
The 24-year-old striker’s agreement commits him to Spurs until 2024 and follows manager Mauricio Pochettino extending his own deal until 2023.
Kane’s decision to stay put comes as a welcome boost for Spurs, who made the announcement with footage of their new stadium.
Tottenham are due to return to White Hart Lane next season, after a season as tenants at Wembley.
“I’m really excited, it’s a proud day,” Kane said.
“I’m looking forward to the new stadium first and foremost from an injury-free evening, giving the England manager a selection headache ahead of the Group G opener against Tunisia on June 18.
“It’s more difficult,” Southgate (left) said. “No question. There’s some serious decisions to take — but in a good way.
“If I was sitting here thinking ‘blimey, we have got nobody to play there and nobody to play there’ then it would be a very different situation.
“I have 11 or 12 that are going to be difficult to leave out because there is genuine competition for places,” Southgate said.
“I think everybody saw that and that’s what we said to the players before the game.” and just to keep progressing as a club. It’s been fantastic to consistently get in the Champions League so I’m really excited to have another go at that and with the Premier League and FA Cup, we’ll look to go as far as we can.
“For us as a club, it’s just about keeping improving and we’ll work hard to do that.”
Kane scored 30 goals in the recently completed Premier League season, when Spurs finished third, and finished with a total of 41 goals in all competitions. He has passed 20 goals in each of the last four seasons.
The striker has previously been linked with moves to Manchester United and Real Madrid, but the latest agreement shows he sees his immediate future at Spurs.