Lineker hits back at PM’s claim Brexit killed off the Euro league

FORMER England and Leicester City striker Gary Lineker has hit back at Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he claimed that Brexit helped to see off the European Super League, writes Amie Wilson.

The ill-fated proposal saw 12 founding members, including the traditional “Big Six” in the Premier League, put together plans for a breakaway league.

It was strongly opposed by fans, pundits, managers and other clubs, and lasted a little over 48 hours before nine of the clubs involved, including all six English clubs, withdrew from the proposal.

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are the three clubs who still remain keen on the breakaway competition.

During his speech at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Johnson implied that one of the benefits of Brexit helped to “see off the European Super League”.

Taking to social media, Lineker responded by saying: “I’ve not tweeted about Brexit for two years, but this is so disingenuous it needs calling out.

“Football fans and lovers of the game in this country saw off the European Super League, not politicians nor Brexit.”

The European Super League proposal sparked a number of protests by fans, including supporters of the teams involved in the plans.

Months of secret planning among the founding members went into the plans before they were officially released on April 18 this year.

Reports claim that the Prime Minister was originally in favour of the Super League and reportedly gave the “go ahead” to the Premier League clubs before the announcement of the plans.

It is thought that the success of “smaller” clubs such as Leicester City could have been one of the reasons why the plans were launched, with Brendan Rodgers’ side looking to consistenly finish in the top positions in the Premier League in years to come.