Oh-so-principled Gary deletes anti-Russia tweet... then helps to launch their World Cup
WHEN Russia was announced as the host of the 2018 World Cup, Gary Lineker was scathing in his criticism.
But yesterday the BBC star seemed to have had a dramatic change of heart, and his 2012 tweet that attacked football governing body Fifa’s decision to award the tournament to Russia as ‘ever more ludicrous’ appeared to have been deleted.
Lineker was all smiles in Moscow, having accepted £20,000 to rub shoulders with smiling Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
He proudly posted photos on Instagram of himself in an opulent goldtrimmed dressing room which he joked was ‘like Donald Trump’s lift’.
He also posed for sightseeing photos in Red Square and in front of the Tsar Bell, a huge bronze bell commissioned by a niece of Peter the Great.
The former England captain even blew out the candles of a cake to mark his 57th birthday, which was presented to him by his Russian hosts.
Mr Putin opened the ceremony – to choose which teams will play each other in the opening round of next year’s World Cup – with a self-serving speech promising fair play and ‘friendly and honest competition’. Russian has previously been accused of state-sponsored cheating in sport, including when it hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Lineker then compered the draw ceremony televised to millions around the world, for which he is believed to have been paid £20,000 by Fifa.
He has previously been highly critical of the governing body, tweeting in 2014: ‘It makes you feel sick actually, the whole Fifa thing. The corruption at the top level is nauseous.’ The following year he said Fifa was a ‘revolting organisation’ and in 2016 he called it ‘a disgrace’.
Brushing off accusations of hypocrisy, Lineker said he would not have taken the job if disgraced former Fifa chief Sepp Blatter had not been ousted in 2015.
Tory MP David TC Davies said: ‘One minute he is having a go at them and the next he is happy to pocket thousands of pounds. It seems a little bit two-faced.’