A home win for presenter as Leicester fans rally round
AS the crisis deepens over the BBC’s sports coverage, there was only one match of the day for Gary Lineker yesterday.
Lineker was at his beloved Leicester City after being told to step down from hosting the flagship football show this weekend, witnessing a fifth successive defeat for his former club, to visitors Chelsea.
Stopping for selfies and waving to fans as he took his seat in the King Power Stadium’s directors box, the 62-year-old was given a warm reception in familiar surroundings.
Support for Lineker has been widespread since he was forced off air on Friday night, with presenters, pundits, commentators and players staging their own boycott.
He received even more support in his home city, with some Leicester fans holding up banners with the words “I’m with Gary. Migrants welcome”, a reference to his tweet comparing the language surrounding Government’s small boats policy to Germany in the 1930s. Then, in the 59th minute, during a break in play, fans in the Kop end chanted Lineker’s name.
“Oh goodness, he’s my hero,” said one, named Lisa Evans. “He’s speaking for the people and the people are listening. I’m so proud he’s from our city.”
“He’s my man,” said Paul Deacon, also from Leicester. “He’s making a fair point. And he’s using his platform to help other people. Don’t forget he’s taken in refugees himself.”
But while he enjoyed a warm reception, others were happy for him to stick to football, not politics.
Hasan Chowdhury, who travelled to the game from Derby, said: “It’s always great to see him, but I think he should have stuck to football. It’s not his place to comment on government policy.”
“I can see where he’s coming from,” said Londoner Danny Howell. “But he shouldn’t have compared the Government to 1930s Germany. There’s a massive difference. That said, I can speak my mind, so why can’t he? He is freelance, isn’t he?”
Lineker certainly got the majority of the support in Leicester, although it might be a stretch to take the odds offered by one bookmaker before kick-off that he is now 100/1 to become the next prime minister.
All in all, it certainly made sense for him to make a rare return to the east Midlands to watch his old club.
He wouldn’t have expected to do so, with the row over his controversial tweet and impartiality continuing to rage, with the BBC’s coverage in “meltdown” and bosses understood to be taken aback by the storm it has created.
But, given that the presenter usually spends Saturday afternoons in the BBC’s Salford studios preparing for MOTD, this was an opportunity he was not going to miss.
His affinity with Leicester – league title winners in 2016 – runs deep, from working on the family market stall in the city centre as a boy to then making 216 appearances for the club.
Lineker was also part of the consortium which rescued the club from financial oblivion in 2002, and has never hidden his affection for his hometown club.
After being chauffeured up the M1 from his home in Barnes, south-west London, he entered the King Power via the players’ entrance, waving twice at supporters before entering the stadium.
Ten minutes before kick-off, he took his seat in the directors’ box with his son Angus, the former BT Sport reporter Andy May and Jack Holmes,
‘He’s my man... He’s using his platform to help other people. Don’t forget he’s take in refugees himself’
the son of Lineker’s long-standing agent Jon. Sitting near the Premier League’s chief-executive Richard Masters and Leicester’s chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Lineker appeared happy to be briefly out of the eye of the storm.
The only boos were directed at the former Leicester defenders Ben Chilwell and Wesley Fofana, who have left the club to join Chelsea.
Leicester equalised late in the first half through forward Patson Daka and the camera zoomed in on Lineker, smiling and celebrating.
The first chants came just before the hour, with the camera again panning to a grinning Lineker. It turned out to be an afternoon of frustration, however, as Leicester sunk deeper into relegation trouble after a 3-1 defeat.
Lineker once delivered on a promise to wear just his pants in the MOTD studio, after Leicester won the title.
Now his team are locked in a battle to stay in the Premier League and ensure they remain a regular on the programme he has presented since 1999. The next few days will decide if he ever fronts the show again.