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Journalism of Courage
Former England captain Gary Lineker has exceeded expectations at nearly everything he has done in his 41 years, but this week he may have taken on his toughest task yet.
He announced on Monday that he is to head a consortium aiming to take over and revive his hometown club, Leicester City, which has gone into financial administration.
The history of football is littered with men who have got involved with clubs they support and lived to rue the day, but things will have to get pretty bad before Lineker’s reputation is severely dented.
Lineker has the sort of image that advertisers are prepared to pay a small fortune to associate with their client’s products.
One of the best strikers in the history of the game, he scored 48 goals in 80 games for his country and was a prolific striker for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur.
He is famously easy-going and never received so much as a yellow card in his 16 years as a professional.
He married his childhood sweetheart Michelle with whom he has four sons. His eldest, George, suffered from leukaemia as a baby and Lineker has since been heavily involved in charity work for children with the disease.
When he hung up his boots Lineker made a switch to a successful career in television, presenting sports programmes for the BBC.
Advertisers have also paid him a tidy sum, most notably Walkers — the Leicester-based snack manufacturer whose sponsorship led to City’s new stadium being named the Walkers Bowl. The family stand is, of course, named after Lineker.
Appearances as a team captain on the satirical sports quiz ‘They Think It’s All Over’ have shown he has a sense of humour and can laugh at himself, while his contributions rarely stray beyond puns and the mildest innuendo.
But even in the lighthearted atmosphere of that programme, one thing shines through — while he may be a nice guy, Lineker hates to lose.
Gary Winston Lineker was born on November 30, 1960, a birthday he shared with former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from whom he got his middle name.
His parents owned a stall at Leicester market but sport was their son’s passion and he showed great promise in both football and cricket. (Reuters)
