Gary Lineker

103||43||10||4||colspan="2"|-||25||6||138||53] The club, which was founded in 1986, was named in his honour after an incident in that summer's World Cup match between England and Paraguay.

In 2003 Lineker was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. He once remarked "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win." (England had been defeated by Germany in the semi-finals during the 1990 FIFA World Cup)

In October 2002, Lineker announced a £5 million rescue plan for cash-strapped club Leicester City, describing his involvement as charity rather than an ego trip. He said that he would invest a six-figure sum and other members of his consortium would invest a similar amount. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/2352155.stm Lineker unveils Leicester rescue bid BBC Sport October 2002] ] Lineker met the fans' group to persuade them to try and raise money to rescue his former club. Another six-figure sum donor was Emile Heskey, who had not only followed in Lineker's footsteps by going to the same school as him, but also went on to play for Leicester City and England. Lineker is now honorary vice-president of Leicester City, along with Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton, and the north stand of the club's Walkers Stadium is named in his honour.

In 2005, Lineker was sued for defamation by Australian footballer Harry Kewell over comments Lineker had made writing in his column in the "Sunday Telegraph" about Kewell's transfer from Leeds United to Liverpool. However the jury was unable to reach a verdict. It transpired in the case that the article had actually been ghost-written by a journalist at the "Sunday Telegraph" following a telephone interview with Lineker. [cite news | date=2006-07-04 | url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1520864,00.html | title=Lineker and Kewell settle libel case out of court | publisher=The Guardian | accessdate=2006-11-13]

Personal life

Lineker married Michelle in 1986, but they divorced in August 2006. They announced their split in April 2006. They have four sons, George, Harry, Tobias, and Angus. His oldest son George survived a rare form of leukaemia as a baby in the early 1990s; Gary now supports children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent and has since appeared in adverts encouraging people to give blood as a result. The split is described as "amicable". [cite news | date=2006-04-30 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4960106.stm | title=Gary Lineker and wife to separate | publisher=BBC News | accessdate=2006-11-13]

He is currently the partner of [http://www.daniellebux.co.uk Danielle Bux] (born c. 1979), a mother of one [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article800686.ece Gary Lineker | Host on beach stroll with curvy girlfriend Danielle Bux | The Sun |Showbiz|Bizarre ] ] .

Broadcasting

Following retirement from professional football, he developed a career in the media, initially on BBC Radio 5 Live and as a football pundit before replacing Des Lynam as the BBC's anchorman for football coverage, including their flagship football television programme "Match of the Day", and as a team captain on the acerbic sports game show, "They Think It's All Over" from 1995 to 2003, where he was heavily (though affectionately) ridiculed for being a "goal hanger", described as "lethal from twelve inches" -- a parody of Lineker's short-range scoring prowess. Following the departure of Steve Rider from the BBC, Lineker, who is a keen recreational golfer with a handicap of four, became the new presenter for the BBC's golf coverage. However his debut in this role at the The Masters was much derided - one commentator saying that "...keeping him in the anchor's chair would be a major own goal."Fact|date=February 2007 However he continued to front the BBC's coverage of the Masters and The Open, where he put his language skills to good use by giving an impromptu interview in Spanish with Argentinian Andrés Romero. [ [http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=42724 Church Times - Simon Parke: A sporting chance for unity ] ]

He presented a six-part TV Series for the BBC in 1998 (directed by Lloyd Stanton) called "Golden Boots" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149464/ "Golden Boots" (1998) ] ] , with other football celebrities. It was an extensive history of the World Cup focusing on the 'Golden Boots' (top scorers).

In 2001, Lineker was approached by game makers Codemasters to front the LMA Manager series on PlayStation. Lineker would pair up with Alan Hansen, fellow MOTD pundit to voice the post match comments on the game, with Barry Davies voicing the commentary. Since then the game has sold millions of copies and in LMA 2006, Lineker voices news items and the cup draws on the game. In 2004 he was also chosen to front the Codemasters England International Football game, with him voicing the team selection and the pre- and post-match menus.

In 2002, Lineker took on his first acting role, barring roles playing himself in films such as "Bend It Like Beckham" or in the adapted for television stage play An Evening with Gary Lineker, as the voice of "Underground Ernie" on the BBC's children's channel, CBeebies. Both Gary and Michelle Lineker make a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-them' appearance as diners leaving a restaurant in the 1993 Eric Idle film "Splitting Heirs".

Walkers advertisements

His popularity has enabled him to appear in a light-hearted series of commercials for Walkers, playing a comical role as an arch-villain which sends up his reputation as a nice guy. He has been fronting these adverts since 1995, making this one of the longest running advertising campaigns ever. Walkers, a Leicester-based British producer of snack foods, temporarily named their salt & vinegar crisps after Lineker in the late 1990s - they were labelled 'Salt-n-Lineker. This was also due to the fact that his favourite flavour crisps are Salt and Vinegar. ' [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../columnists.html?in_page_id=1951&in_article_id=430952&in_author_id=345 Lineker forced to take crisp break] Daily Mail]

Charitable activity

Gary Lineker will face questioning by a former England rugby player as part of Cancer Research UK's political Turn the Tables initiative. [ [http://www.cafonline.org/default.aspx?page=15216 "Gary Lineker to face questioning for Cancer Research UK charity fundraiser"] , "Charities Aid Foundation", 2008-03-03. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.] The event will take place on April 24th at London's Cafe Royal and will allow sporting heroes to question sports journalists. Cancer Research UK hopes to raise over £40,000 for the charity's life-saving work.

Quotations

The following quote is attributed to Gary Lineker: "Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win."

Videogames

Software house Gremlin released Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer in 1987, Gary Lineker's Superskills in 1988, and Gary Lineker's Hot Shot in 1989 for 8-bit platforms

References

"Gary Lineker: Strikingly Different", Colin Malam, Stanley Paul Publications, London, 1993 ISBN 0-09-175424-0

External links

*
* [http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/pages/fame/Inductees/garylineker.htm English Football Hall of Fame Profile]
* [http://www.thefa.com/Features/EnglishDomestic/Postings/2003/06/53899.htm Gary Lineker's Football Career Home and Abroad]
*imdb name|id=0512633

Persondata
NAME= Lineker, Gary Winston
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Lineker, Gary
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer, sports broadcaster
DATE OF BIRTH= Birth date and age|df=yes|1960|11|30
PLACE OF BIRTH= Leicester, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=