Gary Lineker is branded 'disrespectful' and 'not a nice man' as ex-Premier League boss sheds light on feud with Match of the Day presenter
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Gary Lineker is accused of being disrespectful and 'not a nice man' in a new memoir published by a former Premier League boss.
It is the latest headache for the BBC presenter who is stepping down from presenting Match Of The Day this summer but is still due to front the corporation's coverage of next year's World Cup.
The Beeb is facing fresh calls to drop Lineker after he shared a pro-Palestine video on Instagram featuring a rat emoji which has been condemned as echoing Nazi propaganda.
And now, the ex-England captain, 64 has come under fire from Swindon manager Ian Holloway in a hard-hitting new memoir.
Holloway is convinced that Lineker has never forgiven him for presiding over his beloved Leicester’s relegation to the third tier back in 2008.
'Here's a cat among the pigeons. Gary's not a nice man in my experience and maybe it was because of my time at Leicester,' Holloway writes.
'All I know is he was unpleasant to me and, in my view, dismissive and disrespectful.
'While I was at Blackpool, I was invited on Match of the Day but it was obvious Lineker didn’t want me there. He didn’t speak to me once and didn’t even say hello.
'At the end, I went over and shook his hand and said, "Hello — maybe you don’t want to speak to me because of my time at Leicester, but hello Gary, how are you?"
'He said, "Oh, oh, Ian, it wasn’t like that." I said, "Yes you were, mate. I knew you were."
'A few years later I saw Alan Shearer at Wembley and he said, "I loved that time when you forced Gary to shake your hand." So he could see it, too.'
In his new book, entitled 'Ian Holloway: The (mostly) Football World According to Ollie', the 62-year-old covers a wide range of subjects including UFOs, ghosts and even that footballing bugaboo: VAR.
Holloway is surprisingly supportive of technology in his book and argues that TV coverage of football demonises referees.
And, speaking at the County Ground, the Swindon boss used the debate as an opportunity to throw another grenade Lineker's way.
'Referees get one split-second to make a decision - only one look at it - but all you hear is people saying how s*** they were from watching Match of the Day.
'I’m sorry, but Gary Lineker and his little crew are making them look even more s*** because they can look at every incident from every angle. If referees had access to all the camera angles that Lineker and his friends have in a studio, they might get more decisions right.
'Nobody has any faith in referees because everyone has watched Match of the Day and Lineker and his pundits would slaughter every ref every Saturday night.'
