Gary Lineker has been labelled as ‘disrespectful’ and ‘not a nice man’ by a former Premier League boss in his new book.
Lineker, 64, is due to step back from his responsibilities as Match of the Day presenter after over 25 years in the hot seat, but it hasn’t been a smooth exit so far for the former England star.
After Lineker’s suspension from the BBC in 2023 where he compared Suella Braverman’s asylum policy to ‘Germany in the 1930s’, he has faced calls for his job once more after he shared a post from the Palestine Lobby which said: "Zionism explained in two minutes" and featured an illustration of a rat.
Now, there has been another nail in the coffin for the legendary presenter, as iconic manager Ian Holloway has hit out at the TV veteran, calling him ‘disrespectful’.
Lineker will leave tMatch of the Day after being its anchor for 25 years
BBCThe comments suggest that Lineker has not forgiven Holloway for guiding his beloved Leicester to relegation to the third tier of English football in 2008.
“Here’s a cat among the pigeons”, Holloway wrote. “Gary’s not a nice man in my experience and maybe it was because of my time at Leicester.
"All I know is he was horrible to me and, in my opinion, 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.
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Ian Holloway labelled Gary Lineker as 'disrespectful'
PA“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.”
Holloway joined the Foxes as manager on November 22, 2007, but failed to keep the side in the Championship, and ultimately left the club after the season.
The 62-year-old believes this is the reason for his frosty reception from Lineker, and also claimed Alan Shearer noticed it too.
He said: "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.”
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Holloway was also keen to lambast Match of the Day for their coverage and criticism of Premier League referees.
“I’m sorry, but Gary Lineker and his little crew are making them [referees] look even more s**t because they can look at every incident from every angle," he said.
He continued: “If referees had access to all the camera angles that Lineker and his friends have in a studio, they might get more decisions right.
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Ian Holloway lambasted Gary Lineker and Match of the Day for their criticism of referees
Getty“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.
“Do you remember Brian Clough tearing a strip off John Motson on Football Focus and telling him Jimmy Hill and the BBC experts were lecturing us too much instead of showing actual football? And here we are, 40 years later, doing exactly the same thing.”
Holloway is currently the Swindon Town boss and has endured a successful period there.
The Robins were just three points above the relegation zone when he took over, but ended the season 20 points clear.
Holloway also discussed his cancer scare in a recent pre-match press conference, as he sported a visible scar on the side of his face.
"My advice to anybody is please don't do it. Don't let your kids get burnt. Don't go out there if you've got fair skin like I have. Put [Factor] 50 on, keep covered, because I can't do anything about these bits, and I've got a huge scar on the right-hand side of my face now," he stated.
"Luckily, they cut it out and they're sending it off to see. There'll probably be more bits of me in a jar somewhere than there is sat here. It looks like I've had a fight with a bear and lost. You can't hide that fact."
