Gary Lineker: A Portrait of a Football Icon, by Chris Evans; published by Bloomsbury Sport; price: £15.99
Chris Evans’s biography of Gary Lineker provides a fascinating insight into one of football’s most popular characters.
Former striker’s varied career
Lineker led an itinerant life as a footballer with Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham, Grampus Eight, and England.
He then became the presenter of Match of the Day, a successful entrepreneur, and an owner of sports podcasts.
After establishing a reputation as one of England’s greatest ever goalscorers, he has not been afraid to give his opinions on social media.
He stirred controversy when commenting on Twitter/X about the UK Government’s policy on illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel.
The highest-paid man on the BBC’s payroll was asked to step back from presenting Match of the Day until an agreement was reached on his social media use.
His colleagues immediately decided to offer their support and withdraw their labour. This meant that BBC’s sports coverage was paralysed over one weekend in March 2023.
Lineker is well-liked by his colleagues and this revolt demonstrated that.
Humble beginnings and stardom
Lineker’s football career had humble beginnings at Leicester. His popularity really took off when he scored a hat-trick against Poland in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Evans states: “The three goals he scored against Poland had great significance in helping England to progress to the last-16 of the World Cup. But they’d prove to have even greater personal significance.
“This was the catalyst for Gary Lineker to become a global football icon.”
Lineker went on to win the tournament’s golden boot, but England were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Argentina.
In 1990, his goals helped England reach the semi-finals against West Germany. There, his reaction to Gazza’s tears became an iconic moment.
In his last season at Spurs, he was named the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year. He became only the sixth player to win the award on more than one occasion.
He was also second behind Bobby Charlton in the all-time England goalscoring list when he stopped playing.
Lineker an ‘authentic character’
Lineker became the BBC’s Football Focus presenter in 1996 and took over from Des Lynam on Match of the Day in 1999.
By the time he stepped down at the end of this season after yet more social media controversy, he was the programme’s longest-serving host.
Despite criticism from some quarters, commentator Barry Davies believes that Lineker is an authentic character on-screen.
“He’s not only a footballer, but he’s also a television personality, he’s an interesting guy, he’s a man in the street you can talk to,” he said.
Evans successfully argues in this biography that Lineker has accomplished seemingly impossible things while staying grounded and true to his roots.
He believes he is now one of the most famous and influential people in Britain.
Rating: 8/10
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