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THE AFFABLE LINEKER
The Star, Star Two, June 17, 1991
THE hotel is abuzz with activity. Of course it is –
after all, the English football team is staying here. Security is tight.
No calls are allowed to the players’ rooms, and the floor they are staying
on is out of bounds.
“Where’s Gary Lineker?” seemed to be the unspoken
question in everyone’s mind. Much sought-after by the press and fans
alike, the man is elusive – but not unapproachable.
Although it is match day and he isn’t supposed to be
speaking to the press, the friendly Lineker consented to an interview,
“just a short one. Ten minutes only!”
The lines etched beside his eyes and the graying hair
at his temples tell of the pressure Gary Lineker faces, not only to play
well but also to live up to the expectations of his fans and teammates. He
has to live up to a reputation earned at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico,
where he was the tournament’s top scorer with six goals.
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An all too familiar scene: Gary Lineker shoots one past the goalie.
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It is a burden that the English goalscorer has borne
well. At last week’s friendly match against Malaysia, Lineker scored four
goals. The final score was 4-2.
Having started out playing professional football at
his hometown club Leicester in 1978, Lineker moved on to Merseyside giants
Everton in 1985. There he was voted Footballer of the Year for the
1985/1986 season.
Then in 1986, he moved to Barcelona, Spain, for a
whopping sum of £2.75 million (about $12 million). He helped Barcelona win
the Spanish Cup in 1988 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1989.
After three years in Spain, he returned to England to
join his current club Tottenham Hotspur in 1989.
At 30, Lineker has been a professional footballer for
13 years. His first international match was in 1984 against Scotland. To
date, he has 67 international caps and scored 45 international goals.
Lineker has always wanted to play football, which is
only natural in England where footballers are idolized. He explained:
“It’s always been what I wanted to do. I didn’t really think I would do as
well as I did.
“If I didn’t play football, I’d play cricket. I
enjoyed that as well so maybe I would have been a cricketer if I didn’t
become a footballer. Who knows? As for snooker – which I also enjoy
playing – I wasn’t good enough to play professionally.”
The person he is said to owe his career to is his
grandfather, who has always been his greatest fan. The man stood outside
in all kinds of weather to encourage Lineker when he was a schoolboy
player.
Lineker’s whole family, in fact, has been very
supportive of his career. “I started playing football at a very young age.
I can’t remember exactly when I started. I was so small – maybe I was born
playing.”
Now Lineker is a household name internationally. The
celebrity status does not bother him, nor has it gone to his head.
In London, where he lives, he has to deal with fans
all the time. Most of them are not too demanding and he obliges them
whenever he can.
“I’m not really bothered by fans whenever I go out in
London. It depends where you go. If you go to nice places you don’t get
problems with fans.
“It’s okay as most people are very polite. They just
come and ask for your autograph. It’s no great problem.”
There has been speculation in the British media that
Spurs may be out to sell Lineker to another club to help clear the club’s
debts. But Lineker dismissed the idea, saying that he is perfectly happy
where he is at the moment and still has two years to go on his contract.
Of the four clubs he has played with, he still feels
an attachment to his first, Leicester. “When you’re actually with a club
you do feel some sort of an attachment to it. I suppose I still have an
attachment to my first club, Leicester, because that’s where I was born.
That’s always been the team I supported. Although it’s the smallest club
I’ve been with, it’s still the club I follow most.”
Within the current English team which recently toured
New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia for friendly matches, Lineker feels
closer to players whom he has known longer, such as David Platt, Stuart
Pearce and Des Walker.
He has not set a date for his retirement from
professional football but he has been considering alternatives.
“How long I keep on playing professional football
will depend on how long my legs last. But I’ve been doing a bit of media
work and TV and I have one or two other interests.
“I’m just concentrating on playing, mainly. I have
certain things going already but I don’t really want to be a manager.”
Lineker, who had a successful stay with Barcelona,
said that how the English footballer makes it abroad depends on the
individual. “Some make it and some don’t. I think the ones who play
successfully abroad are mostly the ones who learn the language and try to
adjust to the place and the culture.
“I’ve done pretty well abroad with Barcelona and so
have some other English players. I think the really good players usually
do well abroad.
“The style of play is different but to be a top
professional you have to adapt. If you can’t adapt then perhaps you’re not
good enough.”
As for the English team winning the World Cup again
after its 1966 victory, Lineker said it is difficult for any team to win
the World Cup because of the stiff competition.
“It’s very difficult to win. All the best countries
in the world are in it. We came close (to winning) on a couple of
occasions. In Italy, we came quite close. It’s a very, very difficult
thing to win. Why? I don’t know. Different reasons for different years.
Perhaps sometimes we’re not good enough and then other times, it’s bad
luck or whatever.
“I think we are changing our style of play slowly, on
the international scene. But it’s difficult because the English expect to
see the English team play a certain way, and I think this would be
difficult to change. You’ve got to start the change with the children to
change a style completely.”
German Lothar Matthaus is one of the footballers whom
Lineker respects. He also has high regard for Argentinian Diego Maradona,
but only as a footballer.
From the past, there’s Pele, of course; and Johan
Cruyff who managed him while he was with Barcelona.
At the time it was said that Lineker was having
problems with the living legend Cruyff but “I didn’t really have problems
with him. As a manager, he just played me in a position I didn’t want to
play and so I had to leave. It was nothing personal.”
Unlike common believe, Lineker thinks that generally
the standard of football internationally is very high. He said the game
now is very fast, very physical.
“It is more difficult for skilful players now than
before. And the game is becoming more and more physical and so quick that
the athletes are perhaps sometimes the best players rather than the
skilful players. And I think, that change will continue as well. Whether
it’s for the good of the game, I don’t know.
“At the World Cup the technical standard may be going
down. It’s just that some games weren’t as good as others. But it could
change again in the next month. I think sometimes people worry too much.
There were some very good games in the recent World Cup.”
Lineker prefers to retreat to the quiet of his home
after a rousing game. After matches he usually unwinds by having a meal
with his wife or by just having a couple of drinks.
His free time, of which he has very little, is
usually spent at home relaxing, maybe watching TV and catching up on his
reading.
Lineker’s wife Michelle, who is six months pregnant
with their first child, is very supportive of his career.
She used to be a beauty therapist but has given up
her job; now, she takes care of her husband’s mail. According to him, she
is like his secretary.
She does travel with him sometimes such as when he
went to the World Cups. The ever-supportive Michelle, he said, is very
happy about his career.
“It has given us a great deal. We’ve been very lucky.
It doesn’t take me away too much, only at this time of the year after the
league season is over. There’s not much traveling to do there.”
This is Lineker’s first visit to Malaysia but
hopefully not his last. He expressed interest in returning – for a
holiday.
Copyright Star Publications (M) Bhd
ALSO:
The dark side, June 16, 2006
Up for the Cup, June 6, 2006
Getting ready for World Cup, May 26, 2006
Talking Ball With: Shebby, September, 2005
Woosie the Wee Wonder, Feb 18, 1993
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