Lineker’s red card for dads at kid games
GARY Lineker has told how he hates pushy parents at football and has had to bite his tongue to avoid clashes.
The Match Of The Day and Euro 2024 host said he kept quiet on the touchline while watching his four sons play.
Lineker, 63 – who last week criticised England and captain Harry Kane – said: “It’s my pet hate, parents on the touchlines – 99.9% of what they shout at the kids is wrong. I’ve got four boys and I’ve watched them play and I’ve never said a word.”
Asked if he bit his tongue at games, the former Leicester and Tottenham star said: “Yes, but in the sense of having to contain myself answering the b ****** s from some dads and the effect that would have on their kids. Just let them enjoy it. I remember [son} Harry’s team played an undersevens tournament and they got to the semifinals and beat this team.
“This dad of one of the players from the other team shouted out constantly ‘What you doing? F***ing this, f***ing that?’.At the end he picked him up by the scruff of the neck and said ‘You’ll never make it if you play like that’.
“It was very hard not to go up to him and say ‘Listen, he’s not going to make it anyway but let him enjoy his football’.”
Lineker told Noble Rot magazine there was one time when he quipped back at a parent. He said: “With [son] George, a mother came up to me and went, ‘Is that your son up front? I thought he’d be better than that’. I said, ‘You should see his mother play, she’s s***’.”
Lineker also said the BBC “made a mistake” by taking him off-air after he posted a critical tweet about the UK’s migrant policy. He added: “We’re fine now.”