BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker is likely to risk a backlash after some slightly bizarre comments about receiving racist abuse as a kid.
The former England international admits he got bullied at school because he was a small, geeky kid and admits he also received racist abuse because he had darkish skin.
Lineker added, however, that he was “as English as they come”, which is a strange clarification to make given that there are plenty of English players with dark skin…
It’s a bit surreal to hear these comments from the 61-year-old, who is normally quite switched on when it comes to progressive issues, and it will be interesting to see if he issues any further statement about what he said.
“Without being good at sport, life would have been very different for me,” Lineker told the High Performance Podcast.
“Because I was, I think I would have been bullied at school, I was kind of marginally that way anyway because I was this tiny geeky kid, with darkish skin and I had pretty much racist abuse although I’m not, I’m as English as they come. All the time, all the time.
“Even in professional football I had that a couple of times, I wouldn’t ever name any names. So I got that kind of nonsense, which was a bit weird.
“Whether that was part of something that made me, I don’t know, but other people might not be able to handle that.”