In a bluntly honest Unfiltered interview, the England ace told James O’Brien why he chose to present the draw after previously criticising FIFA.
Gary Lineker has been one of FIFA’s most visceral critics, so when the Match of the Day anchor presented the World Cup draw he was accused of hypocrisy.
In the latest episode of Unfiltered with James O’Brien, Lineker explained his rationale extensively.
The pair covered the England striker’s vilification by right-wing newspapers for daring to express concern for refugees, the illness of his son, George, and the World Cup draw.
The decision to accept that presenting job drew the ire of many, a Guardian article was headlined “Gary Lineker fronting World Cup draw for Fifa feels like a kind of betrayal.”
But Lineker told James that after meeting FIFA’s new guard of operatives and bureaucrats he felt confident the organisation was in the right hands to be repaired and revitalised.
England’s record World Cup goal scorer (10) said he had particular faith in Zvonimir Boban and Gianni Infantino, to carry football’s governing body forward, and felt a sense of duty to influence them: “Now do you just stay outside when somebody approaches you like that? or do you try and get inside and influence them and change things for the good? Because I care about football.”
He told the pair they had a real opportunity to fix the current situation, citing levels of corruption “beyond belief, truly awful.” He recalled a conversation in a restaurant and banging his fist on the table as he said: “You can have a legacy for good, this is your opportunity.”
Lineker continued: “It needs a new broom, it needed to get rid of the old guard and let’s hope these new people, that weren’t part of this before, let’s hope that they’re much better.
“I sense they are, especially with Boban, so watch this space.
“Hopefully they’ll make a difference, they deserve better. There are issues that still need resolving but they need time.
“And if they don’t and let the game down I’ll be back on their case.
“Platini let us down, they let us down. I knew Michel, he was a wonderful footballer and a quite effervescent guy, but he let himself down, he let the game down, he let footballers down.”
