Gary Lineker's awkward exchange with ex-Premier League boss on Match of the Day
Gary Lineker has a reputation for being one of the best presenters in the business but he had an awkward run-in with one managerial legend live on Match of the Day
Gary Lineker was involved in an awkward exhange with Ian Holloway live on Match of the Day. Lineker has hosted the BBC's standard bearer highlights show for 26 years and will leave that role at the end of the season.
The former Barcelona star has developed a reputation for being one of the best presenters in the business. But he has also attracted his fair share of criticism for incidents both on and off the screen.
And now former Blackpool boss Holloway has opened up on his own dealings with Lineker. Holloway is one of the icons of the Football League, with a management career spanning 29 years and nine clubs.
One of his more forgettable spells came with Leicester City between November 2007 and May 2008. He took over with the Foxes sitting 15th in the Championship, but led them to just nine wins as they suffered a miserable relegation to League One.
Holloway now credits that relegation as the reason he was met with a frosty reception by famous Leicester fan Lineker during a Match of the Day appearance. While in charge of Blackpool, Holloway was invited onto the show, though it was not a happy experience.
READ MORE: What Gary Lineker won't miss about Match of the Day and bombshell over future in football on TVREAD MORE: Ian Holloway sheds light on feud with 'disrespectful' Gary Lineker - 'He was horrible to me'“Here’s a cat among the pigeons. Gary’s not a nice man in my experience and maybe it was because of my time at Leicester,” Holloway told Mirror Football. "All I know is he was horrible to me and, in my opinion, dismissive and disrespectful.
“While I was at Blackpool, I was invited on Match of the Day but it was obvious Lineker didn’t want me there. He didn’t speak to me once and didn’t even say hello. At the end, I went over and shook his hand and said, ‘Hello - maybe you don’t want to speak to me because of my time at Leicester, but hello Gary, how are you?’
"He said, ‘Oh, oh, Ian, it wasn’t like that.’ I said, ‘Yes you were, mate. I knew you were.’ A few years later I saw Alan Shearer at Wembley and he said, ‘I loved that time when you forced Gary to shake your hand.’ So he could see it, too.”
Holloway was sacked in the aftermath of Leicester's relegation, with replacement Nigel Pearson subsequently leading them to the League One title in their first season in the third tier.
At the time, it was a decision Holloway admitted he had little problem with. He told The Guardian: "If Sven-Goran Eriksson can get the sack after the results he has had, then who am I? If Jose Mourinho can be sacked and Avram Grant is in a European Cup final and might be sacked, then who am I?"
"Statistically, I'm currently the worst Leicester City manager in history and that doesn't sit well with me. On my gravestone it will say, 'Here lies Ollie - he tried.' I will never give up. There was one website asking supporters to send in pictures that summed up Leicester's season.
"There were pictures of boats going down and a photograph of the Freight Rover thing, or Johnstone's Paints, whatever it's called. You can protect people sometimes but on other occasions you can use these things. Maybe that's what the players needed - that kind of stinging criticism."
Ian Holloway: The (mostly) Football World According to Ollie (Reach Sport, £12.99 hardback) is on sale now.
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