With Leicester City edging closer and closer to a sensational Premier League title win one of their most high-profile fans, who just so happens to be one of their best ever players too, has been trying to digest a crazy season, and one which he will never have expected to experience.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/258483736" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
Gary Lineker made a bet on twitter earlier in the season that he surely is regretting now, although in his defence, it really did seem safe back then.
YES! If Leicester win the @premierleague I'll do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) December 14, 2015
While Gary got a lot of laughs for that tweet, he has received some backlash for comments he made regarding Leicester's star striker Jamie Vardy during a recent sit-down with The Guardian.
Lineker was asked about Vardy's racist comment towards an Asian man in a casino last summer, which the England striker apologised for, and the Match Of The Day host played down the situation:
People make mistakes. They say stupid things. He did it and he apologised.
I think it depends on how you say it, and where you say it,” he says. “But I know footballers, and they are generally really not racist at all. I’ve heard things said on football pitches that players clearly don’t mean, whether it’s racism or just an abusive comment in the heat of the moment.
Fundamentally, footballers don’t look around a dressing room and think: ‘He’s a black player ... he’s Japanese.’ They don’t think like that. They think: ‘He’s a good player, he can help, he’s not very good.’ I’m not trying to defend anyone’s actions, but there are going to be isolated incidents because it’s an emotive, passionate sport.
While he claimed he was not defending Vardy's actions, it has certainly been taken that way by many and Lineker has received a lot of criticism, particularly on twitter:
Lineker on racism and Vardy. Sorry mate, but racism doesn't depend on 'how you say it and where you say it'. pic.twitter.com/fbTNZUkYEB
— Sean (@SeanWalsh_97) April 11, 2016
Gary Lineker effectively excuses Vardy's racism on the basis that "people say stupid things".
— Dave Phillips (@lovefutebol) April 11, 2016
Absolute gibberish from Lineker on Vardy that does him no credit at all https://t.co/DYE1knafha
— Steve Eustice (@SteveEustice) April 11, 2016
Gary Lineker, being completely arse-backwards on Jamie Vardy, racism in football and - possibly - how doping works https://t.co/lC6ws0S3S5
— Chris Deeley (@ThatChris1209) April 11, 2016
@shags__ @lovefutebol Would Lineker be excusing Vardy's actions if Leicester weren't doing well?
— Si (@PhantomGoal) April 11, 2016
Is Twitter killing Gary Lineker for his weak-as-piss defence of Jamie Vardy or what?
— Rob Brown (@robbro7) April 11, 2016
