Lineker blames Daily Star over his “sh*t” England rant after Kane calls him out
Crisp lover Gary Lineker has tried to pass the buck to Daily Star Sport over Harry Kane’s hard-hitting response to his scathing criticism.
Kane, 30, pulled no punches when asked about Lineker’s damning comments following England’s bore draw with Denmark on Thursday (June 20). And Lineker has now blamed us over the striker’s reply to his own “England were sh*t” remarks.
The spud-flogger accused our reporter of “trying to stir the pot” and being “too scared to ask a question from their own selves” after England’s No.9 hit back at the former international.
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While speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Lineker said: “We’ve talked about this a few times about journalists not being brave enough to ask their own questions.
“It’s a guarantee that whoever that was would have been critical about it himself. I think they do it, A. to stir the pot and B. because they are too scared to ask questions from their own selves. So, I get it, it puts Harry on the spot, but I think he actually answered it fine.“
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A clearly unimpressed Kane told Lineker he needs to remember how “tough” it is to perform in a major tournament – and that he won nothing as an England player – when he faced the media ahead of the Three Lions’ clash with Slovenia.
“I would never want to be disrespectful to any player, especially a player who has worn the shirt and knows what it is like to play for England,” Kane said. But what ex-players now have got to realise is it is very hard not to listen to it now, especially for some players who are not used to it or some players who are new to the environment.”
(Image: Getty Images)
“So I always feel like [former players and pundits] have a responsibility. I know they’ve got to be honest and give their opinion, but also they have a responsibility of being an ex-England player.
“The bottom line is, we haven’t won anything as a nation for a long, long time. And, you know, a lot of these ex-players were part of that as well… they know how tough it is, so it’s not digging anyone out, it’s just the reality that they do know it is tough to play in these major tournaments – and tough to play for England.”
Linker said: “If we said, ‘Oh, they actually played really well’ we would be lying for a start, because they didn’t play well and Harry knows they didn’t play well. There is one bit there which I understand what he says, [when he said] ‘But they have a responsibility of being ex-England players and they should know what it’s like. It’s not like they have won anything’ and the rest of that effect.
“Fine. Fine, and he’s absolutely right. But I will say one thing, the last thing in the world we want to be is downbeat and critical. We want England to perform well on the pitch and the best punditry of all is when England play well and we are excited and enthusiastic about them so we can say, ‘This performance was great, that performance was great’. We don’t want to be critical but we have to be at times. And we did it balanced as well.”
However, Alan Shearer seemingly took Daily Star Sport’s side in the debate – admitting our reporter “does have a point”. He then joked: “You should stick to flogging crisps.”
Lineker clapped back at his Match of the Day pal: “I’ve flogged crisps for 30 years, it’s been quite beneficial to be perfectly honest.”
England can now prove the face of Walkers himself wrong when the Three Lions clash with Slovenia on Tuesday (June 25) evening.
