Gary Lineker once helped save Leicester City from the brink of extinction at the 11th hour

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Gary Lineker has never been afraid to show his love for Leicester City.

The former Match of the Day presenter famously opened the first show of the 2016/17 season in his underpants after promising to do so if the Foxes won the league the year before.

Lineker began his career with Leicester and was the First Division’s top scorer in his final year at Filbert Street before joining Everton in 1985.

That love has never left him and he would do anything for his boyhood club, as he proved in 2002.

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Gary Lineker led consortium that saved Leicester City

Leicester were in a bad way financially at the start of the 21st century and after their move to the then-named Walkers Stadium, were on the brink of going out of business after entering administration in 2002.

Just when all hope looked like it was lost, a consortium led by Lineker and several others completed a takeover to save the Foxes, who went on to win promotion from the Championship that season.

Reflecting on the role he played during an episode of the Rest is Football podcast, he said: “The money had all run out and it went into administration and I was actually involved with a lot of people, it was my agent Jon Holmes, who has been my agent since 18 and still is, a massive Leicester fan.

“The two of us with the help of one or two other people, got together probably got about 20 or 30 people to put in money, they were either fans or a few wealthy friends of ours and we managed to save the club but it was such a battle and so important.”

Why didn’t Gary Lineker stay on as a Leicester owner?

The Leicester legend wasn’t in charge that long and eventually passed on the reins, insisting that he would’ve never been able to provide the funds to buy players and improve the infrastructure, but played a part in the £5m bid to help his club.

“One thing I can say is that we weren’t in a position where we could have invested funds to buy players and stuff like that, so eventually the club was taken by somebody else,” Lineker explained.

“Basically is was like a charitable donation what everybody did for the club which was really important.

“It was so important, I grew up in Leicester, I played for them for eight years, I’ve supported them all my life and it would have been a tragedy for a club like Leicester City to go under.”