Lineker humiliated me, says Kewell

LIVERPOOL star Harry Kewell sued top football pundit Gary Lineker for libel because he did not want people to think he had brought “shame to the game”, the High Court heard yesterday.

Kewell, 26, is seeking substantial damages over a “hurtful and humiliating attack” on his transfer from Leeds in a July 2003 newspaper column by the Match Of The Day anchorman.

Kewell’s counsel, Andrew Monson, told Mr Justice Eady and a jury that Lineker, Sunday Telegraph sports editor Jon Ryan and the Telegraph Group Ltd had accused Kewell of being a fool and implied he was guilty of dishonourable conduct.

Kewell said he couldn’t quite believe it when a friend contacted him in Switzerland about the article headed: “Kewell move made me feel ashamed of the game”.

“I said it can’t be true, but eventually when I came back I saw the article and I was shocked.

“I was amazed by what he said ... I couldn’t believe he wrote something like that.”

He said: “When I read the article I felt like I was badly assaulted.” Coming from someone “so high up in the profession”, it had hurt him on a “professional level”.

“It brought shame to me because people out there think I am a dishonest person and I am not.

“I am a very honest person. I stand by my word and it just shocked and amazed me that he could say things like that without even consulting me.”

Kewell’s move to Liverpool earlier that month followed Leeds’s decision to sell star players in a bid to relieve their grave financial difficulties.

Kewell was set on moving to Liverpool and his personal manager, Bernie Mandic, negotiated on his behalf. Leeds wanted £7 million but Liverpool offered £5m plus an additional £2.4m loyalty bonus to Kewell, payable over three years. Out of the £5m fee, £2m went to Bernie Mandic’s company, Max Sport, as payment for work it had done for Leeds in Australia.

Mr Monson said the message from the newspaper, which denies libel, was that the article was not critical of the claimant and so it was not defamatory of him.

“The message was that the article only criticised the transfer system and agents like Bernie Mandic.”

He said: “ The defence of fair comment does not get off the ground as the central fact relied on by Gary Lineker to support his comment about the claimant is wholly untrue.”

Kewell said he did not want people saying to his children that their dad did the deal that “blackened football”.