Angered Lineker quits column

GARY LINEKER has quit his column in the Mail on Sunday following the paper’s publication of a secretly recorded conversation in which FA chairman Lord Triesman’s accused the Spanish and Russian football federations of bribery.

The story led to Triesman’s resignation as the chairman of the FA and of its bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Lineker, the former England international and World Cup star turned BBC presenter, is an official ambassador of the bid and believes the Mail on Sunday’s story has potentially damaged efforts to bring the tournament to the country.

Lineker said: “The story itself, the circumstances surrounding it and the actions of the Mail on Sunday in publishing it have undermined the bid to bring the World Cup to England in 2018.

“I wholeheartedly support the bid, because I believe that hosting the tournament would be brilliant for the country, and I am an official ambassador for it. I have therefore taken the view that I cannot continue as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday.”