Lineker turned down Premier League manager job in phone call from club owner
Gary Lineker was offered the Aston Villa manager job in the 90s - but turned it down because management 'never appealed' to him.
Lineker was one of the greatest strikers of his generation after winning trophies with the likes of Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham before hanging up his boots in 1994. He was also successful at international level, winning the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup.
The England legend has forged a successful career in the media since his retirement, initially as a pundit before becoming the host of Match of the Day in the late 90s. He's also presented several non-football shows, including ITV gameshow Sitting On A Fortune.
Yet Lineker's post-playing career could've been very different had he accepted an offer from the late Doug Ellis, who was Villa's chairman between 1982 and 2006. Leicester, the club he started his career at and still supports, also once wanted him as their manager.
Lineker made the surprise revelation during the latest episode of The Rest Is Football. His fellow presenters Micah Richards and Alan Shearer, who have also pursued careers in the media, asked the legendary striker why he never became a manager.
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Lineker replied: "It never appealed, for a variety of reasons. I don’t think I’d have been very good at it. I don’t think I could have coped with leaving someone out of the team. I never really loved training, I found it quite boring most of the time. So if I didn't like training, I’m not going to really like watching training. It just never, ever, ever crossed my mind."
Lineker then revealed his managerial chances. He said: "I got a couple of job offers, I think Villa, Doug Ellis asked me to be Villa manager, and Leicester did at one point.
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"I got a phone call from Doug Ellis, it was shortly after, I can’t remember the era apart from the fact that it was relatively soon after I’d finished playing, and he said, 'Would you be interested in the Aston Villa job’. And I just said, 'Management is not for me, sorry Doug'."
Although Lineker never tried his hand at management, Shearer did. Newcastle's record scorer was appointed by the same club in April 2009 and tasked with keeping them in the Premier League. He failed to do that, winning just one of his eight games in charge.
As for Richards, the Manchester City hero started working in the media after his retirement in July 2019. A persistent knee injury forced Richards to hang up his boots, as his final first-team appearance was for Villa against Wolves in October 2016, aged just 28. He's since become one of the most popular pundits in the English game.
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