Gary Lineker has revealed a secret feud with Jose Mourinho stemming from an award ceremony snub nine years ago.
The Match of the Day host previously enjoyed a good relationship with Mourinho, but things began to turn sour after the ‘Special One’ requested not to receive a GQ magazine award from Lineker in 2015.
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Lineker and Mourinho’s relationship broke down at the 2015 GQ awardsCredit: Rex
Lineker claims his relationship with Mourinho remains broken following the awards ceremony and recalls an awkward exchange with the Portuguese coach after a Champions League clash at Old Trafford.
“I remember when he first came, he was this incredible personality, really engaging and I thought he was witty and he was funny. I think the game has beaten him up a little over the years,” Lineker told The Rest is Football podcast.
“I did a little documentary with him, he used to text me all the time, he used to text me after Match of the Day, saying ‘you guys understand it, this is great.’
“We had been going along like that for two years and then something changed.
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“I was asked to present him with the Man of the Year award at the GQ Awards that they do every year.
“They asked me to present the trophy and I said ‘yes, I’ll do that for Jose, of course.’
“Then about four days before the event, they got in touch and said ‘Jose has got in touch and he doesn’t want you to present the trophy to him, he wants someone that’s not in football.’
“I thought ‘hmm, that’s a bit odd’, but I thought I’ll go along to the event anyway and I went up to Jose and he kind of blanked me. I went ‘are we OK, are we OK Jose?’
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Mourinho has distanced himself from Lineker leaving the Match of the Day host baffledCredit: getty
“He went ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ But he wasn’t OK and he’s never been OK since.”
In the hope of getting to the bottom of the saga, podcast colleagues Alan Shearer and Micah Richards probed England legend Lineker on what the likely cause was.
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The 63-year-old was unable to give an answer, but went on to tell them about an awkward face-to-face moment at Old Trafford with the then Manchester United boss, after hosting a Champions League fixture for BT Sport.
“I do not know to this day whether it was something I said on Match of the Day, I genuinely have no idea. I interviewed him subsequently and he was very cold,” Lineker added.
“I remember doing a Champions League game which they didn’t do very well in.
“I went up to the director’s bit at Manchester United and I was having a drink with Ed Woodward, he’s a neighbour of mine so I know him really well.
“I’m stood there having a drink and Jose comes up, but then he just wandered off. He sent a text to Ed Woodward, ‘why are you talking to him?’
“To this day, I don’t know what I did. It is a long time ago this happened, but I don’t know what happened.”
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