What ARE the ‘skeletons’ hiding in Gary Lineker’s closet? Inside the 13-year spat that led to Matt Le Tissier’s shock accusations – and how Covid jab jokes stirred up sacked pundit’s anger

Matt Le Tissier has reignited his feud with Gary Lineker by claiming the Match of the Day host is ‘hiding skeletons in the closet’.

The former Southampton striker made the claim on the Disruptors podcast as he told host Rob Moore: ‘We’ll probably find out all these things after Gary passes away.

‘I can tell you that Gary Lineker is not the angel that he likes to portray himself to be. Ask Joey Barton!

‘Have a look at Joey Barton’s feed where he has a go at Gary Lineker and challenges Gary to come back and have a go at him. 

‘And Gary won’t have a go at him because Gary knows he’s not as pure as driven snow.’

Le Tissier’s reference to a spat between Lineker and Barton dates back to 2012, when he appears to have started having his own doubts about the ex-England forward.

After Barton was sent off on the final day of the 2011-12 season for elbowing Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez in the face, the then-QPR midfielder was heavily criticised by Lineker and Alan Shearer on Match of the Day.

Barton hit back at Shearer on social media after their previous falling-out at Newcastle, before Lineker waded into the row to defend his colleague.

‘Hear @Joey7Barton had a dig at Shearer,’ Lineker tweeted. ‘Is this an attempt, I wonder, to deflect from the obvious and deserved criticisms coming his way?’

Barton fired back: ‘@GaryLineker no deflections here mate. Think the fact about 100m people seen it will see to that. Just don’t like how he gets personal…’

Lineker refused to let the situation rest as he responded: ‘@joey7barton Still raging then? Still kicking out? And still, presumably, misunderstood? But only by yourself I suspect.’

At this point, Barton launched into an astonishing attack on the BBC presenter, writing: ‘@GaryLineker do u wanna go there publicly “Mr Squeaky Clean”? Think u should have a look in that vast closet of skeletons before u respond.

‘@GaryLineker I know a lot about THAT side to u the people don’t and won’t bat an eye lid at exposing u. So mind ur manners Squeaky…

‘@GaryLineker now back under your stone you odious little toad…’

There’s that phrase again – ‘closet of skeletons’.

Barton never expanded on the information that he allegedly has about Lineker’s private life, but Le Tissier seems convinced that he may have been on to something.

His differences with Lineker came to light once more when the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Le Tissier voiced some strong opinions about Covid-19 and the subsequent vaccines that were rolled out to the public.

He even questioned why the government’s response had been so different to dealing with influenza, leading to Lineker mocking Le Tissier as he posted on Twitter: ‘Yeah Matt, why didn’t someone come up with a flu vaccine?’

Addressing their ongoing feud in 2022, Le Tissier sarcastically told Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour’s Pub Talk YouTube channel that Lineker was a ‘very special human being’.

Gary was one of those blue ticks that I was talking about earlier that like to jump on anything I say,’ Le Tissier explained. ‘But you know, Gary’s a very special human being, he’s never done any wrong in his life.

‘[Our row was over] opinions, he’s on the leftist side of left on the political spectrum, and I’m more in the middle, and maybe veer slightly towards the right, although there’s some things on the left that I’d agree with.’

The row between Lineker and Le Tissier then took a fresh twist in March 2023 after the former was stood down from his Match of the Day duties for criticising the UK Government’s Illegal Immigration Bill.

Commenting on a video put out by then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman where she vowed to ‘stop the boats’, Lineker wrote: ‘Good heavens, this is beyond awful’.

In a separate post, he added: ‘There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.

‘This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?’

The BBC reacted by taking Lineker off Match of the Day until they could reach an agreement with him over his use of social media.

Lineker had previously denied that the BBC were going to punish him for his actions, insisting he was ‘very much looking forward to hosting @BBCMOTD’.

When Lineker was stood down, Le Tissier was only too happy to stick the boot in.

Replying to Lineker’s defiant message, Le Tissier wrote: ‘This didn’t age well. Btw Gary should be entitled to his opinion unless his contract with the BBC says otherwise.’

He didn’t stop there, as he called out Lineker for being ‘no saint’ himself.

‘I can tell you Gary Lineker is no saint, not in any way, shape or form,’ Le Tissier stated on GB News. 

‘There’s very few of us around that are saints. I’m no saint, we’ve all made mistakes in our lives but we don’t all virtue signal to the extent that Mr Lineker does.

‘I don’t even have to imagine, there are quite a few skeletons in Gary’s closet down the years. He’s obviously got some friends in very high places who have protected him, there’s no two ways about that.’

There’s that mention of ‘skeletons’ again.

Much like Barton did just over a decade earlier, Le Tissier also went after one of Lineker’s colleagues, as he laid into Ian Wright.

Following the news that Lineker would not be hosting that weekend’s Match of the Day, Wright also announced that he would not be appearing as a pundit to show solidarity with Lineker.

This angered Le Tissier, who blasted Wright for not taking a similar stance when he, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas were all sacked from their jobs on Soccer Saturday in 2020.

‘It’s really interesting and Ian has taken a stand there where he is standing up for his mate,’ Le Tissier told GB News.

‘What’s really interesting is that, if you go back three years and look at the reaction Ian Wright had to the sacking of myself, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas.

‘You will see that reaction is completely contradictory to how he reacted to this.

‘It’s all very well taking this stand, but let’s show a bit of consistency in this Wrighty.’

Following support from the public and his colleagues, Lineker was swiftly reinstated as Match of the Day host, and has remained in the hotseat for the past two years.

But he will walk away at the end of the season, with Mark Chapman, Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan set to replace him on the flagship show.

With Lineker moving away from the spotlight, will these ‘skeletons’ ever be revealed?

For now, Le Tissier has kept his lips sealed on Lineker’s alleged secrets. But what do we already know about the man who has starred as a player and then presenter for over 40 years?

Well, Lineker married Michelle Cockayne in 1986, and they have four sons together. Cockayne filed for divorce in 2006, citing Lineker’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’, but they later confirmed their split was amicable.

Lineker remarried in 2009, as he tied the knot with Danielle Bux.

They went their separate ways in 2016 due to Lineker not wanting to have any more children.

Meanwhile, Lineker has no criminal convictions, but did have a legal battle with HM Revenue and Customs in 2023.

Lineker won his appeal after being pursued over a tax bill worth £4.9m, with the judge ruling that he was a freelancer who had separate contracts with the BBC and BT Sport between 2013-14 and 2017-18. 

Apart from that, Lineker remains somewhat a man of mystery away from the TV screen. 

Le Tissier has hinted that he could reveal all one day, but it remains unclear whether he will ever follow through.

One thing that is certain is Lineker and Le Tissier don’t see eye to eye – and that is unlikely to change any time soon.