Former Leicester City striker Gary Lineker has opened up on when he helped save his former club from administration in 2002.
City were close to folding in 2002 when ITV Digital collapsed, before being saved by a consortium lead by Lineker.
The Foxes went in to achieve promotion to the Premier League that season, but were relegated in their first season back in the top flight.
Lineker was talking about the current situation at Southend United, who are currently in administration themselves, and said it reminded him of his time saving Leicester little over twenty years ago.
“It reminds me of a situation at Leicester City, I think it was either 200 or 2001 when they were in a very similar predicament,” he said on The Rest is Football Podcast.
“The money had all run out and it went into administration and I was actually involved with a lot of people, it was my agent Jon Holmes, who has been my agent since 18 and still is, a massive Leicester fan, and the two of us with the help of one or two other people, got together probably got about 20 or 30 people to put in money, they were either fans or a few wealthy friends of ours and we managed to save the club but it was such a battle and so important.
“But the one thing I can say is that we weren’t in a position where we could have invested funds to buy players and stuff like that, so eventually the club was taken by somebody else. Basically is was like a charitable donation what everybody did for the club which was really important.”
Gary Lineker saving Leicester was ‘important’ for him
Since then Leicester have had two owners, are now owned by the Srivaddhanaprabha family, who acquired the club in 2010. They have lead the Foxes to a Premier League title and an FA Cup win in their tenure.
Lineker continued, saying: “Then of course, 15 years later, who would have thought they won the Premier League. For a club like Southend it would be lovely if someone came in, a fit and proper person, save the club and the fans got what they wanted and hopefully the current owner will try and do his best for the football club and the local community.
“It was so important, I grew up in Leicester, I played for them for eight years, I’ve supported them all my life and it would have been a tragedy for a club like Leicester City to go under. And it would be the same for Southend because it does mean that much.”