I was an EFL star and played in the World Cup but nearly suffered embarrassing ‘Gary Lineker moment’ captaining my club
Ex-Championship star Jackson Irvine has led his new club to German Cup success … despite suffering a “Gary Lineker moment” on the pitch.
The Australia international spent four second-tier seasons with Burton Albion and Hull City.
Irvine came through Celtic’s youth ranks, and has also played for Kilmarnock, Ross County and Hibs.
The midfielder, 30, now captains German second division leaders St Pauli.
The Hamburg-based club hosted league rivals Schalke in the DFB Cup on Tuesday night.
St Pauli eventually won 2-1 after extra time.
But Irvine caused uproar when making a panic-stricken dash to the dressing-rooms midway through the extra 30 minutes.
Afterwards the Melbourne native revealed he had feared digestive problems would force him into imitating ex-England superstar Lineker.
The former striker infamously admitted to soiling himself during the Three Lions’ 1990 World Cup clash with the Republic of Ireland.
Quizzed on his exit, Irvine told local media: “I had my very own Gary Lineker moment.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
“But thankfully things didn’t turn out quite so badly.
“Everything was fine – there was no drama.”
Lineker previously spoke about his incident on Match of the Day, he said: “We go out for the second half, we’re ten or 15 minutes in and I’m starting to cramp again and I think, ‘Oh, I’m in trouble here’.
“The ball went down the Irish left hand side and I ran across and tried to block something. I sort of fell to the ground and relaxed for a second and it just went ‘boom’.
“It was like, ‘Oh my god’, but it was like everywhere. There’s a bit, if you ever see the footage, where Gary Stevens comes over and asks what’s wrong.
“And I go, ‘I’ve s*** myself’. I just didn’t know what to do. Thank God I had dark blue shorts on that day. I’m shovelling it out and rubbing myself on the grass like a dog.
“It was amazing how much space I found after that though, I was stinking.”