Gary Lineker donates £300k of BBC wages to Red Cross to pile pressure on millionaire Prem stars to take salary cuts

FOOTBALL legend Gary Lineker has piled the pressure on millionaire Premier League footballers to put their hands in their pockets after donating £300,000 towards the coronavirus relief effort.

The former England and Tottenham star and now Match Of The Day host has agreed to give away two months of his BBC salary to the British Red Cross, who are helping those most vulnerable during the pandemic.

---

Read our coronavirus in sport live blog for the latest news & updates

---

Getty Images - Getty

He has also appeared to throw the gauntlet down to other top earners including millionaire players by asking others to “join in”.

Sharing a Just Giving link on Twitter, Lineker, 59, wrote: “Decided to donate a couple months salary to the @britishredcross who are doing vital work to the most vulnerable during this coronavirus crisis.

“Feel incredible fortunate to be able to do this. If you’d like to join in it would be greatly appreciated.”

Lineker also responded to a tweet put out by Labour MP David Lammy, who criticised pro footballers.

Mr Lammy wrote: “It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals.

“And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidise cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead.”

It comes after Spurs, who Lammy supports, became the second Premier League club after Newcastle to slash wages for non-playing staff.

But Lineker believes it is not that footballers aren’t interested in helping those less fortunate out, but more that they just don’t know how best to go about doing it.

He hit back: “It’s not criminal. Fact is players are not training together so meetings would take time to organise.

“I’m positive most of them would want to do something to help but don’t know how, or worry about treading a lonely path.

“Let’s give them a chance to act before we all wade in.”

---

CLICK HERE IF YOU’D LIKE TO JOIN GARY LINEKER AND DONATE TO THE BRITISH RED CROSS

---

After Spurs putting many of their staff on furlough leave, chairman Levy warned the management and playing staff that they will “have to do their bit” in the current coronavirus crisis.

Boss Jose Mourinho pockets an incredible £290,000-a-week at the London club, while star striker Harry Kane makes £200k-a-week.

Levy, who was the Prem’s best-paid exec last season with £7million, confirmed in a club statement: “The club’s operations have effectively ceased, some of our fans will have lost their jobs and most will be worried about their future.

“The club has an annual cost base running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

“We have seen some of the biggest clubs in the world such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus take steps to reduce their costs.

“We ourselves made the difficult decision to reduce the renumeration of all 550 non-playing directors and employees for April and May by 20 per cent utilising, where appropriate, the Government’s furlough scheme.

“We hope the current discussions between the Premier League, PFA and LMA will result in players and coaches doing their bit for the football eco system.”

Famous faces the world over are contributing to the fight against coronavirus with some football stars already pledging millions of pounds.

They include Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola, who have both made donations of over £900,000 to hospitals in Spain and Argentina while Cristiano Ronaldo has made provisions for medical equipment and intensive care units.

Brazilian ace Neymar has been revealed as the man behind a £770,000 donation to Unicef and a local charity, while a mystery Liverpool player has given £25,000 to a children’s hospital on Merseyside.

And both Brighton boss Graham Potter and Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe taking voluntary pay cuts.