Gary Lineker was a handy potter as well as an ace goal-getter during his playing days – until he went to Barcelona.

Golf is the ‘other’ sport most commonly associated with footballers thanks to the extra time they have on their hands compared to your average Joe. But for Lineker, snooker was his go-to pastime in the early stages of his career.

In fact, the former Tottenham and England striker played every single day until his move to Barcelona, where he found a shortage of tables. Lineker, who was a pal of late snooker icon Willie Thorne, recalled his days on the baize in The Rest is Football Podcast with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

READ MORE: Alan Shearer's balls left burning thanks to Paul Gascoigne’s iconic training ground prank

READ MORE: Matt Le Tissier can't stop laughing at German paper Bild's top 10 English players ever

He said: “I haven’t played since 1986 because when I went to Barcelona there weren’t any snooker tables. There was one snooker table in the town but it was in a bar and it was busy. And it was in the time they smoked inside and everyone used the pockets of the snooker table as an ashtray.

“But I had a few 100 breaks, I had a 135 clearance. I used to play every day after training from when I was about 16 until I was about 25. That was my thing because [as a footballer] you have a lot of time to kill.”

What's your favourite Gary Lineker moment? Tell us in the comments section below

Lineker then recalled the time he played in a snooker match shown by the BBC in the build-up to 1986 FA Cup final between Everton and Liverpool. Lineker, then of Everton, took on Liverpool’s Mark Lawrenson in a best-of-three match.

“They had a referee and a bit of a crowd,” recalled Lineker, who felt he was robbed during the match, despite winning easily. “The first frame was a bit scruffy. I won it easily, I was always going to win.

“But in the second frame, I got into the balls. I was red, black, red, black. I got to about 45 and knocked the black in. Then the referee goes, ‘foul shot, Mark Lawrenson, seven’. He said my cuff had touched a ball.

“I was gutted. I was thinking I was going to get a 100 break on tele, at least 70 or 80. I won the frame, that was it. But I said to the ref, ‘what was that about?’. He said, ‘I thought you were running away with it so I thought I’d try and give Lawrenson a chance’. I’m like, ‘you’ve got to be joking!’.”

Source: Read Full Article