GARY LINEKER revealed he was once hauled into Terry Venables’ office after a cheeky move in training.
It was confirmed on Sunday that legendary England boss Venables had passed away at the age of 80.
Lineker played under the iconic English coach while at Tottenham between 1989 and 1991.
And while he scored 45 goals in 88 appearances during his two seasons with Venables, he also got himself in the manager’s bad books.
That was because he craftily ducked out of a running session ahead of the 1990/91 season by hiding in a BUSH.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, he said: “It’s the one thing I felt quite bad about during my career.
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“When I was playing at Tottenham, after the World Cup in Italia 90, I was kind of shot.
“And we only had like a couple of weeks off and we started again.
“We used to train at Mill Hill and we used have this big area we’d run around, the outer perimeter [which was] a couple of miles.
“We had to do two laps and on the first lap we’d started, and I was already kind of behind everyone else, I just couldn’t do that long distance stuff, and I actually hid behind a bush.
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“I hid behind a bush on the first lap, and when they joined me again, just as they went past me, I jumped out and I was still last!”
He continued: “But Terry Venables got wind of it and he pulled me into his office and he went ‘Gary, that’s not good enough’.
“And actually, I went ‘Terry, I know, I’m sorry, honestly I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that’. I had my worst season that year.”
Although it was his worst season at Tottenham, Lineker still scored 19 goals in the 1990/91 campaign.
Lineker and Venables also lifted the FA Cup with Spurs at the end of that season – a team that also included Paul Gascoigne.
Venables then moved upstairs to begin a two-year stint as chief executive at White Hart Lane, before Lineker departed in 1992.
Venables’ passing saw tributes pour in for the popular football man.
He leaves behind his wife, Yvette, and two daughters – Tracey, 23, and Nancy.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
