Inside Gary Lineker's rows with four football managers after feud with Jose Mourinho revealed

Lineker, speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, says his feud with Mourinho started after they'd previously got along.

"We had been going along like that for two years and then something changed," he said.

"I was asked to present him with the Man of the Year award at the GQ Awards that they do every year.

"They asked me to present the trophy and I said 'yes, I'll do that for Jose, of course.'

"Then about four days before the event, they got in touch and said 'Jose has got in touch and he doesn't want you to present the trophy to him, he wants someone that's not in football.'

"I thought 'hmmm, that's a bit odd' but I thought I'll go along to the event anyway and I went up to Jose and he kind of blanked me. I went 'are we ok, are we ok Jose?'

"He went 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' But he wasn't ok and he's never been OK since."

GB News now takes a look at the four managers who haven't always got on with the Match of the Day host.

Jose Mourinho

Lineker also proceeded to reveal Mourinho texted former Manchester United chief Ed Woodward in anger.

The BBC man and Woodward are neighbours, with the pair both residing in London.

And Mourinho, after spotting the pair talking, reportedly sent a text saying: "Why are you talking to him?"

Lineker says his rift with the Roma boss started after he'd criticised his United side following a poor Champions League performance.

Mourinho isn't one to let go of the past, so it's feasible their relationship won't be mended in the foreseeable future.

Given the Portuguese now manages in Italy, Lineker doesn't have to deal with any awkward exchanges on Match of the Day.

Sir Alex Ferguson

Lineker was known to have a frosty relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson when the Scot managed Manchester United.

And, in 2020, he revealed the pair have 'got history' and have 'fallen out a few times over the years'.

He said: "I'm a forgiving soul and I sense that Sir Alex, er, isn't... We've got history. We've fallen out a few times over the years, silly little things really.

"It started with a magazine interview. I was at the BBC and I was talking about managers getting the hump after games, talking in general terms about the pressures and the fact they get paranoid and think we're all against them.

"And then they asked me about Sir Alex and I talked about him.

"But in the piece all those quotes were stuck together, so it made it look as if it was all about Sir Alex. So I saw it and thought, 'Oh no, f****** hell' — so I wrote to him. Old school.

"Tried to explain it and that I was sorry it had come out wrong. He wrote back with two lines that basically said: I don't believe you.

"And then he did a long interview with Sir David Frost and I was watching it at home and Frost brought it up, the magazine interview. And Sir Alex was saying, 'Oh yeah, he's not whiter than white like they all think, he's got super-injunctions all over the place'.

"And I'm sitting there thinking, 'What? My God, you can't say that. It's not true, it's not even close'.

"And I got a sort of begrudging, Sir Alex-type apology. And I could have gone down the legal route because it was bad."

Nigel Pearson

Leicester are Lineker's favourite club.

But that hasn't stopped him from clashing with a previous manager of the Foxes in the form of Nigel Pearson.

Lineker had previously been accused of not paying enough tax, something he strongly denied.

Yet Pearson, unhappy after being criticised by the BBC, then aimed a dig at the 63-year-old.

“It’s not helpful when the three fountains of knowledge on Match of the Day make a mountain out of a molehill," he said.

And he then took aim at Lineker by saying: “They [the comments on Match of the Day] were slightly disruptive.

“I don’t care what they think of me. I pay my tax bill.”

Lineker didn't take too kindly to those comments, however.

“If I was [a fountain of knowledge] I’d tell you that he was sacked by one of the owner’s family and reinstated by another, but then I’m not," he said, referring to the former Leicester boss who was axed shortly afterwards.

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Graeme Souness

In March last year, the BBC was plunged into turmoil.

They opted to suspend Lineker after he'd refused to apologise, having compared the current Government to 1930s Germany.

Many were quick to back Lineker, who was then eventually reinstated.

Yet Graeme Souness wasn't among them, with the former Liverpool, Blackburn and Newcastle boss accusing the BBC presenter of 'upsetting people'.

“If it had been me, I wouldn’t have walked out," he said.

"It wasn’t Gary Lineker’s first time upsetting people and I don’t think he should’ve said what he did because when you take the BBC’s money you have to be very careful with what you say politically.

"Freedom of speech is something that doesn’t apply when you work for the BBC, I think you have to be very careful."