EXCLUSIVEMy encounter from hell with Gary Lineker. His crass and ugly behaviour shocked me and I still regret not pulling him up on it, says presenter PETER BLEKSLEY. His departure will not come a moment too soon

In August 2019, I had the great misfortune to spend a day in the company of Gary Lineker on an advertising shoot.

Things got off to a bad start when he turned up more than an hour late. As an old-school copper, I count punctuality as one of the greatest human virtues and I considered this an act of crass unprofessionalism, especially as it was a hot day and there was a lot to get through.

Instead of being apologetic and doing his best to win everyone over, he spent the rest of the day being thoroughly dismissive of junior members of the production crew.

At one point a young female member of the team – probably fresh out of university – asked a perfectly innocent question and he unnecessarily snapped back at her. To this day, I regret that I didn’t pull him up on it.

All day long, he had the air of a man who wanted to be somewhere else. The only time he looked remotely happy was when he was talking about himself but that didn’t always go well.

We were filming at the home of a hugely talented YouTuber called Colin Furze. While Lineker was sour-faced and miserable, Colin couldn’t have been more different.

Gary Lineker outside his home in London today following news of his departure from the BBC

Peter Bleksley says he preferred Lineker when he was hanging round the six-yard box for England rather than sounding off about political issues

Quite apart from being a brilliant inventor – he would do off-the-wall things such as attaching rockets to skateboards – he was a very nice human being.

Lineker said: ‘I’ve got 11 million followers on Twitter.’ And Colin, who is a very modest man but was clearly up for a bit of fun, said: ‘Oh, I’ve got 12 million on YouTube.’

To say Lineker was deflated is a bit like saying Gerard Depardieu likes the occasional glass of wine.

I had to scuttle away to another room where no one else could hear my peals of laughter.

Later on, I happened to spot a mention of Rodney Marsh in a book on a coffee table. A maverick genius of a striker, who played for my beloved QPR, as well as Fulham and Manchester City, he had been my childhood hero. But all Lineker could do when I mentioned this was issue a withering putdown of him. He appeared incapable of saying anything pleasant.

And this misanthropic attitude shone through in his tweets about Israel and Gaza.

I much preferred Lineker when he was hanging round the six-yard box for England rather than sounding off about political issues.

He has repeatedly and excessively pushed the boundaries and by doing so damaged the reputation of the BBC by making it all about him.

If he was truly principled, he would have done one thing or the other: football punditry for the BBC, or outspoken commentary on issues of the day.

Instead, he used the platform he was offered by the corporation to spout bile and embarrass his employer while simultaneously trousering more money than anyone else on its payroll.

And his arrogance can be astounding. The other day he said that if you’re silent about the Palestinians in Gaza, ‘you’re almost complicit’. What utter drivel!

He may have had a very educated right foot but, when it comes to world affairs, he could do with some tutelage.

The Chinese may be slaughtering Uighurs and the Taliban banning girls from school but, in the world of Leicester City’s most famous son, only one geopolitical issue deserves our attention.

Who does he think he is?

The BBC should have developed some spine and shown him the door years ago. Instead, it took the course of appeasement and the more you appease the more you empower.

Until now. His departure will not come a moment too soon. For this would-be messianic preacher from on high has feet of clay.