Need the latest Foxes transfer news? Get FREE email alerts for Leicester City FC Sign up! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Leicester City have benefitted greatly from Gary Lineker.

Not only were his goals for the club in the late 70s and early 80s a source of joy for those that flocked to Filbert Street, but he also helped the club when it was at its lowest, in administration with £30m debts.

Lineker was the face of the consortium that rescued the club that were then able to make history fewer than 15 years later.

But, the financial trouble City were suffering in the early 2000s pales in comparison to the Covid-19 crisis the planet now faces.

But again, Lineker is doing the moral thing. He has donated two months of his salary to the British Red Cross, whose mission to help those in crisis has been made ever more difficult by the pandemic.

And as his pay packet crops up every time the BBC licence fee is debated, plenty will know that two months of Lineker’s wages is a significant figure, coming in at nearly £300,000.

The Match of the Day host, the son of a fruit and veg salesman at Leicester market, is fully aware of the privileged position he is in.

It is a privileged position shared by the current City squad, plenty who earn double what Lineker does.

It would make sense then, if they were to follow Lineker’s lead. Player wages has been a hot topic this week with clubs like Newcastle and Tottenham furloughing non-playing staff.

It has rightly been asked why players maintain their handsome pay packets when workers at the bottom of the wage bill have to sacrifice a portion of theirs.

The PFA have reportedly told players not to agree to wage cuts or deferrals without their say-so, but Lineker thinks, eventually, Premier League stars will make a decision on their own terms.

“I think a lot of footballers will do something, and I think there will be a lot of announcements at clubs,” he said.

“My inkling is that footballers will take pay cuts, they will help out in communities, they will make donations in whatever way they can, and I think we need to be a little bit patient with them.”

Calls from the government for Premier League squads to take wage cuts are opportunistic – hedge fund managers could do their bit too – but players should not let non-playing staff take the slack.

City are still playing the wages of all their staff, but it would be the right thing to do for the players to step in and give back to the community if things come to the worst.

In fact, Kasper Schmeichel has already donated £20,000 to Age UK.

Without Lineker, City may not exist as a club in its current, wealthy position. The squad today have benefitted from his intervention in 2003, so they would do well to follow in his footsteps and guarantee those less fortunate are able to get through this crisis.