Footballers’ political interventions are often a litmus test for public sentiment

By Elena Siniscalco When footballers enter public debates, they often voice the concerns of the masses. This government shouldn’t just dismiss Gary Lineker’s comments; perhaps, it should stop and listen, writes Eliot Wilson In many ways I blame Nick Hornby. That may not be fair, but the timing seems about right: in 1992 he published Fever Pitch, a memoir of his relationship with Arsenal; Tony Blair, wrapping himself tightly in a demotic shawl, became leader of the Labour Party in 1994. Suddenly football was no longer the grim, hooligan-infested, piss-stained occupation of freezing terraces and…

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