Wolverhampton Wanderers v LEICESTER CITY
FA Cup Fourth Round
Saturday January 25
Winning club receives £70,000

THE TRAIL SO FAR (featured club in italics)

Extra-Preliminary round - Greenwich Borough 1 Three Bridges 4

Preliminary round - Three Bridges 3 Didcot Town 1

First Qualifying Round - Chipstead 1 Three Bridges 3

Second Qualifying Round - Three Bridges 1 Aveley 3

Third qualifying round - Canvey Island 2 Aveley 0

Fourth qualifying round - Slough 3 Canvey Island 2

First Round - Slough 1 Harrogate Railway 2

Second Round - Harrogate Railway 1 Bristol City 3

Third Round - Leicester City 2 Bristol City 0

GARY LINEKER was English football's Goldenballs while David Beckham was in short trousers and the halo has barely slipped since he stopped playing.

Television favourite football front man with the BBC, he is also heavily involved in a takeover bid at his hometown club Leicester City to save them from financial meltdown.

Lineker started his career at Leicester before becoming a world star with Everton, Barcelona, Spurs and England.

But Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie at Wolves will bring back a shiver for the striker who scored 48 goals for England.

In 1980, the FA Cup supplied the most embarrassing moment of Lineker's entire career. Second Division Leicester had been held 1-1 at Filbert Street by non-league Harlow without Lineker, who didn't think he would be picked for the replay even though he travelled with the squad.

"I had a sore throat in the morning which got progressively worse through the day," he recalls with a grimace.

"It eventually turned out to be tonsillitis so imagine my horror when the manager Jock Wallace named me in the starting line-up, much to my surprise, an hour before kick off.

"I was in no fit state to play but I was too scared to tell the manager. Jock Wallace was a hard Scotsman who managed Glasgow Rangers. I could just imagine him launching into me with a tirade of 'Bottlin' wee English'.

"So I went out to play against Harlow when I should have been at home in bed. And we lost 1-0.

"I remember we were absolutely slaughtered for the result. It was a total embarrassment; here we were, a group of players paid to train and play, being defeated at our chosen profession by a team of bricklayers and solicitors. Welcome to the downside of the FA Cup."


Two years later, Lineker reached the FA Cup semi-finals with Leicester but he had to wait until 1991 with Spurs to lift the FA Cup trophy, beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 at Wembley - the game where Gazza snapped his cruciate with his late tackle on Gary Charles.

In 1986, he scored for Everton against Liverpool in the FA Cup Final but Liverpool went on to win 3-1.

These days, Lineker's main concern is that Leicester City survive let alone have a decent cup run. He has helped form a consortium New Fox plc to take over the running of the club who are in administration after falling an estimated £70million in debt.

Manager Micky Adams will have to use a new-look strike force at Molineux with Brian Deane, James Scowcroft and Trevor Benjamin all injured. Paul Dickov, who scored the second goal in the third round win against Bristol City will definitely start.

Deane fractured his cheekbone last week and is out for two months. "It is a big blow - Brian will be badly missed. Experience can pay dividends in games like this," admitted Adams.

TheFA.com's FA Cup trail started with Greenwich Boro in the extra-preliminary round back in August and so far we have followed the fortunes of Greenwich, Three Bridges, Aveley, Canvey Island, Slough, Harrogate Railway, Bristol City and now Leicester.

DID YOU KNOW...Gary Lineker was at Wembley as a fan to watch Leicester City's last FA Cup Final appearance, when they lost 1-0 to Manchester City

* The FA Cup Trail is compiled by Joe Bernstein.

The FA.Com will let you know how Leicester City fare in this cup-tie and we will follow the winners through to the next round.