Lineker on brink of Leicester takeover

Gary Lineker has moved a step closer to taking over his beloved Leicester City after putting in a £5m offer for the crisis-hit club at the weekend.

The BBC television presenter, a local boy who embarked on his playing career with his home-town club, could take charge in the next few days along with his consortium if the administrators accept its package. Lineker, who is backed by a leading agent and several local businessmen, is willing to pay £4m now and a further £1m in April to see the stricken club through the season. The gamble that Lineker and his partners are prepared to take could be paid back if Leicester can get out of the First Division at the first attempt.

The Foxes' creditors would also have to wait until promotion was achieved before they were likely to benefit. The proposal is to pay them about 10 pence in the pound in that event. As there are no other bidders, Lineker's offer seems sure to be accepted. Leicester are in financial peril and will need to raise money in January or the consequences will be dire.

The former England striker's own investment in the £5m fund is believed to be in the region of £1m. If Leicester missed out on promotion, they would be looking for another injection of finance, even after shedding several high salaries.

Joe Royle wants to turn Paul Gerrard's stay at Ipswich Town into a permanent one if he can raise enough money to prise the goalkeeper from Everton. The on-loan Gerrard, who is 29, pulled off two breathtaking saves to earn Ipswich a valuable victory over Coventry City on Saturday, and Royle, who has known Gerrard since the goalkeeper was 12 and managed him at Oldham, plans to extend his loan deal from one month to three. He will then use that time to try to thrash out a deal to sign the player on a permanent basis.

When he was asked if he wanted to sign Gerrard permanently, Royle said: "We'd love to, when the time comes. But I'm not going to say anything more than that as, at the moment, we quite honestly couldn't afford him."

The former Everton manager explained: "He's here for an initial month and then we'll go from there. The next month and then hopefully two more are a long time. As it stands, he's on an instant recall to Everton if they have a goalkeeping problem. But David Moyes is a great friend of mine and Bill Kenwright's very close to our chairman as well as myself."