Lineker fears loss of Leicester's finest

Gary Lineker faces a race against time to stop Leicester City's promotion-chasing side from being broken up.

The former England international is leading a bid to buy the Walkers Stadium club which is in administration. Lineker has pledged some of his own money and has been joined by other high-profile benefactors like the Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, like Lineker a former Leicester player.

The BBC sports presenter's greatest fear is that his consortium will not be able to buy the club before the transfer window opens in January and the administrator will be tempted to sell Leicester's best players, possibly wrecking any chance of promotion for a team currently second in the table.

But Lineker is convinced the consortium he leads will be able to raise the £5m they need to buy the club off the administrator before other clubs are able to make bids for Leicester's best players in January.

Lineker said of the bid: "It's going remarkably well. The consortium we have got together have had a lot of goodwill. Surprisingly, a lot of big businessman around the country are Leicester fans or want to help."

Having taken the total past the £4m mark, Lineker is busy helping to draw up the fine details of the bid.

"There's a degree of urgency because the transfer window comes up in January. This is just about saving Leicester City which is a part of the local community," Lineker added.