Gary Lineker forks out £10k to save England amputee team’s World Cup dream
Gary Lineker and a group of private backers have come to the rescue of the England men’s amputee team while the Football Association refuses to fund them.
The governing body stopped its financial support in 2006 and, despite now backing seven para teams, still excludes the amputee side.
The England team, Nations League winners in 2023, have been forced to fundraise to compete at major tournaments and were struggling to generate enough to play at November’s World Cup in Mexico until former manager Scott Rogers spoke to The Guardian and appeared on BBC Breakfast.
CityAM can reveal that The Rest Is Football host Lineker donated £10,000 to help the team surpass their £50,000 fundraising target, while private backers have approached the charity to discuss long-term funding options.
There is understood to have been radio silence from the FA, which earned £21.5m in prize money after England came third in this summer’s men’s World Cup. Key figures at the charity are now preparing for meetings with other businesses to secure the team’s future.
Some progress was made with the FA when the governing body shadowed the amputee side at the 2022 World Cup. It subsequently made a funding offer, but the charity has built a substantial network of doctors, strength and conditioning coaches and analysts, and the proposed amount would have significantly reduced their provision so it was declined. Rogers says even £50,000 per year from the FA would help secure their future.
An FA spokesperson said: “The England Amputee team is currently independent from The FA. We continue to work closely with the England Amputee Football Association to support, identify and help deliver their key priorities over the coming season, and the continued development of amputee football in England.”
Manchester United claw back £1m from touts and bots
Manchester United have come under fire from supporters after season ticket holders were caught in a large-scale investigation to weed out touts and bots – but the club consider the operation a necessity, having recovered more than £1m-worth of tickets in their last purge to redistribute to genuine fans.
Supporters who had received emails warning their accounts were suspended – and who were fighting to keep their season tickets – told this column they believe the club are forcing out loyal fans to generate more income from tourists and corporates. Manchester United deny the claim – a source insisting it is “a legitimate exercise to try to weed out touts and bot activity”.
CityAM has been told that when the club carried out a similar operation at the end of last season, they recovered over 14,000 tickets from bots and touts to redistribute to supporters.
The club view the current operation as a success as they continue to contact account holders. Fans have been asked to explain account activity and provide personal details, though some say they were left in the dark about what they had done wrong and confused by the process.
Wimbledon effect for padel?
The UK padel boom accelerated this week with London joining the elite Premier Padel tour for the first time. Across six days, the world’s best players will compete in London Premier Padel P1, held at Olympia, the iconic West London venue that reopened in June following a £1.3bn refurbishment.
The event is a sell-out and is replicating Wimbledon’s vibe with live music and high-end food and drink. But can it help the sport tighten its grip on the racket sports scene? World No 1 Arturo Coello, favourite alongside his playing partner Agustin Tapia in the men’s draw, hopes the London event can have a similar effect to the iconic grass court tournament’s impact on tennis.
“I think the tournament will do for padel in the UK what Wimbledon has done for tennis – with fans coming away from watching professionals, wanting to pick up a racket themselves,” Coello said.
“It’s amazing to see how quickly padel is growing in the UK. The best part is that fans coming throughout the whole week are going to see all of the world’s best players and some unbelievable matches up close.”
The number of padel players in Great Britain more than doubled in a year to 860,000 at the end of 2025, according to official LTA figures.
Arsenal star’s mum runs conference for football parents
Navigating the ruthless world of professional football can be difficult for parents of academy hopefuls and breakout stars. Now, the mother of Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly is running the National Parent Football Conference, the only event of its kind in the UK.
Organised by Marcia Lewis’s No 1 Fanclub, a membership group supporting families of promising footballers, the conference, at Old Trafford’s Hotel Football – owned by Class of 92 stars including Gary Neville and Paul Scholes – will feature panels on agents, contracts, image rights, injury, burnout, mental health and a range of other topics.
Tickets cost £49 – or £39 for early-bird bookings – for the conference, scheduled for the end of September. As well as bringing together parents from across the country, speakers will include industry professionals and experts, though names are yet to be announced.
“Parents are the backbone of their child’s journey yet they remain the most underserved group in football,” Lewis says on the event website. “When families are resourced, children thrive and the whole game benefits.”