ONCE A MICKEY, ALWAYS A MICKEY

Harry Kewell, the Liverpool forward, is taking Gary Lineker and a national newspaper to the High Court tomorrow in a showdown that looks set to shed light on the tactics employed by players’ agents. In a case expected to last up to seven days, Lineker, the former England captain and football pundit, has been named as the first defendant as a result of an article he wrote for The Sunday Telegraph in July 2003.

Under the headline “Kewell move made me feel ashamed of the game”, Lineker criticised the Australia player’s move from Leeds United to Liverpool. In the article, Lineker questioned how Bernie Mandic, Kewell’s agent, appeared to take millions out of the game at a time when it was in financial difficulty. Jon Ryan, the newspaper’s Sports Editor, and the Telegraph Group have been named as second and third defendants.

Kewell alleges that Lineker defamed him in the article and is claiming damages for libel, including aggravated damages. He contends that the item discredited him because it suggested that he had participated willingly in a dishonourable and financially dubious transfer from Leeds to Liverpool. He also alleges that the article portrays him as naive and stupid for allowing his agent to manipulate him.

In addition, Kewell, 26, says that the piece showed him as a cunning and disloyal player who had circumvented the transfer negotiation rules.

In the article, Lineker suggested that football clubs needed to revert to dealing directly with one another and not through agents, if the transfer system was to remain intact. However, Kewell says that his agent’s £2 million fee was reasonable because Mandic had yet to be paid for extensive work undertaken over the previous three years.

In his article, Lineker argues that agents have the power to put deals in jeopardy, unless their needs are satisfied, which, according to the pundit, is wrong.

The Telegraph Group denies that the article was defamatory in the way that Kewell has alleged.

Kewell is also claiming an injunction restraining the defendants from repeating the allegedly defamatory views.

Lineker and the Telegraph Group said that they had no comment to make before the case. Mandic said that neither he nor his client would be doing any interviews before the start of the new season.

A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court.