Gary Lineker reveals the surprising job he hopes to hold down long into his eighties

GARY Lineker hopes he’s still the face of Walkers crisps well into his eighties.

The former footballer, 63, first appeared for the snacks brand in 1986 and told The Sun: “Obviously I started when I was nine... that’s a joke! But it is 30 years in January since the first Welcome Home advert.

“If someone had said to me then ‘you’ll still be doing this in thirty years time’ I’d have said, I think that's probably highly unlikely.

“One thing is guaranteed, if I'm still alive, I'll still be doing Walkers.

“I think it was a three-year contract, and then I did another three-year contract, and then it was like a five year and on and on.

“Now I'm doing another three years which will take me way past 30 years.

“I think, with all these things, if it's enjoyable and successful on both sides then it works and it obviously has.”

To celebrate the union Gary, 63, dressed as ‘Father Crispmas’ to share his crisps with fans for the first time ever. 

Followers will know the advertisements usually revolve around how the Match of the Day host refuses to share.

Gary said: “It’s hard to believe that I’ve spent almost half my life working with Walkers, but they have finally persuaded me to dress like this, and transform into ‘Father Crispmas’.

“If I was finally going to agree to share my crisps with anyone, there was only one option for who it could be – it had to be the great British public… but only because it’s Christmas.”

Gary, whose favourite flavour is salt and vinegar, also revealed he has increasingly turned to a meat-free diet over the last year.

He added: “I’m massively into cooking and I’ve got even more into it recently and it's quite limiting if you are vegan but I honestly wish I could be vegan. 

“I do have spells, maybe a month here and there, where I just basically just cook vegan dishes but it’s up to the individual.

“I actually envy people that can do it, it's pretty impressive. 

“I think the substitutes are getting so much better than in the end. I think probably for the sake of our planet and stuff, I think we’ll gradually shift towards that as well.”