Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick says the BBC and the likes of Gary Lineker contributed to his career not meeting expectations.

The 'They Think It's All Over' show, fronted by comedian Nick Hancock and featuring guest captains including Lineker, now a regular online troll, poked fun at Chadwick week after week.

He told The Athletic: "When they started bringing it [my appearance] up, they were bringing me to the attention of millions of people.

"I remember the first time and someone texting me to say, "Nice appearance on They Think It's All Over".

"I was so shocked because I was quite naive back then, even if I was playing occasionally for Manchester United.

"I watched it the next week and I could see people laughing at these jokes about me. It was obviously funny to other people but, to me, it didn't feel like that.

"After that, I would dread every Friday. I wasn't a hugely confident guy anyway and this just made it worse. I used to half-watch it, hoping and praying that they would stop. But they never did. It just carried on and on.

"I always asked myself whether I should have tried to speak to them [the BBC] about it. As a 19 or 20-year-old boy, would it have been possible to speak to someone at the BBC and stop them talking about me? Or would they have carried on anyway?

"You'd like to think it would have stopped. But I don't know. At the time, it was just accepted."

On Lineker, he added: "One of the disappointments was that, as a kid, I remember watching England in the World Cup and Lineker was one of the heroes of the team.

"So to hear him saying negative stuff about me, even if it was something silly about the way I looked, was sad for me."