Goalscoring legend Gary Lineker banged in tonnes of goals for England, Barcelona, Spurs, Everton and Leicester during his career. He also had to cope with his eldest son, George, suffering from leukaemia. The Match of the Day presenter told us why he’s involved with cancer charity CLIC Sargent’s great campaign to raise funds through penalty shoot-outs and other football challenges.

When did you first get involved with CLIC Sargent?

Not long after George had his treatment. We were fortunate, living quite close to Great Ormond Street Hospital, but having gone through that experience I realised that for a lot of parents it was very difficult. They travelled huge distances and they really needed support, and CLIC Sargent does that wonderfully well. But they don’t just stop there: after the treatment they help them with going back to school and stuff like that.

So tell us a bit about this new campaign.

We’re getting kids all over the country to Kick for CLIC, as we call it. We’ve got a World Cup coming up, so there might be a few penalty shoot-outs involved, and hopefully England might win one for once. But we’re asking kids everywhere to get involved in penalty shoot-outs and raise a few quid in the process.

Have you still got the knack yourself?

I have taken one or two today, although I have to say that my first effort hit the post, which is slightly worrying.

Do you think there’s a best way to approach taking a penalty?

I would decide which penalty I was going to hit in the next game, and then practice just that one. That always stopped me from changing my mind, which is the key thing. You’ve got to hit it in a certain spot, and hit it firmly. You can still miss, and keepers can make great saves, but I think if you do that, you’ll score more than you miss.

England don’t have a great record in World Cup shoot-outs. Is there a reason?

It’s difficult to say. Technically, we’ve never been the most gifted country, so maybe that has something to do with it. It could be a nerves thing, or the law of averages might mean that we’ll win the next six shoot-outs we’re in. And then maybe it’s the fact that we’ve lost a few, and players think: “Uh-oh, it’s a shoot-out,” and subconsciously they think that we’re bound to lose.

Is it hard to describe the pressure to someone who hasn’t been in that situation?

It probably is, but I think that’s one of the great things about taking a penalty in a big World Cup shoot-out. You’re in a position that the vast majority of people could never get themselves into, and that’s the ultimate test of your nerves. That’s why I weirdly used to quite enjoy them.

Imagine England are in the World Cup final this summer and it goes to penalties. Who do you want to step up and take them?

You’d definitely go with Gerrard and Lampard, although they both missed in the last one (the 2006 World Cup defeat to Portugal). Then obviously Rooney, but it also depends on who’s playing at that particular time, and who has the nerve to step up. But maybe Joe Cole, and Gareth Barry’s always been a good penalty taker. We’ve got the players to do it, it’s just a question of doing it when it counts.

Did you know?

Gary is England’s second highest goalscorer ever. He scored 48 goals in 80 games, just one goal behind Sir Bobby Charlton’s record.