Leicester City legend Gary Lineker became the latest celebrity to join the Twitter revolution at the weekend – and racked up tens of thousands of followers in just a few hours.

The Match of the Day presenter posted his first Tweet at about 6.30pm on Sunday, saying his son, George, had talked him into signing up.

Gary joins a number of football stars who use the social networking site, including Wayne Rooney, Joey Barton and Michael Owen, as well as other famous Leicester names such as Gok Wan, Rosemary Conley and Mark Selby.

By midday yesterday, the former England striker had almost 77,000 followers.

His first message said: "Can't believe George has talked me into this tweeting thing. What have I let myself in for?"

This was quickly followed by: "Before you all start moaning about the order on MOTD, it's the editor that decides the order of games, so get off my back ha ha."

At the end of the day, he posted: "Quite a first day on Twitter. Overwhelmed! Got to go to bed."

Like most Twitter users, Gary got the bug, returning yesterday morning to say: "Great for research this Twitter! Look for hat-tricks and within seconds you have 50 you'd forgotten about! Ta."

It followed Tweets about Lionel Messi's hat-trick for Barcelona on Sunday.

Although the Twitter account has not yet been verified to show it is authentic, Gary yesterday posted a picture of himself to show that it is indeed the real deal.

Within minutes of his first post, people were tweeting about Gary's Twitter arrival.

Gabrielle Miller tweeted: "Right, Gary Lineker is now on Twitter. If you're from Leicester you're duty bound to follow him."

Ben Adams welcomed the news, saying "Sir Gary Lineker has joined Twitter! Now, City fans, that is a true legend!"

Grant Allen welcomed "The Silver Fox" to Twitter, adding "by the way Gary that is what my wife calls you!"

Gary himself is following just 14 users, including his son, brother Wayne, and prolific tweeters Piers Morgan, Lord Sugar, Stephen Fry and Russell Brand.

Follow Gary on Twitter:

@GaryLineker_

Leicester celebrities and their vital statistics

Gary Lineker

@GaryLineker_

Tweets: 11

Followers: 76,875

Following: 14

Member since: January 22, 2012

Latest tweet: Great for research this Twitter! Look for hat-tricks and within seconds you have 50 you'd forgotten about! Ta

Gok Wan

@therealgokwan

Tweets: 7,299

Followers: 667,122

Following: 145

Member since: June 15, 2009

Latest tweet: Morning tweeties and Kung Hay Fat Choy (happy NY)... May the year of The Dragon bring you all Health, Wealth and Happiness. Mwah. x

Julie Etchingham

julieetchitv

Tweets: 1,394

Followers: 16,366

Following: 304

Member since: November 3, 2009

Latest tweet: Bit breezy on rugby touchline this morning

Rosemary Conley

@RosemaryConley

Tweets: 3,804

Followers: 7,011

Following: 840

Member since: March 17, 2009

Latest tweet: Thanks again to all who voted. Trying to catch up and read all! On the way to the studio to get our choreography. Eeeek! Fingers crossed x

Mark Selby

@markjesterselby

Tweets: 159

Followers: 13,613

Following: 13

Member since: March 10, 2010

Latest tweet: I feel really honoured on winning the Leicester Mercury Sportsman of the Year award last night!

Adrian Mole

@AdrianMole30

Tweets: 110

Followers: 1,991

Following: 1,959

Member since: December 21, 2011

Latest tweet: Nigel was showing off all night. He ended up putting a safety pin through his ear.

Jonathan Agnew

@Aggerscricket

Tweets: 14,359

Followers: 146,266

Following: 88

Member since: June 27, 2009

Latest tweet: Good work by @mrsaggers. From 'plane to pool in about 40 mins

Robbie Savage

@RobbieSavage8

Tweets: 19,848

Followers: 652,216

Following: 382

Member since: March 1, 2010

Muzzy Izzet

@Muzzie06

Tweets: 51

Followers: 738

Following: 9

Member since: November 15, 2011