BBC football host Gary Lineker has attacked an elite British private school for failing to get his son into university.
The 49-year-old former England captain said Charterhouse school had treated his son George as a "guinea pig" by ditching A-levels in favour of a new exam system, Cambridge Pre-U.
The 18-year-old learnt he had failed to obtain the three B grades needed for a place at Manchester University on Thursday.
Responding to the comments, the Surrey school said it was "proud" of its students' grades.
Lineker, the ex-Tottenham, Barcelona and Everton striker, told the Daily Mirror: "We don't know what's going on with George at the moment.
"He did the Pre-U and they seem to have been marked much harder than the A-level papers. It's all a bit frustrating, as it is the first year the Pre-U exams have been used, so George has been used as a guinea pig."
The Rev John Witheridge, the school's head, defended the school's results.
He said: "We are indeed delighted with our pupils' excellent results this year.
"As you would expect, we do not comment on the performance of individual pupils."
A spokeswoman for the school, which charges fees of about £25,000 a year, added: "We are very pleased with our first set of Cambridge Pre-U results. Our pupils have benefited from a much richer sixth-form education and they are celebrating excellent grades."
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