We all feel the pain – Alan Shearer draws massive Newcastle United and England parallels


 
 
 
 
 
 

Alan Shearer feels the pain.

The Newcastle United and England legend is desperate to see one of them win a trophy at last in his lifetime.

Is today the day?

You can read below some short extracts from an excellent lengthy piece Alan Shearer has done with The Athletic in advance of Sunday night’s final in Berlin.

Will Gareth Southgate’s team do it?

Alan Shearer drawing massive Newcastle United and England parallels…

Alan Shearer talking to The Athletic – 14 July 2024:

‘As a player, I thought of myself as a winner in the sense that I’d do anything to win, whatever it took. We won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, but for the teams I played for and also supported whether England or Newcastle United, I never got to win on the greatest stages. There were near misses and never-wases and plenty in between, but I’m 53 now and I want to experience that adrenaline shot of winning. That release. That sense of history resetting.’

‘Playing for your country is the absolute pinnacle, but the further our single World Cup victory in 1966 recedes into the past, the more you become aware of that burden. It’s the same at Newcastle, with no domestic trophy since 1955. You become defined by it. The finish line stretches off into the distance.’

‘What does Englishness mean? In football, I mean. I don’t know. Back in the 1980s, when I was growing up, maybe it was roll your sleeves up and be ready for a battle and fight anyone. When I look at our team now, it’s so different and so gifted, but the connection is pride. And in their best moments, what England give us is that precious element of coming together, when Geordie, Manc, Scouser and Cockney are indivisible. So often, it’s sport that does this.’

‘I don’t do regret. Not about football. It’s not the way I’m made and I don’t see the point. You make decisions and you live or die by them. It’s something I’m often asked about my decision to join Newcastle in 1996 and our subsequent inability to win a trophy. But how could I regret coming home, pulling on the No 9 shirt, my other boyhood obsession, and staying for a decade, ending up as my beloved club’s record goalscorer?

I would only feel regret if I hadn’t given everything and it’s the same with England. Would I change individual results? Yes, of course. Like many England teams, we came pretty close; not as close as Gareth’s side in terms of finals, but close enough to taste it. There’s no part of me that thinks, “S…, I wish I’d done this,” or, “I could have done that.” I know I gave every molecule of my being to the cause.’

‘The deeper you go in a tournament, the more big moments and big plot lines loom in front of you. There’s no security of the group-stage games. You either stay in or go out and eventually, you either win or you lose. Gareth’s penalty, Beckham’s sending off, Gazza stretching for the ball and not quite connecting. This is what lies in store for one team, one person, in the final. Something to cherish, something to make your blood ache. Hero or zero. That’s top-level sport. You have to embrace it.’

‘I’ll be in the stadium for the final and I’ll be fizzing and fidgeting. It might sound a bit morbid but I said to Will, my son, not too long ago, that I just want to be around when either the Newcastle or England teams I so proudly represented win a f…ing trophy. Surely one isn’t too much to ask? It’s the only thing missing. Football means so much to us and I want to see the reaction. I want to see what it does to us, I want to sample it and savour it and swim in it and lose myself in it.

I’m still desperate to find out.’