50 ALAN SHEARER
The Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer talks Euro 96, adapting after injury and why he’d still score in today’s game. By James Maw
Just how different were the facilities in 1994 to the flashy setups we see now? When I first went to Blackburn in 1992 we didn’t have our own training ground, so we would train on a public field next to a cemetery. We had to stop when a hearse drove past. There were no laundry facilities, either, so we had to take all our kit home and wash it ourselves. It wasn’t what I was used to at Southampton – down there, we pretty much had everything done for us.
Does it annoy you when people dismiss Blackburn’s Premier League title win because of the money that Jack Walker spent on building the squad? Other than Leicester in 2015-16, who hasn’t spent big money? Manchester United have always been very big spenders; Arsenal were, back when they were winning titles; and obviously Chelsea and Manchester City are, too. For little old Blackburn to come in and take on the big boys and beat them was a fantastic success story, regardless of what money was spent. We’d still match the top modern sides, too.
How would a 25-year-old Alan Shearer fare in the Premier League of 2018-19? I don’t think it would be any different for me – I would still score goals. A good player will find a way to play, whatever era you play in. If George Best was playing now, he would be equally as brilliant as he was back in the 1960s. In fact, look at some of the tackles from those days, or even as recently as the early-90s, and you could argue those players might do better now.
How did you go from experiencing a barren run with England to top-scoring at Euro 96? I hadn’t scored for England in 12 games – my last goal was almost two years previously – but Terry Venables showed great faith in me. The pressure was massive, but when he told me three or four weeks before the tournament that I was going to start the first game, that gave me great confidence, particularly given that the standard of strikers in the country at the time was crazy – Sheringham, Ferdinand, Fowler, Wright, Cole... I scored against Switzerland, and the momentum built from there. I wanted to be top scorer and to win the tournament, and I knew that if we got off to a decent start, we would have a chance of doing that. We beat Scotland, then the Netherlands – the atmosphere that night was probably the best I ever experienced – and we would have won it had it not been for penalties...
People often talk about how you adapted your game after suffering injuries. What did you change? I actually suffered three career-threatening injuries. I ruptured my cruciate ligament in 1993, broke my ankle in 1997, and then damaged the tendon in my left knee in 2000. I missed about two and a half years of football in total. By then I had lost half a yard of pace, so I couldn’t run in behind defences as much as I used to – I had to do things differently. I became more of a targetman and focal point, which worked well when I was playing upfront with guys like Craig Bellamy a bit later in my career.
Do you think that your Premier League record of 260 goals will ever be beaten? I hope not, but I think it probably will be – all records are broken eventually. Two guys playing now have got a chance, in Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane. Scoring goals is the greatest feeling in the world, and I do still enjoy seeing my name at the top of that table.
Was there any one team that you always backed yourself to score against? My stats against Leeds were unbelievable – 20 goals in 20 league games. I was pretty devastated when they were relegated, because I felt I was missing out on near-certain goals! On the other end of the scale, I never scored in five games against Birmingham, and I scored only three in nine games against Sunderland. My last ever kick of a ball in the Premier League was actually scoring a penalty at the Stadium of Light in 2006. I got injured a minute later and had to come off. It was a bittersweet ending, but maybe it was fate.
What would be the one thing that you would change about modern football? I would simplify the offside law. No questions about whether a player is active or inactive, no talk about second phases, and no concerns over whether or not a striker is blocking the goalkeeper’s view – just keep it as simple as possible to help all the officials out.
You had that brief stint as a manager at Newcastle – have you ever thought about returning to the dugout, or was that enough to put you off? It was something I thought about for a couple of years after that, but the more involved I got with television work, the more I enjoyed it, so I’ve knuckled down and focused on that. There’s no chance I’ll ever change my mind and go back to all that stress and pressure now!
Alan Shearer is part of the BBC’S FA Cup coverage – follow the final across TV, radio and online on May 18