- 10/06/2025
Alan Shearer was talking to FourFourTwo via Topps, who are the official stickers and trading cards provider for UEFA EURO 2024. No tournament is complete without a sticker collection, so head to Topps.com to find out everything about the must-have collection and to buy yours. Topps’ collectibles are also available to buy now from all good retailers.
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00:00So Alan, welcome to 442, we're going to do a little Euro 96 look back, some iconic tournament
00:18Good times
00:18Indeed, pre-tournament then, presumably you would be raring to go, you were in the prime
00:26of your career, England had missed USA in 94 and there'd been no competitive games for
00:31two years, so you must have been ready to go
00:33Well I was ready to go but I hadn't scored in those competitive games leading up to the
00:37tournament for two years, so it was about 13 games if I remember rightly, so I was ready
00:43to go but I was also under huge pressure from everyone, including my teammates, the manager,
00:49the fans, because of the number of forwards that were around then that were also scoring
00:56goals on a regular basis, I mean I'd scored for Blackburn, I think I'd got 34 that season,
01:03so it wasn't as if I wasn't scoring but I just couldn't score for England leading up
01:06to the tournament and then Terry Venables pulled me to one side about a month before the tournament
01:11sort of said to me, whatever happens, you will be my number one centre forward and you
01:16will start that first game against Switzerland and I just thought wow, for him to have that
01:22belief in me and I felt as if I couldn't let him down and I had to go out and I mean luckily
01:28I scored in the first game against Switzerland and then went on to finish top scorer so God
01:35knows what would have happened if I hadn't had scored but yeah I owed Terry a lot for having
01:40the belief in me. I suppose the story of Euro 96 starts for England in China, can you remember
01:46why that was picked as a destination for the pre-tournament warm-up games? I haven't got a clue,
01:50China and Hong Kong, I remember more about in Hong Kong in the dentist's chair than I do the games
01:57to be honest, yeah we were on our, we'd finished and we're on our way home and we decided to go out
02:05or we were let out to go out for a few drinks that turned into a few more and a few more and then
02:10before we know it there was one or two in the dentist's chair and things had gone a bit too far
02:18I was sort of there but I was at the back you know I could see everything happening but I was
02:22like hiding away at the back and then I just thought this is not this is not going to really
02:28be a good look if this gets out and it did and then all hell broke loose but to be fair to
02:35the manager Terry he sort of stuck by us and he used that as a rod really for us to repay him and
02:45everyone loved him, we all respected him, he was an amazing coach and like a genius as a man manager
02:53and he used that to his strength and we sort of all sort of got together and we realised what had
03:01happened, we realised that how bad it looked and being front page instead of back page
03:10yeah and he used that to his advantage and and and it worked I mean because as I said we all respected
03:15him and got on great with him and and we're all determined not to let him down. Did the problem
03:21start when Terry sent Brian Robson to be the chaperone for that evening? It's not a good idea really.
03:26Yeah I mean Robbo was renowned for us having as good time as anyone and he was a great bloke Robbo and
03:32still is obviously but probably not the wisest of ideas to send Robbo out and keep an eye on us
03:39but yeah everyone loved him and he got on with everyone as well but we all know Robbo did like a
03:47pint or two yeah. Very sensible move from you as a 25 year old though to sort of back away when you
03:52notice things were getting a bit light. I don't know whether that was through luck or with that was
03:56that was other people I was with, I was with the Umbro guys, a good friend of mine Simon Marsh who was with us
04:02and sort of he was the one that sort of kept me back at the bar really rather than going into the
04:08centre into the dentist's chair. We'll get to the football in a bit. I'm still very interested in
04:12China because a lot obviously happened. The flight home, Gaza says in his book that he was asleep on
04:18on the plane until someone slapped him in the face. Don't know who that was. Yeah and well he did say
04:23actually it was you. Oh really? I don't know if we need to get the lawyers involved but was that
04:29yourself or because that caused a bit of an excitable Gaza on the flight. Honestly I couldn't, I don't think Gaza needed
04:36any prompting to be excitable but honestly to this day I couldn't tell you whether it was me or not
04:43and I wouldn't take his word for it but someone must have done something to upset him you know
04:50but yeah he didn't need much prompting did he but honestly I couldn't tell you whether it was me or not
04:58and I'm not just saying that. Fair enough. It was an interesting summer for yourself as well because
05:02your club future was up in the air. Can you remember what your frame of mind was because that
05:07would have presumably been quite a big distraction but obviously it didn't distract you when the
05:10tournament actually started. No it wasn't a distraction at all because I just said I'm putting
05:16everything on hold until after the tournament and that's exactly what I did. I knew how important the
05:21tournament was. I knew how much I had to go out and score and I couldn't let anything else get in the
05:27way of that so as tough as it was it was it was parked. It was parked until after the tournament
05:34and I didn't speak to anyone regarding my future at club level at all during the tournament and it
05:40was all going to be done after it. Did you think you were leaving Blackburn though? Not really no I knew
05:46that I had big decisions to make but there was also still an opportunity or a chance that I was going
05:51to stay at Blackburn. I hadn't a clue what I was going to do. I knew that I had chances. I knew that
06:00we'd sort of finished further down the league than I wanted to do after winning the league the season
06:05before but no honestly I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. Does Anshira get nervous before
06:12games? You'd have been forgiven for being nervous before that. No excited not nervous I mean I had the
06:18bit of the knot in the stomach but I think that's a good thing I don't think that's nerves I think that
06:24was excitement rather than anything but I never really got nervous and all I just wanted to get
06:30out there and get started. And where does the Switzerland goal rank? A huge relief to get to open.
06:35I think in terms of importance it was one of the most important goals I ever scored. I mean it wasn't
06:41one of the better goals it was a good pass it was a good run and a decent finish but in terms of
06:47importance yeah right right up there. Was the Scotland game the biggest game of your career to
06:52date at that stage do you think? Not really no. In terms for England or club level? I think just the
07:00magnitude of playing Scotland and both teams had drawn their opening games it just felt like a massive
07:06game at the time. No it was a huge game I mean in terms of being the most important in my career
07:11probably not but in terms of it being a big game yeah it was it was big I mean all England Scotland
07:18games whether Wembley or Hamden or wherever it may be are big games but that game could have went
07:25either way as well I mean we hadn't played fantastically well against Switzerland we drew the game
07:32we didn't play really well either against Scotland we got a little bit of luck with them missing the
07:37penalty because if they score that penalty then who knows they miss it and then within a few minutes
07:42we're up with the other end and Gaza scores that brilliant goal and it's really funny actually
07:48because not many people remember who scored the first goal obviously I do but everyone remembers and
07:52rightly so because it was that was such an iconic moment in English football to do it against Scotland
07:59at Wembley in a major tournament Gaza and the I mean the brilliance of the goal was something else
08:06there's not many people could have done that if any. There'd been calls for him to be dropped before
08:10the game but you did just feel he had that moment of brilliance in him and and so it proved him. Yeah
08:15I mean there was there was there was plenty of calls for him not even being in the in the squad I
08:20mean but Terry knew him better than anyone um and he loved Terry he had a respect for him and and it was
08:27vice versa so um I think Terry knew that guys that owed him and we all owed him and again it was the
08:36how good he was at the man management thing Terry and using that to his advantage and the team's
08:40advantage um so if anyone was going to do that then it was going to be Gaza and when he did score
08:46your reaction was brilliant you ran straight to the bottle and and did the dentist's chair we did the
08:50dentist's chair that was all that was all planned um whoever was going to be nearest to whoever scored
08:56then um yeah that that celebration was always planned and well planned and it worked out pretty well yeah
09:02and obviously just prior to that was Gary McAllister's missed penalty um the moving ball did you did
09:08you see that at the time didn't see it at all no I didn't see it I just was obviously I was wasn't
09:13far behind it but I didn't I didn't see the ball move at all until uh until after the game yeah did
09:19you chat about that in the dressing room with the players anyone reference not that I can remember to
09:22be honest no I mean who was the guy that tried to claim that he moved it Uri Geller that's it Uri Geller
09:29yeah um I remember reading about that nonsense but um I don't remember it too much being mentioned in
09:35the dressing room no the following game Holland uh they were tournament favorites 92 favorites to win
09:40um England's performance was like shockingly good did did it take you by the surprise or did you feel like
09:47England had a performance like that no I just we I felt as if there was something special happening
09:51before the game on the way there because the the atmosphere was sort of building after the Scotland
09:56game you know the confidence and the belief in the country and the thousands of people that started
10:01to line the streets when we got within a mile or two of Wembley the music got a bit louder on the bus
10:07you know and the atmosphere on the way to the game and and everyone else was getting that little bit more
10:11excited um but I didn't see us putting in that performance against them no I mean I felt we could
10:18win but not as convincingly as we did uh that was probably the best England atmosphere I played in
10:25um and without doubt I think a highlight of uh of my career um with England and I just the atmosphere
10:34during the game before the game and particularly after was just it was off the charts and it was when
10:40we went back to the hotel as well you know we had such a great atmosphere and we had such a great
10:43squad and I think that was probably the first time we felt we could perhaps go on and win this
10:50your second goal against the Dutch was that the best team goal you've ever been involved in you overloaded
10:55them and found the extra man which was you and you've you powered it into the top corner yeah I mean
10:59Terry Terry as I said I've mentioned Terry a few times because of how good he was I mean we we talk now
11:06about how Pep and uh Jürgen changed systems changed players into Terry was doing that back in 96 you
11:13know we we played three or four different systems during that game and we knew we were going to change
11:18we knew we were going to flip into a three at the back or four at the back or or Gary Neville was going
11:23to push further upfield or or whatever it was we knew that we were going to play different systems
11:28and that's how good he was but to do it against an opposition how good they were um and to make them look
11:34as poor as we did then um we felt that was in us but not as much as not as much as that Patrick
11:41Cliver famously scored late and sent Scotland home yeah that was the perfect evening won it because
11:46us winning scoring four winning the game and then us conceding one which ultimately knocked Scotland
11:52out didn't it so um it was a perfect evening yeah the um Venables regarded Spain as stronger than
11:59Italy Germany and Holland and that was who England played in the quarter final um it was the first
12:04time England had experienced a golden goal situation as well how did that affect you as a player did you
12:09think it sort of tightened things up in extra yeah it was all a bit it wasn't a great game that I mean
12:14it was it was a bit tight and tense and um could have went either way um but what I remember that about
12:22that is is I know I had scored the first penalty but I was also aware of who was coming next you know
12:28I knew that Stuart Pearce was coming after his miss in 90 him and uh him and Chris Waddle were missing
12:36for someone to step up again and say give me the penalty and it was a redemption time if you like
12:42I mean I can't tell you the pressure that you're under and the walk from the halfway line to the penalty
12:48spot is the longest walk you'll ever make in your life there's a million things going through your
12:54head um it when you go when it's going well there's a million things going through and when you haven't
13:00when you've missed a penalty like he has and the size of it and the enormity of of missing a penalty in
13:06the world cup then to say oh all right I'll take another one um and I mean I think we were all probably
13:12as worried as he was you know you can tell even now if you look at the pictures of it or the videos of it
13:17the the reaction and the the relief on on his face more than anything is is incredible nothing was
13:25said of in the Spanish press of Herrero and Nadal who missed the Spanish penalties and they've rarely
13:29been asked about it afterwards yet Southgate Waddle Pierce they get asked about suppose that tells us
13:35a lot really about the English mentality towards well I mean it might be different in their in their
13:40country the questions in in in Spain would have been as probably as tense as they were here when
13:47Waddle and um and and Pierce missed I guess but just because we're in our country I suppose we we
13:54focus more on that but um yeah I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy you know
13:59missing a penalty of of that size and and I mean you've got you've got millions of people watching on
14:07television all around the world and in England or wherever um you've got the 90 000 in the stadium
14:13who are watching you but I think you're under more pressure because of the 10 or 20 guys behind you
14:20and your team who you don't want to let down you know um and that's why you're under the most pressure
14:25so it's a it's a bloody tough walk that is but it's probably even tougher if you haven't hit the back of
14:31the net thankfully I never experienced that I mean in thankfully England won a penalty shoot out and
14:37set up a famous game against Germany in the semi-final is it true you forgot the three lines tape to play
14:43on the bus on the way to Wembley is that story true no not that I remember no I wasn't aware it was uh
14:49it was my job I mean I wasn't captain then in 96 so um I was captain a couple of months after that but
14:56it wasn't my I don't think that was my job to remember that but I always I always remember those
15:01coach journeys from the hotel to the ground they were brilliant I mean because you're on your own
15:06you're in the zone the music's blasting and everything else and yeah there were good moments but no I can't
15:11remember that no can you can you remember when you first heard the song and it caught on after the
15:17Scotland game I think I remember yeah when we were asked to take part in it I'm thinking what the
15:22I laugh doing getting involved in in a video of I mean you can you know when you go into cup finals
15:27and you see all these players making prats of themselves when they're going to get involved in
15:31this song and that's I think I don't I'm not it's Skinner and Bedile you know I was thinking
15:37but then it was such an iconic song I mean even now fans are singing it before the Euros and
15:42what have you for England so in a in a in a strange way it was great to be a part of yeah
15:47do you ever pop it on quietly I can't remember the last time I played it no but I was forever
15:52playing it during year 96 even at night time you know it was blasting out of my yeah out of my room
15:57yeah so between 66 and 96 it was obviously the 30 years of hurt England had played Germany 13 times
16:04lost nine of those games won two friendlies yet we played them in the same final you scored after 133
16:10seconds did you think this is it we're destined to get the final yeah I did yeah well I think we thought
16:15that after Holland you know we and then to win the penalty shootout against Spain so you just you
16:21know when you just get that feeling that this might just be it and then me scoring after a minute and a
16:27half yeah in the in the semi-final yeah we got the feeling that that was it but we knew because of who
16:34they were and what they were Germany at times against good opposition you're gonna have to suffer and
16:38it's I suppose you need a little bit of luck here and there um they could have won it we could have
16:45won it with Gaza in extra time um but then it goes down to penalties again yeah the the game became you
16:53know they equalized the game became tense but I felt the extra time England who were naturally a more
16:58attacking team they seemed to go for it was that instruction from Terry Venimals to let's try and get this
17:03done with the golden goal in extra time yeah I think so yeah I mean that was that was Terry was
17:07always positive that was always his mentality was that we were better than them we could take the
17:11game more to them we had uh we had more energy um and but it's you have your penalty takers
17:21but very very rarely are the are those you know still on the pitch at times you know you've got I don't
17:27know you you look at tiredness or you look at whatever but if I remember rightly I mean there were 10
17:33unbelievable penalties from five from us and and five from uh from Germany and then you're into
17:39I'm reluctant to say they also runs but then you're into the guys who really don't want to take a
17:44penalty um and it was one where okay oh and you can see one or two heads going down when the managers
17:53who's looking around to who wants to take the penalty after the first five that are chosen
17:59or who are the first five who have said yeah and practiced um but then you're into I think you're
18:06in the luck land really of of what happens after that those players you say who who put their heads
18:12down do you remember the conversation do you hold any resentment towards those lads who didn't want
18:16to step up no never because if you if you're asked you've got to be you've got to be honest in that
18:23situation um because it is really tough it's really hard you know that that if you and if you've never
18:29taken penalties and you've never been in that situation then the manager looks at you said you
18:34want one and or if you're putting your head down in the hope that the manager doesn't ask you because
18:39you don't want to be looked upon as weak I guess um but then you're into who's brave or who's stupid I
18:46guess and and Gareth was one of the brave ones and sort of put his hand up and said and I guess maybe
18:52in hope because think that it might it probably won't get past the uh the five that have put the
18:57hands up so um yeah I remember it well and looking around and thinking okay we probably should be all
19:04right here because I was I was confident with who we'd had because we'd already won one shoot out in the
19:09quarter-final and I mean you you can be critical of of of as a striker of Gareth's penalty it was
19:16it was a it was a bit weak it was too central can you remember how he was afterwards do you remember
19:20did you speak to him in the change yeah I mean everyone was just in console mode you know just
19:26to make sure he was uh he was all right um and you had to face the reality of it I mean we'd been away
19:34for for a month and it's a long month you're getting into the last few days of the tournament
19:40although we're all devastated and he was I mean he had to live with that still does now and I suppose
19:46it's out of his system now because he's won a penalty shoot out as a manager um but you have to
19:52live with that for the rest of your life uh which is is tough as you've got to go back to pre-season
19:58you've got to go back to playing so um as I said I wouldn't I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy
20:04because it's such a really difficult situation to uh to be in so there was no animosity there was
20:09no anger it was just we were proud because we'd given everyone something to shout of it was such
20:15a great tournament um but it just wasn't to be you mentioned that that Gaza moment in extra time
20:22if you volleyed it across to him I just my read of that is sort of his football and iq was so high
20:27he's tried to read the goalkeepers parry and hesitated yeah there's just that I mean I've watched it a million
20:33times as you can imagine i'm thinking what the have you stopped for you know it's like but
20:39yeah he just has that he just has that split second which may be um that made all the difference
20:46i suppose it was i don't know why he hesitated i don't know what the the reason was um perhaps he
20:51thought he could get to it and then stopped again and what have you i mean it was a it was a cross come
20:56shot for me it was one of those where if you if you hit it at the far post someone might get on the end
21:00of it but no one did he said if it was the other way around him volleying it to you your instinct
21:05would have been to go the probably yeah i mean i don't know you'd never know that but i guess so
21:09yeah did you watch the final czech republic were 80 to one you know i'm i mean i'm such a i suppose
21:17i'm putting my selfish head on here yeah i remember watching it and sat there like that because i
21:21think if there's one thing to come out of the tournament then at least i could walk away with a
21:26golden boot but i was also aware that if jürgen klinsman had scored a hat trick um and there was
21:34every chance because you're playing the czech republic who weren't great i mean it's pretty
21:37much a given whoever won between us and germany we're going to go on and and win the tournament
21:42so i sat there with my hands over my face hoping and praying that jürgen wouldn't score so i could
21:47at least take home the golden boot 442 is 30 years old this year our first ever cover was terry
21:53venables so we'll leave the last word to terry he he did multiple systems during euro 96 he he should
22:00be given credit for backing you um coming into it on a barren run yeah and where does he rank in in
22:06terms of managers he played he was a genius everyone loved him everyone um respected him he made training
22:15really difficult but really enjoyable that so much that he didn't really want to come off the training
22:19ground and um yeah he was ahead of his time what pep and what you're going to do and now he was doing
22:26in 96 and before that brilliant thank you thanks very much thanks very much
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