It was a memorable encounter as the legendary player for Newcastle United played his final game in black and white against Sunderland.
In a recent podcast, Newcastle United icon Alan Shearer ridiculed Sunderland, a rival team in the North East, without showing any mercy.
On The Rest Is Football podcast last week, the former Magpies talisman was asked which team he would have like to play for throughout his career. The 53-year-old unexpectedly declared without hesitation that he would have liked to play for the Black Cats, but it quickly became apparent that this was not a sincere desire. He said: “Sunderland for me because I’d have got them f***ing relegated again.”
Shearer was of course referring to his last ever game in black and white, which came against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. That year the Wearside rivals endured a torrid season, collecting just 15 points as they sunk back to the Championship.
When the North East derby took place in April 2006, Sunderland had already been relegated. Shearer scored his 206th goal for Newcastle United in a thrilling comeback that saw the team win 4-1 in the second half.
After the game, Shearer made the following statement
: “If it is, it’s not a bad way to go out.” I missed my previous penalty against Sunderland, so I’ve been waiting for this one for the last five or six years, and it’s been worth it. That penalty was a source of great irritation and rage. We had a complete 180-degree turn around after we were awful in the first half.
“They had their chances in the first half and didn’t take them. We were fortunate to go only 1-0 down at halftime and that’s their problem not ours. We said we were fortunate and we had to make the most of our luck, and we did. We scored our chances and they didn’t.”
Micah Richards, a former player at Manchester City and Aston Villa, joined Shearer, citing Arsene Wenger’s undefeated squad as his ideal group. Gary Lineker, meanwhile, chose Manchester United.
“I was up in Manchester for Sir Bobby Charlton’s funeral, which was a lovely send-off for a great man; there were so many greats there from yesteryear at Manchester United,” the Match of the Day host said in an explanation.
“I have two chances to go with them. When Ron Atkinson was manager, Manchester United wasn’t all that dominating, so I went to Everotn instead. The second occasion I saw Spurs was while Sir Alex was managing Manchester United, but that was still a good three or four years prior to his arrival.
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