Dennis Bergkamp: The Moments That Made Them

9:16Gary Lineker:Touches class.

9:17Micah Richards:Speaking of touches. Wait for the third goal there.

9:21Alan Shearer:Casey Keller in goal there.

9:23Dennis Bergkamp:And Platt's in for Bergkamp. And Dennis Bergkamp! What a goal!

9:30Micah Richards:This touch. Wow.

9:33Alan Shearer:Oh!

9:36Micah Richards:Possibly three of the greatest touches of all time. One, two, three, four. Do you know what that reminds me a little bit of?

9:43Alan Shearer:is the goal that he scored in the World Cup. Yes. Against Argentina. And amazing bit of commentary from Barry Davis. We've not got that on this, but look that up. You can find that anywhere. I'm sure people remember it. And he brings it down in a similar sort of manner and knocks it away. Absolute classic goal.

10:05Micah Richards:I mean, what a touch he had. Three of the touches. Yeah. And then the finish. So the three touches. Oh, my God.

10:12Gary Lineker:I think Suarez got a better hat-trick, though. Do you? Yeah. Do you? Do you not remember the Suarez one? Yeah. I do, yeah. I do. Was that Norwich? Norwich, I think.

10:22Alan Shearer:Norwich hat-trick. It's unbelievable. I'm sure we will do one on Suarez at some point in this series. Not necessarily this series, but at some point over the next few months or so. I'm sure we'll do one on Luis Suarez. And that hat-trick will be in there. I think that's the best one.

10:39Gary Lineker:Yeah.

10:39Alan Shearer:Do you remember when he faked a shoe and he dropped it?

10:42Gary Lineker:It was unbelievable. And he had that touch and then, oh, yeah. I think that was my favourite one.

10:46Alan Shearer:He was not bad, Suarez. Suarez. Suarez. Suarez. Suarez.

10:51Gary Lineker:Yeah, so... When are you getting inducted into this? Why are you not in the first couple of months? I'm not sure there might be another series.

10:57Micah Richards:We'll wait for it though, it's fine. Why are you still alive?

11:00Alan Shearer:As all the others. I was just trying to say.

11:05Alan Shearer:I'm just trying to think of an excuse.

11:16Alan Shearer:I just think, no, what I'm saying is it'd be a nice thing to do once you die. Because, because, I'll probably go first because I'm on the 18th. You're only on what? The 15th, right? 15th fairway. What am I on? I'm on the front. You're on the front. You're on the front. You're on the front. You're on the front. I think, well, you just, I think you're at the turn. The turn. You're probably in the, in the shop having a sausage sandwich at the turn, which is always the highlight of my golf rounds. Always getting a sausage sandwich. That was it. Everything else was rubbish. But yeah, so Arsene Wenger came in and he changed almost the culture of not just, I'd say, Arsenal, but over time a different way of thinking, perhaps for English football.

12:02Alan Shearer:You know, it's got that drinking reputation, not looking after players going to the pub. We know, we lived it. We all went through that period. and he came in and it was slightly more thoughtful, maybe careful what you eat, watch what you drink.

12:18Micah Richards:When I used to go in against Arsenal and Arsenal-Wengas teams, I always used to think they looked so much fitter and stronger than the opposition.

12:29Alan Shearer:Not been down the pit on the pub, but probably.

12:31Micah Richards:Whatever they were doing. I've heard Martin Keown talk about this, what they had to take and whatever else. Well, it is.

12:41Alan Shearer:I mean, A.M. Wright talks about it as well. And he said, you know, just... They said it was vitamins. Sure it was. I'm sure it was. I've got no reason to doubt otherwise. But he did change that side of things, didn't he?

12:52Gary Lineker:Yeah.

12:52Micah Richards:Marcel Wenger.

12:53Gary Lineker:Did it change for you, though, as well? Because Mancini, he changed for us. He used to come in in the morning and just, like, pinch your fat and say, you need to get that down. He just didn't care. Scales every single morning. Well, Terry Venemus did that.

13:07Alan Shearer:Did he? We weighed as... I went to Barcelona. and it's something I've done to this day. I've done it ever since. They used to weigh the players every single day. And it's actually, even for someone, if you're watching your own weight, I would say this to anyone at home, it's a really good thing to do because if you go up a little bit, you can just tone down and then if you go a bit low, you can have a bit.

13:30Gary Lineker:Not if you're a meat eater like me. Nando's every week, steak every week.

13:35Alan Shearer:Yeah, but if your weight suddenly goes up, you can cut down a little bit.

13:38Gary Lineker:Yeah, but he has to go on like the, you know, like in the morning, Sunday night. So Monday morning you get weighed, 8 o 'clock in the morning. Sunday night I'm doing it on the treadmill. Yeah, but if you do it... Just to get my weight down.

13:49Alan Shearer:If you weighed every day, you'd be more professional possibly. I mean, I still to this day weigh myself. Actually, I've knocked the last two weeks because my battery's died and I'm replaced it.

14:01Gary Lineker:What about in your...

14:04Alan Shearer:My battery's in the scales. Not my brashies have died, although they're very close to dying, honestly, because, you know, I'm in a green sign bunker on the 18th. So, it's a good thing to do.

14:17Micah Richards:You told us, do you feel yourself getting heavier as your ears get bigger? Because you said your ears get bigger as they get older. So does that mean you're getting heavier?

14:24Alan Shearer:No, but they're weighing their head down a bit. Bloody idiots. How did it come to this? Yeah, because Wenger did change things. I mean, he was thoughtful and, you know... For the better. Yeah. In those days, yeah. Invincible, weren't they? I mean, what they did, and obviously Bird Camp was an important part of that team. They had some... I mean, what a team.

14:50Micah Richards:What about that as an achievement, going through a season on beating? What about that? A league season on beating. Yeah.

14:58Gary Lineker:Do you think that's better than Man City's, was it, 100 points?

15:02Alan Shearer:Season. That's good going as well. I mean, I think just what they had about 12 draws, didn't they? Yeah. But I mean, that's it's still unbeaten.

15:16Dennis Bergkamp:Hello, everybody, and welcome to The Book Club, a new podcast from Goalhanger, hosted by me, Dominic Sandbrook.

15:23Gary Lineker:And me, Tabitha Syrod. As some of you may know, I've been Dominic's producer on The Rest is History. And we even did a mini-series last year about all things books.

15:33Dennis Bergkamp:And since we enjoyed that so much, we have decided to roll it out as its own show. So it'll be coming out every Tuesday. We'll be doing a different book each time and digging into all the stories behind them.

15:44Gary Lineker:And we are going to be talking about the historical contexts behind some of the greatest and most famous books of all time. we're going to be digging into the remarkable people behind them the unexpected stories behind the stories and also unravelling the plot of each book a bit and delving into the depths of the story

16:02Dennis Bergkamp:now you don't have to have read the books to listen to the show but we hope that by the end of each episode you will be able to pretend to people that you've read them that is the key thing and either way whether you read them or not we hope that you'll learn lots of fascinating facts you'll do lots of great stories and maybe tabby the odd laugh

16:19Gary Lineker:We will be looking at thrilling gothic bodice rippers like Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein, as well as iconic stories like The Great Gatsby or Little Women. And then also some more modern stuff. So Game of Thrones, Normal People, The Hunger Games, Hamnet, all manner of exciting stories.

16:38Dennis Bergkamp:So please join us on our journey into all things books, wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for The Book Club every Tuesday, and hopefully we will see you there.

17:13Gary Lineker:like your cabana's ready would you like fresh towels it matters where you stay book now at hilton.com hilton for this day this episode is brought to you by nespresso introducing virtuo up the latest in a long line of innovation from nespresso it's innovation you can touch sense and taste in every single cup With a three-second start, easy open lever, and dedicated brew-over-ice button, it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way. Sip for yourself. Shop VirtuoUp exclusively at Nespresso.com.

17:52Dennis Bergkamp:We're leaving today and entering a world of Mickey Mouse waving, princess meeting and greeting, lightsaber clashing, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror dropping, Banshee flying! Space Mountain launching! Galaxy rewinding! What the fuck? Galaxy rewinding! Fireworks igniting! World of Other Worlds. For whatever you love, infinite worlds await at the most magical place on Earth. Walt Disney World Resort.

18:23Alan Shearer:Dennis Burkapp, if he's remembered something in Premier League history, it'll be for this goal.

18:42Alan Shearer:You were playing Alan, you got a good view of this, and the argument will always be did he mean it and I look at it and I think he certainly meant it to go in an area where he wanted to finish it and it just looks to me like this is what he wanted to do.

18:56Micah Richards:Well, if it was any other player, you'd question it, but not him. That's unbelievably skilful. I mean, I'm probably on the halfway line at this stage just clapping.

19:07Alan Shearer:Yeah.

19:08Micah Richards:I'd say I'm well done. Wow, what have I just seen? Nikos dab his ass at the Gallagher end, I think it was.

19:15Alan Shearer:I think he's instinctive. I think he definitely wants to flick it into that area. Yeah, but you can see where his body language looked. He's off straight away. I wonder though whether he wanted to actually drag it to the other side of his own body. That's what I think, but his natural movement would then be to turn that way. So whilst I don't think he meant it to go behind his own back, because if you look here, that's a sideways, that's a normal thing to just take it onto that side. But if he meant that, I mean, he's even better than I thought he was. But I think he definitely meant to drag it one way, but I think it may have accidentally gone the other side of his body.

19:51Alan Shearer:but it was instinctive wasn't it just a bit

19:53Micah Richards:I just think because of his body shape

19:56Alan Shearer:yeah

19:56Micah Richards:after the split second look he's off he actually knows exactly where

20:01Alan Shearer:I think he might be right I think he probably and even the strength

20:04Micah Richards:to push the to push Dabby's ass off the ball I mean everything about it is perfection because look he's off now he's gone he's turned oh there it is yeah I think he probably did and the strength to hold him off then the finish with the inside of the foot to just guide it in there

20:22Alan Shearer:it's one of the greatest

20:24Micah Richards:goals we'll ever see in the Premier League I think that's the greatest

20:27Alan Shearer:did you get a good view of it? can you remember?

20:31Micah Richards:I can remember yeah definitely did you think oh my god what's he just done?

20:36Gary Lineker:who's that Shea Given isn't it?

20:38Micah Richards:Shea Given Nikos Dabizas was the centre defender yeah

20:43Alan Shearer:what does he think?

20:46Micah Richards:he's still trying to get the nut out he sucks

20:49Alan Shearer:that would be anyone's top ten of Premier League goals has to be number one he roughly meant it one way or the other whether it meant to go behind his back or it didn't go behind his back it's still I think he probably did mean it but only he will know and he probably can't remember

21:05Micah Richards:what do you think is the best one either that one or the one that came over the top at Leicester with the three touches

21:14Alan Shearer:well that one because the other one was against Leicester

21:18Micah Richards:yeah I mean two like outstanding goals yeah

21:22Gary Lineker:was it better than Ganachos remember Ganachos volley that was some

21:25Alan Shearer:Ganachos overhead kick sort of side yeah well that's a different kind of goal isn't it I mean anyone can not anyone because you need to be an athlete to hit that kind of go and that's your finish but I don't know there's a bit more in that that sort of goal the touch because you with that thing there's only one thing that can go right or one thing that can go wrong with something like that goal or the one he scored against Leicester there are two or three different unbelievably brilliant things you've got to do within it agreed so I think that sort of goal for me we see lots of goals with side volleys and overhead kicks and long shots and all that but something like that like what was that that's over 20 years ago and we still remember it and we still discuss it as though with an interest it's number one it's right up there it's one of the best

22:14Micah Richards:we'll ever see that

22:14Alan Shearer:it's one of the great ones

22:16Micah Richards:I think it's a great debate though about which one's best at the Leicester one of the Newcastle one two incredible goals

22:22Alan Shearer:they actually won the title at Tottenham which is the same time they've done that with four games still to go Bergkamp had an assist in that game that was Patrick Big Beera he was your hero wasn't he oh

22:35Gary Lineker:what a guy got to play with me as well didn't I at Man City oh god yeah

22:40Alan Shearer:he's a lovely guy as well isn't he he could be nasty on the field I interviewed him in New York you know when he was coaching the New York City team oh yeah New York City yeah yeah I went out there and he was it was really lovely isn't he gentle yeah lovely I interviewed David Villa as well out there and it was really yeah and I watched training which I don't like doing as you know I don't just standing there watching but David Villa was like unbelievable in his training session he was you know way older than everyone else but was completely bossing it and Patrick Vieira was you know he was really good he was really good with his coaching and stuff but This is not about Patrick.

23:18Alan Shearer:This is about... But they're all part of that invincible team. Do you think... I think we've discussed this before, but it's unlikely it'll be done again, isn't it? Very unlikely. It's an unbelievable achievement. Do you think it would be harder to do now, perhaps because of the number of games that teams play? Does that make a difference because of all competitions? I mean, there might have been in Europe, these teams, but nowadays there are so many more games even in the Champions League these big group stage so you play eight games extra even if you don't go through and the teams are always going to go through so you've got way more matches haven't you

23:58Micah Richards:but I also think teams there's more teams that are better now overall the depth the depth is stronger definitely

24:06Alan Shearer:the so-called smaller clubs are richer and can afford better players than they used to be able to afford agreed yeah exactly That's why I think it's a...

24:16Micah Richards:I'm not sure it'll ever be done again, though. Yeah, but...

24:20Gary Lineker:You think about who were they going up against? United, Chelsea, Liverpool. Liverpool back then. Going to Anfield, that was...

24:30Alan Shearer:Yeah, but if you could take the bottom half, you'd go... Yeah, maybe the bottom half. There wasn't the depth there is now, I don't think. Not the depth. Not the depth. I mean, now, even if you look at the table recently, you know, you've got that big pack, and that big pack includes a lot of teams that prior to 15, well, 10 years ago wouldn't have been as competitive as they are now. Agreed. I'm not sure it'll ever be done again. Some achievement.

24:57Gary Lineker:Where does Bergkamp rate in the pantheon of great Premier League players? He was a number 10 though, wasn't he?

25:05Alan Shearer:Yeah. Yeah, he was definitely a number 10.

25:08Gary Lineker:So you're putting him in with like David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne.

25:12Alan Shearer:He can go on against all those guys. I think he's absolutely comfortable in that company.

25:16Gary Lineker:But numbers-wise, he's not as good as De Bruyne, is he? But setting trends, he was one of the originals, wasn't he? Yeah. He was touch and technique and all that sort of stuff. You know what he was?

25:29Alan Shearer:He's absolutely right up there in terms of being pleasing on the eye. Because he was graceful and skillful and classic. Wonderful, wonderful footballer. Perfect way to finish this episode. Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me.