Legends OF Football Awards, Liverpool’s Problems & Are Pundits Too Critical Of Man United?

0:09Alan Shearer:Hello and welcome to the Rest is Football question and answer episode with Micah Richards, Alan Shearer and me Gary Lineker. I was going to say we're fresh after the morning after because we had a dinner last night, which I hate saying this word about myself. because it sounds a bit weird, but we won the Legends of Football Award that Alan's already won at one point. Jill Scott also collected her award as well and a little bit croaky this morning, a little bit tired. Alan did a roast, his speech, which was a lot of fun, took the piss a bit, but also said some lovely words. Thank you very much, Alan.

0:55Gary Lineker:You deserve romantic, guys. It's just so you're getting on, isn't it, when you start getting lifetime achievement awards.

1:02Alan Shearer:Tell me about it.

1:05Gary Lineker:It was a good night, though. I thought everyone spoke really well, and obviously for charity. But it was a bit nerve-wracking standing on stage with a speech thinking, I don't know how many people were there. What does that room hold? 1 ,500? Maybe more? Must have been. It was packed, wasn't it? Yeah, it was huge. Was it? Yeah. In the Grosvenor house, Micah.

1:22Alan Shearer:It was huge. What was lovely was the amount of former players, players that I'd played with and one or two that I played against. But from all the clubs that I've kind of played for here in England and, you know, from Everton, there's Peter Reid and Trevor Steve and Paul Bracewell. From Tottenham, Gary Mabbit, Steve Sedgley, David Howell. From Lestos, Alan Smith and Gary McAllister, Ian Wilson, and Gordon Milne, my manager at Leicester, who I think is the only coach stroke manager I've played for that's still alive. He looked great. He's 88 years old. From England, there was, you know, Peter Beardsley, Peter Shilton, Paul Parker, lots of, yeah, Mark Bright was there.

2:15Alan Shearer:Don't forget anyone. Don't forget anyone. That's what I'm thinking. I probably will and apologies if I do. I did mention Gary Mullen. You did, yes. what about Reedy's trousers man what about

2:29Gary Lineker:Reedy's flares Peter Reedy I mean I mean Reedy's one of the

2:33Alan Shearer:great characters in football and always has been he's so much fun he came into these massive kind of flares with pointy shoes I mean he's always been like a fashion guy he loves wearing stuff like that and he hasn't changed I had to get him on stage at that point so it was lovely they got Wayne Rooney to present the trophy I mean that was a bit of confusion there, Alan, with you. I didn't know that. What happened?

2:58Gary Lineker:Come on, do tell. On Saturday, when me and Wayne were doing Match of the Day, we sat in the room as you do and we're having a couple watching the football. And Wayne said to me, are you going to this thing on Monday evening for Gary at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London? I said, yeah, yeah. He said, oh, I'm presenting the award. I went, are you? I said, I thought I was. I've been told I am. He went, really? so I text Jeff Shreves one of the organisers and I said I thought I was presenting the award he said no no Wayne is I said well what and he went he said oh my god I am so sorry because he asked me three months ago if I would present the award and do the and do the speech as well and I said to him what the fuck's going on here he said oh my god I'm sorry I forgot to tell you we've got Wayne to present the award and you're doing the roast an hour or two earlier and you've got to speak for six or seven minutes.

3:53Gary Lineker:I was like, oh, my God. Can I land like 24 hours to get a speech together? So, yeah, it worked out pretty well in the end, though. Yeah.

4:04Alan Shearer:You spoke really well. You took the piss a bit, but you're so incredibly kind. I think we've got some of it, if not all of it. So they might put that segment in right now, if that's the case.

4:15Gary Lineker:Please welcome Alan Shearer.

4:28Thank you.

4:31Gary Lineker:Yep, I had a bit more hair back then in 2006. Just before we get on to Gary, Shrevesy, Jeff Shreves, the outgoing chairman of this amazing event, is leaving us. And he's heading to America, aren't you? the brilliant Jeff Shreves that apparently arranges everything said to me three months ago Alan would you mind come and presenting the trophy to Gary at the Legend of Football evening, I said absolutely no problem, Saturday night I was working with Wayne Rooney on match of the day and Wayne says to me are you there on Monday evening at the Grove and I said yeah he said I'm there too, I'm presenting the award to Gary laughter So I text Jeff and I said, I thought I was presenting this fucking award to Gary.

5:24Gary Lineker:And he went, okay, I forgot to tell you, you're actually doing the roast and the speech that has to last for about five or six minutes. So the sooner you fuck off to America, the better. Because we all know Maggie and Emily do all the work here. What a job they do, guys, by the way. So it's amazing. Thank you.

5:48Gary Lineker:I'm going to hide behind Kelly. Where's that picture of me and Gary that was meant to come up? So I first met Gary back in, there you go, there it is. You can tell how happy I am to play with one of England's greatest. Look, I'm delighted, aren't I? I first met Gary back in 1992 when I made my England debut, February 92. We played France. He was on the bench, actually. It was me and David Hurst. Started the game. I managed to score in the first half. Gary came on in the second half, and he scored there. Goals are the hardest thing in football. That's why the forwards get paid the big bucks, and they cost the most money.

6:33Gary Lineker:And then Sweden 92 came around, Euro 92. And I'm not sure whether everyone can remember. I'm sure that most people remember in here. Brazil, Wembley, just before we set off. Who the fuck tries to do a Penenka when you've got the record in sight for the England goals? Gary Lineker tried the Penenka, missed it. What a fool he looked. But that wouldn't damage his legacy. As you know, playing for England is a huge honour. And as a goal scorer, the weight of the nation is on you. And like Gary, I felt that pressure. but unlike Gary I actually didn't shit myself on a pitch

7:22Gary Lineker:there you go

7:27and in case if you didn't know it

7:34Gary Lineker:Gary also played for Barcelona because every second he gets on the podcast remember when I used to play for Barcelona scored a hat-trick in Newcastle or whatever yeah but then he went into the into the media first to pundit and then taken over from the amazing Des Lainan which everyone thought was impossible but not only did he do that but he absolutely smashed it he was amazing at it

8:10Gary Lineker:No one will forget the time that he actually did match the day in his boxer shorts when his beloved Leicester won the league. We thought you might have worked on your body. I mean, you've got tits like my mother, who's 80.

8:32Gary Lineker:And it's amazing to think, isn't it, he got more yellows and sometimes a red in his broadcasting career. than he did in his football career. So never, not one yellow card in the game. I don't know how he got away with that. But, you know, in life, if you've had an amazing career, you've been extremely lucky, you've worked hard, you've done well, to play football at the highest level, to represent your country in World Cups, to bring home a golden boot as the best and the biggest goal scorer is something incredibly special. That's one career. If you then go on to another career, and as I said, absolutely smash it for 26 years and being the best presenter there is around and being everyone's favourite on a Saturday evening, that's two careers.

9:30Gary Lineker:And now he's got a, I'm proud to say I'm part of it, he's now got a podcast, Empire, which is incredible. So to be the top of the tree at three things in your life means you are such a special guy that works hard. It's not about luck. You get opportunities and you make the most of opportunities. And he has done that and he's been the best at his business, whatever he's been in, throughout all his career. And that, for me, is incredible.

10:10Gary Lineker:But for me, and I'm sure you won't thank me for saying this, his biggest achievement are his four boys. Three of them are here this evening. He's got George, Harry and Tobias is not here and Angus is here. I know how much he loves them. I know how much those boys are proud of their old man. They follow him wherever he goes. They support him wherever he goes. Because you know what? He's been the best and he is the best. And he's a pal of mine and I'm proud to say that. Well done, Gary. And well done, Jill. Thank you. Good night.

10:46Gary Lineker:Gentleman, Alan Shearer.

10:49Alan Shearer:We'll give the charity mention, Nordiff and Robbins, that kind of do amazing work with music therapy for kind of autistic children and Down syndrome kids and stuff like that. So well done to them. It was a lot of fun. And shame you couldn't be there, Micah, but you did send a nice message that was played out on the screen.

11:10Gary Lineker:You got a good reaction to it as well. You did. I don't know why.

11:18Alan Shearer:I thought, hmm. I was speaking to Josh. He asked me, because I had an appointment this morning, that's why I couldn't come. And I said, if I'm going to do a speech, it's got to be short and sharp, and it's got to be funny. If there's a one-liner you can give me that's funny. And he said, you've got to go with the time when he shit his pants. You weren't the only one, Michael.

11:49So I went with that quick, short and sharp. But I gave you your love with it as well, didn't you? It wasn't just a piss thing.

11:55Gary Lineker:Wayne said to me afterwards, you know, when we were having a drink in the bar, guys, Wayne said to me afterwards, he said, Al, you totally fucked me with your speech. He said, because you said in your speech exactly what I was going to say. I was going to tell the story about Saturday Night. He says, when you told it, he said, I just didn't know what else to say, because that was my words.

12:16Alan Shearer:I tell you what, I don't know whether they did this on purpose, Micah, but I get the two people, obviously Alan doing the speech and Wayne giving me the trophy. Alan scored more goals in the top flight than me and Wayne Rooney scored more goals from England. I mean, crikey, they just had to outdo me, didn't they? A pair of them. But it was a lovely night.

12:35Gary Lineker:We didn't shit on the pitch and we didn't play for Barcelona.

12:38Alan Shearer:No. God, before I said a few words, I nearly shit on the stage. But anyway, that would have been too much.

12:48Alan Shearer:It was a good night. Right, so GT asks, Sandro Tonali is one of the best midfielders in the country. Discuss.

12:57Gary Lineker:Yeah, I wouldn't argue with that. I think with the problems that he had when he first arrived, obviously, well documented, and from having to sit and train basically on his own for months, he's turned into a beast of a midfielder. He's horrible to play against. and even his performances for Italy, if you've been watching them when he goes away on international duty, Newcastle have got a top midfielder on the hands there. There's no doubt about it. He's brilliant. He really is. Agreed when he was in Italy. He was a big, big midfielder over there. Obviously, there was a load of talks about him leaving and where would he go.

13:35But he's always been a top midfielder. He's not. Yes, he's improved in the Premier League, but he's always been class. He's great on the ball. He's tenacious. He can win tackles. He can dominate the midfield. And he's up there with the best midfielders in the Premier League, without doubt. And he has been for a long time. He just had the thing that Al mentioned earlier on to hinder his start. Yeah, not sure I can add much to that other than concur with both of you.

14:05Alan Shearer:Terrific player in a very strong midfield, Alan. Much to be enthused about. Adam Alcock. Great name. A lot of talk about United needing to change, I think it means Manchester United, their shape or system. But do Liverpool need to change their system or formation to get the most out of their summer signings? Micah. It's a good question. I think just in regards to Man United, why we talk about them so much in terms of system is because we believe as pundits, when you're struggling to go back to a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1 can just help you out at times. So that's why we always talk about their system and a manager who wants to implement his way in that system.

14:54And at this moment, I don't think the players, they've got the players to do that. With Liverpool, I think their system's perfectly fine. I just think they've got too many players in this same position. so it's a headache for a manager so eketike and isak up front kakpo's probably the best in terms of balance for the left salah's always gonna play right i think you can play two holders and verts just in front of them and that be no problem the problem is verts just taking a little bit longer to settle in than we all thought that that's all it is and if you actually scrutinize the game Wurtz has actually created some very good chances they've just not been taken at that time if he would have got that assist for Salah at the weekend before he played a brilliant flick with his left foot correct and then we're thinking about oh he's got an assist there he's got a goal the only thing with Wurtz I think he's taking a little bit too long if he does it a little bit sharper the problem is the price tag when he gets bought for that amount of money everyone expects now now now But I don't think it's anything to do with the system.

16:08I just think it's the players need to settle in. Yeah, I think they'll come good.

16:12Alan Shearer:I think they'll improve. He'll sort it out. He's clearly a good coach. I think the same thing. I think he does fiddle around with his systems a little bit. He doesn't always play the same way. So it's slightly different, I think, to Manchester United because he's a stickler for a certain way of playing. where I think Slott's got a bit more versatility about his formats and a bit more fluidity and flexibility, possibly. Yeah, I agree.