THE ALAN SHEARER SHOW OR WAS IT TERRY VENABLES?

Through my falling out with my country, both football and personally, I never engage in a show about the history of our game.

However, at a loose end, with no Gavin and Stacey on, I flicked over to find Alan Shearer on my screen and it caught my attention, as I was at the 1996 European Championship working for my pal Terry Shepherd on a social level in one of the Hospitality Suites.

Anyhow, I thought that I would be flicking past Shearer quickly when all of a sudden I realised that this really was the best time of a game here that has been one full of false promises and expectation.

Enter Terry Venables!

There are those that get the England job and there are those that DO the England job, and El Tel gets the job done.

It came over loud and clear that the FA once again messed up by not giving him the lengthiest contract in the history of the game, if only for continually employing quite the opposite of a perfect England manager, given the players, and although he was not given them, he knew them, unlike in the 70s and onwards when Mavericks were looked on as a threat to the man with the coaching badge.

Or an endanger species?

I must admit in having Shearer and Sheringham introducing the show by showing their lesser talents of playing Golf as they talked us through the events I was hooked.

Because we had the best set of players since 1970, when Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Alan Ball and Gordon Banks were those big characters.

The programme showed the other side of Teddy, Alan, Tony Adams, Paul Gascoigne (sadly) and Stuart Pearce and you don’t need me telling you that they were all winners.

I am now involved with Terry again in the Greatest Card venture, some fifty one years on and although we don’t speak a lot, we have massive respect for one another.

It was great looking back on this wonderful time, but it might put a little pressure on players going to do battle for that same trophy, as there is no-one in this squad that can compare with such individuals.

The one big question or in my mind a certainty, in the background sitting next to El Tel was Bryan Robson (another subject of The Greatest Card) with the certainty being, had he been on the other side of that fine white line I know that we would have pulled off only our second success in international competition.

Robbo was our greatest captain since Bobby Moore and the Captain Marvel for both Manchester United and England, and the sight of him sitting there looking fit as one of our coaches made me think, “If only”.

As for El Tel, who knocked out Spain along the way, I remember my old boss Tony Waddington going for talks with the Leeds United Board when Don Revie left for the same England job, and once turning the job down, also turned and told Manny Cussins and those other LU cronies, “Good luck, and if you want to know who to replace Don, you should go to London and get young Terry Venables, he’s going right to the top”.

Nobody knew more than Waddington!

PS to the FA: And of course Brian Clough….