From Sporting Life:

Kevin Keegan blasted Alan Shearer's critics after his captain had given England their first competitive victory over old rivals Germany in 34 years.

Shearer headed the second-half goal which kept England's dreams of European Championship victory alive in a tense 1-0 triumph in this sleepy Belgium town.

Amid euphoric celebrations Keegan stressed he still wanted Shearer to lead his England team when his World Cup qualifying campaign begins in October.

"Alan Shearer has answered his critics. They have pummelled him, tried to destroy him, now at least give him two or three days before you knock him again," said Keegan, who used triumph to snipe back at England's press critics.

"He has never given less than 100% when he has pulled on an England shirt. "You people are responsible for Alan Shearer retiring from international football. "No-one has given him a chance. But he's a man among men and would still captain my side in the World Cup qualifying if I had my way."

Keegan admitted it was the greatest night of his illustrious career with England playing in the red shirts in which they last beat Germany in a competitive match - the World Cup final of 1966.

"I don't think it was just the red shirts though," said Keegan.

"It was spirit and togetherness.

"We get fed up in England of people saying Germany have something on us.

"I would like to think we can make them pay now like they made us pay for 34 years."

Keegan admitted it was never a classic but a draw now against Romania back here in Charleroi on Tuesday night would send them through to the European Championship quarter finals.

"England needed it, forget about myself. We had to grind out a result and while some people might say it is not a great German side you have to earn the right to beat them and that's exactly what we did.

"I really enjoyed the game it was a fantastic atmosphere and hopefully there were more classic games in my career but never a more important match.

"It was a real man's game. Germany never gave us anything they were totally committed and gave everything for their coach.

"I hope everyone back home is enjoying it even more than us.

"We now have destiny in our own hands, the pride's intact and the commitment tremendous.

"I've wanted it for a long time and I'm glad I was in charge when it happened."

Shearer was presented with the man-of-the-match award shortly after the game and admitted that it was the most pleasing victory of his career.

"You could tell by our reaction at the end how much it meant to us," he said.

"We had to calm ourselves down in the dressing room because we won a game but we know we have to do it all again.

"We think that people didn't want us to win tonight, they had their stories already written but I'm pleased to have scored and captained England against Germany.

"Anyone who said we don't know how much it means to people back home should just watch that performance again.

"I'm sure one or two people are disappointed that I scored but I think we've shown them exactly what we can do."

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000

Answers

I was working in EURO 2000 in Charleroi last night and was in the ground for the second half of the game and also in the press conference. There were about 200 journalists and there was absolute dead silence when KK launched into them over Alan Shearer. Very well said.
The ground was bouncing after the goal - did you see the lights and shadows on the pitch moving? The floodlights are connected to the stadium structure , which is obviously not quite rigid enough to withstand an Alan Shearer goal. KK made a special point at the beginning of the press conference that the atmosphere in the Charleroi stadium was tremendous - he said some of the German players told him after the game that it was the best they had experienced (even if it was for the other side, as two thirds of the committed supporters were for England). He said that the authorities had been proved wrong about moving the game elsewhere, and that Charleroi had shown itself to be the right place for a great night. (Mind no-one mentioned the afternoon riot). To me, it was a very good atmosphere, though nothing like the Old Trafford semi-final last year, which was bouncing even more than last night in extra time.
Going back to Brussels, the organisation at the railway station was non-existent : all announcements were in French, none in German or English, people were getting on trains and getting off again as the rumours changed about which trains were going where - there were plenty of police but only one or two railway guards and even they were confused - there were supposed to be special trains, but some left early, some stops were cancelled (including mine, so the train went straight through my station and all the way to Brussels and then I had to take a 20 pounds taxi back south to Waterloo). Obviously the police had decided that they wanted all supporters "processed" in one way, leaving no chance for anyone to go anywhere but where they wanted them. They clearly thought that hundreds of supporters getting off by mistake half way to Brussels was going to start off the Second Battle of Waterloo. The train was totally packed with sweating supporters. Not the best preparation for the walk through the town back to their hotels. When the authorities irritate and degrade people like that, it's no wonder that sometimes a few of them get into trouble. Apparently in Holland things were much better.
I met 7 NUFC supporters all together - some of them paid 100 pounds for their tickets, but no more - the reports of 600 pounds for tickets were very exaggerated. One interesting point : they didn't check names on the tickets at all, so why do they bother doing it? Word gets round that there are no checks and people take no notice now as there is no risk in buying a ticket off a tout.
That said, it was a great night to be there, I'm glad I got the chance.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

'Harry Robertson is our friend...' :-)

Thanks for the inside track, sounds entertaining. I'm sure the press will have a miserable day today sulking, but will return on Monday with their usual batch of poison, except that this time they will have to precis their bile with:

'Other than scoring the winning goal against Germany' before going onto the traditional opening, 'and despite an International strike rate of 1 from 2 and even though he has netted 34 times last season, Alan Shearer is completely past it and shouldn't be playing for England.' Bank on it. They will be even more determined to spoil his swansong now. Bastards. Still, overjoyed that we will all spend a happy day in the sun after a terrific evening whilst those jackals are left feeling like we did when the mackems(ptuh!) beat us at waterpolo...their nemesis strikes again and once more proves that they know absolutely sweet fa about the subject they claim to be reporting on.

I'll just put another shrimp on the barbie and crack another tinny; would you like some more Gaviscon with that Mr Holt? I'd go and have a lie down in a darkened room like Mr Mellor if I were you, we'll call you if England get knocked out, ok?

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

From what I've picked up, the critics are going along the lines of "I am absolutley delighted to be proved wrong, erm....again"

Tossers

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Noticed that: it's all grudging bollox like 'Alan Shearer saved his international career last night'...let's list the other players capable of keeping their composure and heading it back the way it came, starting with.....hang on, I'll think of someone in a minute....errrmm. Clearly not Jancker or Kirsten, was it? Just another country who would have crawled over broken glass to have a striker of Shearer's quality in their side last night. Don't know when they're well off this lot!

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Did anyone almost wet themseleves with worry when he hurt his bum and fell over? Anyway, why is there such revisionism about Gary Lineker - he was the original goal-hanging git. Did f...k all ever apart from score.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Dougal, there was a lot of breath holding going on here when Shearer was taken off the pitch - it`s the first time I`ve ever seen him look as though he was really in pain! Phew!!!(:o)

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

It looked really painful - I thought he'd banged his head until I saw him clutching his bum. The commentators (b.st.rds) kept us waiting to tell us he was back on the pitch. I thought about you, Galaxy, as Big Al scored. I was running around saying, "who can I phone, who can I phone?" then realised that I hadn't got my telephone numbers at home. There was this big barbecue with a bouncy castle in the gardens next door and the kids bounced from 11am tilabout midnight. However, the shocker was that there were crowds of adults just not watching the game and partying so much that they were distracting us from the game... bizarre! How was your night?

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

I shall e mail you my number, just in case there are any more stressful situations!

How was my night? Oh dear, my halo definately slipped! I had been invited to go down the pub with Yelli, no problem with that, they are a nice bunch of kids, some of them going back to her school days, so I know them all very well. However, I am dreadful when watching either Newcastle or England, firstly, I just get so excited and vocal, secondly, and I get dreadfuly emotional. I was also worried that I would get some great hulking man-mountain between me and the screen, and not be able to see anything, so I decided to stay at home. Pete`s at Le Mans, so I was on my own, but that didn`t matter `cos Yelli and I spoke to each other all the way through the match on the phone! It`s not that she`s a Mummy`s girl or anything, but it`s kind of us two against the world down here when it comes to football.

So beautiful evening, patio doors wide open, my supremely comfortable garden swing (birthday pressie from Pete) strategically placed for a perfect view of the television, volume up high (even number of course), and because of the special occasion, rather nice bottle of wine at perfect drinking temperature!

Watched the Portugal game, and marvelled at how uninspiringly they played, compared to our game with them. Also wondered where the four minutes of extra time came from, or indeed the time after four minutes in which they scored!

By that time I had had two large glasses of wine (I should have waited for the England game before I started!) Cried all the way through the build up, the penalty thing with Pearce, Southgate, the Gascoigne thing etc. - all perfectly normal for me. (Another glass, maybe two!)

Managed to watch the big match without actually having a heart attack, though at fever pitch throughout! I really enjoyed it, and was fit to burst with pride at Shearer`s goal! Did you notice it was my ref?! Good job I`d already exorcised(?) exhorcised(?) layed that ghost on the BBs!(more wine, but I`ve lost track now - you know what it`s like, the heat, the tension, dry mouth etc.)

Managed a couple of rather slurred postings on the BBs, and settled down to watch a film. Matrix, as recommended by our very own Gav. Well, it was hilarious really, it must have been an all day ticket on Sky, and I guess I must have kept dozing off, `cos I was still watching it when Yelli came in a two o`clock! All I can really remember is thinking `God this is a long film`, when in fact, I had actually half watched it twice at least! What a sad state of affairs!

Major hangover this morning! Also no voice left to speak of! A bit embarrassing really seeing as I spent the evening on my own!(:o)

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Oh, by the way, in case you hadn`t guessed - I not a big drinker!(:o)

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Hey Roz, we believe you - honest!

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000