Amazon Prime Video UEFA Champions League pundit Alan Shearer during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD5 match between Manchester City and Feyenoord at City of Manchester Stadium on November 26, 2024 in Manchester, England.
Alan Shearer reveals the "fun" he had as a player during Christmas
Alan Shearer admits the Premier League at Christmas in the modern era is much different to the version he experienced.
The Newcastle United legend, who is still the Premier League's all-time top scorer with 260 goals, enjoyed his time as a player, especially during the festive period. During an interview with Betfair, the former England striker and captain revealed how he was able to eat and drink what he wanted "within reason" on December 25, and had many different training and matchday experiences over the years.
Shearer said: "I loved this time of year as a player, I loved just playing games. You don't train that much because of the number of games there are. It's such a great period, I loved it. I loved the games and going out there scoring goals.
"It's a great time not only for players, but for fans, there's football on more or less every single day, it's amazing, I love it now too!"
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The Geordie pointed out that one of his managers, Kenny Dalglish from his Blackburn Rovers days, allowed him to not train during the festive period and just told the players to turn up for matchday after a day off with the family on Christmas. It clearly had the desired effect too, as Rovers went on to win the 1995 title. Shearer continued: "As a player on Christmas day it all depended on where we were, if we were at home or away and which manager we had.
"I had a few different ones, some got me in to train on Christmas morning, others got me in to train on Christmas afternoon and travel if we were away on Boxing Day, and some didn't make me train at all and just turn up for the game on Boxing day, that was Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn.
"I had very different experiences of Christmas day as a player, but I was lucky, I could eat, within reason, what I wanted and I still used to have a glass or maybe two of something during Christmas lunch.
The Premier League's all-time top scorer has revealed his experience during the Christmas season, and how he had real freedom while at Blackburn Rovers (
Image:
David Davies/Offside via Getty Images)
"It's a great time to be a footballer, there are loads of matches and you're spending lots of time doing what you love out on the pitch. I loved it."
The 54-year-old also noted that the holidays would be very different for Premier League players now, due to the popularity boom of social media meaning you could access information on athletes in a much more detailed way. This means that top footballers have to be careful about how they conduct themselves during time off, as mistakes are easily spotted and recorded in the modern times.
Shearer said: "It's probably very different nowadays, but there were Christmas party galore when I was playing, it's very different now because of social media, but we used to do a Secret Santa, we had parties and we all went out together.
Fans keep a close eye on the lives of footballers during the festive period – especially at their own clubs (
Image:
Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
"You just tried to be as normal as possible, we had a laugh in training, which you have to do, and we just tried to be the same as everyone else, albeit we had to be careful with what we ate and drank."
Nowadays, the average professional footballer in the Premier League may be tied to a stick nutritional plan and many clubs will organise training sessions no matter the importance of the day. This will likely be down to the higher demand of physicality during a match and also the constant fixtures one after the other during the winter.
Fans may be treated to a high-intensity and exciting style of football in the Premier League now, but this all comes at a personal cost to each player, as Shearer has pointed out.
Shearer claimed he trained differently during Christmas dependant on the club
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Image:
Phil Cole /Allsport) Don't Miss
The ex-forward also recalled a hard time he experienced during the festive season, where he ruptured a ligament in his knee after scoring two goals in the game. This was when Blackburn Rovers beat Leeds United 3-1 in 1992, with Shearer scoring a brace.
The 54-year-old said: "Looking back, I have good and bad memories of this period during my playing days, I seemed to always enjoy playing and scoring around this time, but I remember my first Boxing Day at Blackburn, in 1992, I scored two against Leeds and then came off with a ruptured cruciate ligament. I had 22 goals at that point and I don't think I played another league game until September."
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