Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer upset the Sunderland faithful on Saturday night.
While Newcastle drew with Aston Villa to start their new Premier League season, Sunderland’s return to the top flight could not have gone much better.
They beat West Ham 3-0 at the Stadium of Light, which briefly meant they were top of the Premier League. That changed when Manchester City beat Wolves 4-0 a few hours later.
Sunderland’s performance resulted in them being first on BBC’s Match of the Day on Saturday night, with Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney on punditry duty. However, it was only the latter who provided the analysis.
That caught the attention of the Sunderland fans, who were quick to notice that Newcastle’s all-time leading scorer had nothing to say about their blistering start to the season.
Alan Shearer doing punditry at St James' Park.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Gary Lineker explains why Alan Shearer ignored Sunderland on Match of the Day
The belief was that it was sour grapes from the Newcastle United legend, but that was not actually the case.
The real reason Shearer did not analyse Sunderland vs West Ham has been revealed on the Rest Is Football podcast, with the former striker discussing what happened on Saturday night alongside Gary Lineker.
Lineker: “Do you want to remind people that the way Match of the Day works is that you are designated a match each, and Wayne Rooney would have done that game because he was designated that match. Which one were you doing?”
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Shearer: “I was doing Spurs Burnley.”
Lineker: “So your focus was on that. It wasn’t an anti-Sunderland thing, even though you are anti-Sunderland!”
Shearer: “Listen, they’ve been out the Premier League that long they’ve forgotten how Match of the Day works.”
Former Newcastle United star falls short against Sunderland
It would have been interesting to see if Shearer had said anything if Sunderland had lost. And it would have been even more interesting if Callum Wilson had scored.
After leaving Newcastle United on a free transfer, Wilson made his West Ham debut against Sunderland.
He came on as a second half substitute, but was unable to inspire a comeback from the Hammers. They endured a woeful start to the season, having been blown away by a newly promoted side.
For Wilson, it was actually just the second time he has faced the Black Cats in his career. His other appearance came for Bournemouth in 2015 when he scored in a 2-0 win.