Alan Shearer reveals 'absolute nightmare' train journey alongside Sunderland fans

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer revealed how he had to spend a full four hour train ride, after his flight back to the north east had been cancelled at the last minute, trying desperately to not be recognised by a carriage full of Sunderland supporters. The Black Cats defeated Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon at Fratton Park to stay top of the Championship and maintain their perfect league record to date.

Shearer, meanwhile, had been in Italy and was trying to get back to the north east from Heathrow airport. Speaking about his experiences with Micah Richards and Gary Lineker, Newcastle's all-time record goalscorer recounted Saturday’s experience: “I was at a friend’s wedding in Italy in Perugia. 

“We came back on the flight on Saturday and we had to wait in the lounge for about four and a half hours before the flight up to Newcastle. So we’d been sat there for three and a bit hours and it comes up on the board, flight to Newcastle 6:25 cancelled.

“Honestly I was absolutely raging. So we look on the website, LNER to get a train back from King’s Cross and there’s no trains, they’re all fully booked. And then one train becomes available at 7:30 so we have 90 minutes to get from Heathrow to King’s Cross.

“We get on the Heathrow Express, we get off at Paddington. We then get on the tube from Paddington to King’s Cross and there was a lovely lady from LNER, my friend Peter, his wife, had a contact and she was waiting for us. She said ‘there’s hardly any seats spare on the train but I’ll do my very best for you but I can’t guarantee anything’. 

“She met us at King’s Cross and bless her she got us enough seats but there was no booking. She got us onto the carriage and she said ‘it’s going to be really, really busy’.

“I said ‘oh really?’ Because there’s only one train on a Saturday night. So she said unfortunately there’s going to be a load of football fans on.

“So I’m sat thinking ‘ok at least I am on a train’. I’m not in first-class, we’re in coach C. I’m looking and thinking ‘oh my god’ Sunderland have played Portsmouth away so I’ve got my cap on. I’m wedged in the corner on coach c in the very first seat and on they come. It’s getting busier and busier there’s not one seat spare and the whole of the aisle is taken up with Sunderland fans singing. They’ve all come on with their bottles of beer and bags of whatever they’ve got because there’s no food service.

“I can’t even lift my head up, I’m scared to lift my head up because they’re all in a great mood because their team has won and they start signing the Newcastle songs. Then they start singing the Shearer songs: ‘cheer up Alan Shearer, oh what can it mean to a sad Geordie…’ whatever it is. I can’t even sing the other song that they were going to sing.

“I had nearly four hours, my neck is killing me as I couldn’t lift my neck up. I had my head down for nearly four hours, I was petrified. I got all the way to Newcastle and I’m thinking ‘please let them all get off at Durham’. Half of them got off at Durham but half of them stayed onto Newcastle and I was petrified getting off at the station. 

“There was not one person recognised me. I didn’t move at all for nearly four hours and I didn’t get spotted once. They just sang and abused me for four hours but they didn’t even know I was on the train.

“My friend Peter said to me ‘Al, why don’t you just walk down the middle of the train and ask them if they want a drink?’ My Saturday was sat on a train for four hours, on tubes, on Heathrow express, on flights it was an absolute nightmare.”