In a clash nobody expected the World Cup to throw up, Alan Shearer locked horns on social media with historian Simon Schama on Monday night over England’s performance against Tunisia.
“You do know that I have played in these games right?” was Shearer’s ultimate put-down after Schama had started explaining to him about England’s need for patience.
“Everyone going on about how England should just enjoy the football and play loose massively underestimates the inevitable stomach-knotting teeth-gritting nervy wrench of the first game,” Schama had messaged Shearer, after the historian appeared to get frustrated with the way that BBC pundits were criticising England’s performance.
Shearer scored 30 goals in 63 caps for England, and captained the team 34 times. He captained England at the 1998 World Cup, netting twice in England’s four matches.
Schama was probably on safer ground when he observed that the pre-match flag display was rather more reminiscent of the era of the crusades than perhaps the organisers had intended.
After the exchange between the striker and the historian, plenty of fans were asking Alan Shearer to air his views on topics such as the French Revolution, and one wit asked Schama if he had been nervous before his own international England debut.
Shearer wasn’t the only member of the BBC’s presentation team for England’s game to get into a social media spat. Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan have been involved in a continuation of their regular feud, after Morgan’s judgment on the team’s performance.
Responding to people who had been critical of England Lineker had tweeted: “Never ceases to amaze me how easy some folk think World Cup football is. Have you watched all the so called big teams? It ain’t that easy, especially against tough defensive opposition. I suppose those that are so critical haven’t been there, though.”
Taking issue with Lineker’s description of the performance as “excellent”, Morgan offered his own: “I prefer a more honest critique: good first half, poor second half, lucky win. And may I remind you that we’ve both won the same number of international football tournaments.”
Lineker, who referred to Morgan as “tubs” during the exchange, pointed to the fact he had won the most World Cup Golden Boots out of the pair.
Morgan continued to tweet at Lineker while presenting Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, also posting a video addressed to Lineker of Morgan chatting to Geoff Hurst, who the former newspaper editor described as “a proper striker”.
Lineker’s exuberance for the England performance was summed up perfectly in the tweet he sent when Kane netted the 90th-minute winner.