'A void that can't be filled': Alan Shearer opens up about his father's death as he prepares to hold back tears on Match of the Day

Alan Shearer will be thrilled when the Match of the Day theme song plays this weekend.

The England and Newcastle legend's father sadly passed away earlier this year following a cancer diagnosis.

For his funeral, Shearer's father, also named Alan, had requested that the iconic MOTD track be played.

And the former striker says he heard that same melody during this Saturday's program when it begins Another Premier League season As an expert, you will inevitably think of your late father.

Writing in The athleticThe 54-year-old said: “My dad wasn't a poetic man, he was a down-to-earth, down-to-earth guy, a Geordies fighter, but when I was a kid we'd sit in front of the TV as a family on Saturday nights watching football highlights. How's that for a binge?”

“I came to the end of last season with blinkers on. I appeared in Match of the day a couple of times and I got over it, just as I did during my work as a commentator at the European Championships, but the here and now feels different.

“I'll be at the BBC studios in Salford this weekend and I honestly can't tell you how I'll feel when that famous tune starts playing, but I do know it's going to be difficult, very difficult.

“This won’t come as a total surprise to most of you, but like my father, I am not emotional by nature, yet at 54 years old I am heading into my first season without him at my side, without him alone. there.

“It's a void that can't be filled and still feels very painful.”

Shearer went on to open his heart and thank his father, another fiercely loyal Newcastle fan, for kick-starting his football career.

After plenty of practice in the garden with his father as a child, Shearer earned a move to Southampton.

Following his breakthrough with the Saints, he signed for Blackburn and won the Premier League with them in 1995.

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In 1996, he returned to his hometown and signed for his boyhood club Newcastle for a then world-record transfer fee of £15 million.

He even became manager of the club his family had grown up around all their lives in 2009, as caretaker to Chris Hughton, who was temporarily in charge while permanent manager Joe Kinnear recovered from heart surgery.

But as well as guiding him to play for and manage the Magpies, his father also made him fall in love with watching football, specifically MOTD.

And he insists that he would not have been a commentator on the show if it weren't for him.

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“Perhaps you’ll think of him when the Match of the Day theme song comes on this weekend,” Shearer said. “I know I will. And, if it’s the right thing to do and it seems appropriate to you, think of your family too.”

He added: “Dad, I miss you and I am so proud of you.”