GARY LINEKER left Alan Shearer in hysterics with a joke at Micah Richards’ expense.
The trio of ex-England stars were appearing on the fan favourite show The Rest Is Football podcast.
During a segment where they fielded questions from fans at home, one fan asked for parenting tips for their child getting into football.
Lineker, 63, asked Richards if he wanted to start due to the former Manchester City defender going through something similar with his seven-year-old son.
Richards, 35, said: “He’s seven. He’s started playing and he scored eight goals the other day just for a local team. He’s actually very good.”
This revelation stunned Lineker, who asked: “Going forward?”
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Richards continued: “He just sort of runs everywhere.”
Lineker then joked: “Are you sure you’re the father,” before bursting into laughter and apologising.
The comment had both Richards and Shearer, 53, in stitches.
After the brief pause in their regular programme, Lineker explained he would want his child to simply “enjoy the game”, adding that you will find out how good you are along the way.
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Richards added: “Exactly. It’s difficult isn’t it because there’s so much pressure on youngsters now isn’t there.
“The problem with me is I don’t get to see him play all the time because I work Saturday’s and the games are Saturday mornings.
“If I’ve got to get to a Match of the Day, I can only watch the first half.”
Lineker must have remembered that Richards appeared on MOTD over the weekend as he said: “If he scored eight goals the other day you probably saw a few of them?”
To which Richards responded: “Yeah I saw a few, but I just put my hood up on the sideline.
“I don’t shout anything, encourage anything. I just let him breathe. Let him enjoy the game. That’s what I do.”
Shearer also shared: “When I used to watch my son when he played when he was younger, it used to infuriate me that some of the parents were shouting and screaming.
“I was thinking, ‘Just let the kids play man, stop swearing, stop shouting, stop screaming, shut up and just let the kids enjoy it.”
FA crackdown on parent abuse on at grassroots
In 2022 the FA unveiled a new initiative to crack down on parents spouting abuse on the touchline of grassroots football games towards both players and referees.
The scheme urged spectators to let youngsters “make mistakes and make their own decisions” without being harassed and to clap good play.
The idea was devised amid fears youth league fans, and players, were picking up bad habits from watching Premier League matches.
Anyone in breach of the FA’s Respect Codes of Conduct “may be asked to leave the venue or asked not to attend future games”.
FA boss Mark Bullingham said the plan would help kids focus on their game with no distractions.
However, some club bosses were not convinced it would change attitudes.
Alan Moore, director of youth club Sedgley and Gornal United FC in the West Mids, said: “I applaud any initiative to stop some of the crazy behaviour I’ve seen, but this isn’t it.
I don’t care if it’s woke or nannying, I just know it’ll take more than this gesture to solve the problem.”
Lineker echoed this sentiment by revealing it was his biggest “pet hate in the world”.
The former Leicester man then recalled his own son’s first foray’s into football, though pre-empted the story with an apology to his eldest, George.
Lineker said: “Forgive me George. George was by his own admission not the most gifted of footballers.
“I remember standing on the side seeing him play one day, he’d try and he’d enjoy it and I never said a word. I just stood on the sidelines and watched, with all my kids, I never said anything other than I’d applaud if they did well and even if they didn’t.
“I remember watching George and someone’s mother came up and said, is that your lad up there and I go, ‘Yeah’. And then she said, ‘I thought he’d be better than that’.”
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In an exclusive interview with The Sun, George admitted he had found it difficult to cope with the pressure of having a footballing dad like his father.
CBS Sports presenter Kate Abdo similarly shared her own emotional story from childhood about her experiences with football and her late father.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
