ALAN SHEARER refused to apologise for his criticism of Anthony Gordon despite the Newcastle star scoring against Chelsea on Saturday.
Gordon, 25, got the only goal of the game at Stamford Bridge and took the chance to hit back at Shearer, Wayne Rooney, and other pundits after he was slammed over missing part of Wednesday’s Champions League draw to Barcelona with illness.
Matchwinner Gordon tapped in from close range in the first half having started against Chelsea just a few days on from only making the bench in Newcastle’s biggest match for years.
Gordon was sick in the build-up to the clash and could only come on as a late sub for Eddie Howe but still got pelters from the media.
He took his opportunity to fire back over the weekend and Shearer has admitted he liked what he heard from Gordon.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast with Gary Lineker, he said: “Good! I love it!
“That’s fine. You always get the chance, the right to reply as a player.
“I wouldn’t change anything I said the other night against Barcelona.
“Illness wouldn’t have kept me out for a game, I know he said it was the manager’s [decision].”
Toon legend Shearer, 55, had said of Gordon earlier in the week: “Maybe I’m old school but if you’re fit enough to train in the morning, and I know he doesn’t feel well, but this is Barcelona at Newcastle for a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
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“It would take something extraordinary to keep myself out of this game tonight.”
Gordon replied to that via a post-match interview, saying: “What the media guy told me was being said was complete and utter stupidity.
“I was in bed for three days, missed training, and turned up on the day of the game ready to start – I thought I was starting.
“When I got to the stadium, the manager told me I wasn’t playing, which you can imagine I didn’t like very much, but that’s his decision and the team played great.
“Saying I didn’t want to play in the biggest game of my career is absolute nonsense.”
Roy Keane weighed in after the Barca game, telling The Overlap: “How can you be ill and come on for half an hour? It’s bizarre, isn’t it?”
And Rooney claimed: “He [Gordon] walked past us before the game and wouldn’t shake our hands.
“He said he didn’t want us to catch anything, but then he’s going into the dressing room with his teammates.”
England winger Gordon addressed that specifically, saying: “Seeing, I think it was Rooney, saying I walked past and didn’t shake their hands but then went in the changing room – I didn’t.
“I got changed by myself in a room about the size of this [interview booth], it was just me and a sink.
“Complete nonsense, I think they need to do better.”
England attacker Gordon did his talking on the pitch and off it.
His goal, converting from a Nick Woltemade pass into an open goal, also gave Shearer a good night in the North East.
Shearer explained: “We had Ian Wright came up, I played golf with him yesterday morning, took him up the course to play golf.
“We had a good game of golf in the morning and then a good drink and a good party in the late afternoon, early evening, and early hours of the morning.
“We started after golf with a couple of pints of Guinness and I haven’t got a clue what time we ended.”
