The accusers were said to be unaware of who Mr. Shearer was, and after doing something he shouldn’t have done, it appears that Mr. Shearer’s case was of no use. It all started when Byrne mistakenly thought he was waving to himself, when in fact he was waving to his family who were at the game.
Kelly Summers spilled the beans to Mark Chapman during BBC One’s pre-match warm-up. Standing alongside Shearer on the field in Atlanta, she told the nation what happened.
Summers told presenter Mark Chapman: “Chappers, before I get back to you, I have to tell you that when Alan first went on the pitch, the first thing he did was try to wave to Dan Byrne. Alan thought Dan Byrne was waving to him, but Byrne had complete sympathy for him. He was waving to his family.”
“Since then, Alan has shaken hands and gotten into trouble with some of the staff here because that’s not allowed. I don’t think they knew who he was.”
Shearer returned to commentary and the dressing down did little to dampen his enthusiasm for the match. He declared on BBC One: “I’m looking forward to it, I’m excited about it. I heard that anthem and it was amazing. They don’t like each other, but that’s okay.”
Manager Shearer was confident about England’s prospects ahead of kick-off. “This Argentina team is a good team, but not as good as they were four years ago, but they have a mentality and an incredible will to win, which is very important,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“If you look at the way England are playing, you believe they can break through. They’ve scored a lot of goals, but they’ve also conceded goals. There’s plenty of evidence that we can score against this team.
“You can’t escape history. History is what we grew up with. What I watched on TV, the 1986 World Cup.”
