It'll be tough when I hear that Match of the Day tune.... this is my first season without Dad..

Prem legend reflects on losing his beloved father

- TOM BRYANT

WHEN the famous Match of the Day theme tune starts up at 10.20pm tonight, Alan Shearer expects a lump to form in his throat.

Hearing the music, he says, will remind him of his beloved dad, also called Alan, who died in May aged 80.

In fact, the tune composed by Barry Stoller in 1970 and one of the most recognisable TV themes in the UK - was even played at his funeral.

Alan, 54, says: "Along with Will, my son, I carried his coffin into the crematorium the hardest thing I've ever done as the Match of the Day theme blared out, jaunty and loud.

"The music was his decision too, although he pinched that idea from my mam, telling us shortly before he died that this was what he wanted." Being in the Match of the Day studios alongside Gary Lineker to analyse the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season will be a poignant moment.

"I honestly can't tell you how it will feel when that famous tune starts up, but I do know it will be tough - very tough," he says.

"This won't come as a total surprise to most of you but, like my dad, I'm not emotional by nature, yet at 54 years old I'm heading into my first season without him beside me, without him just there. It's a void that can't be filled and it feels very raw." In a emotionally-charged first-person piece for The Athletic, Alan said he decided to open up about his grief to highlight the support network behind every player.

The former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Southampton and England striker says: "I wouldn't have been a footballer, wouldn't have appeared on Match of the Day, and wouldn't be writing this without my dad.