Charlie Austin reveals his childhood idol – despite Premier League cult hero sensationally claiming he’s overrated

CHARLIE AUSTIN revealed his childhood idol – even though a Premier League cult hero didn’t rate him. Austin joined Tim Sherwood and StevoTheMadman in the studio for the latest episode of The Sun’s brilliant new show Greatest Of All Teams, brought to you by Sun Vegas. Charlie Austin revealed his childhood hero was Alan Shearer Credit: The Sun The Newcastle legend remains the Premier League’s record goalscorer Credit: Getty Austin, 37, made 111 top-flight appearances for QPR, Southampton and West Brom. But his hero growing up was none other than Alan Shearer. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! And he was quick to jump to the defence of the Newcastle legend – backing the all-time top goalscorer as the all-time striker GOAT in the Prem over Thierry Henry. That is despite Yakubu being unconvinced. StevoTheMadman referenced The Yak’s comments on a recent podcast where the Nigerian said: “One-on-one he’s poor. “Scoring goals, he’s unbelievable, don’t get it twisted, you know, he’s a proper No9. “But my all-time Premier League striker is Thierry Henry, he’s special.” StevoTheMadman said: “Did you hear Yakubu’s comments on him? Most read in Football SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS The Sun’s new show GOAT sees guests pick their team from 11 random Prem sides “I don’t want to paraphrase but basically he said Shearer was c**p. “He was a goalscorer but that was all he could do, there was nothing else, Henry was the man.” Austin was having none of it, though. The striker – now playing for hometown Hungerford Town – said: “Growing up playing centre forward, Shearer was my hero. “Shearer and Henry are two very different centre forwards, completely different players. “I remember having this conversation with Les Ferdinand at QPR in 2014-15. “Les was on the verge of saying Henry. “But mine was Alan because of his 260 Premier League goals. Yakubu did not give a glowing endorsement of Shearer’s finishing ability Credit: PA:Empics Sport Austin joined StevoTheMadman and Tim Sherwood in the GOAT studio Credit: The Sun “What do you want from your centre forward? Put the ball in the back of the net, win games of football. But that wasn’t just his game.” Co-host Sherwood agreed with guest Austin and also disagreed with Yakubu’s comments. He added: “I played with him and Shearer! I love Yak. “But in the early days, Shearer used to chase things in the channel. He used to stretch them. He used to bully centre-halves. “He had everything. Left foot, right foot, fantastic in the air.” Austin was desperate to get Shearer as his striker in his Greatest Of All Team selection. The GOAT format sees a randomised selection of 11 teams drawn from the Premier League era before the studio guest makes their best XI by choosing one player from each. Was Austin’s side strong enough to compete for the Champions League? Or did he find himself in a relegation battle? Head over to YouTube now for all the picks, anecdotes and Premier League nostalgia in the full episode of Greatest of All Teams. ‘Greatest of All Teams’, sponsored by Sun Vegas, where creators and ex-footballers are asked to create their ideal side from the Premier League era and find out where they’d finish. Each week, Tim Sherwood and Stevo The Madman ask their guest to pick an all time Premier League 11 from 1992 onwards based on a lucky dip of players and clubs from our supercomputer. The guest’s team then has a season simulated to see how many points it would accrue. Each guest’s points total then goes on a series leaderboard to see who wins overall. Packed with “Barclaysmen” era nostalgia and lots of laughs, the show combines deep football knowledge with hypothetical scenarios for fans across generations. Join Sun Vegas for a 100% deposit match + 100 free spins 18+. New customers only. Min deposit £10 for 100% deposit match bonus up to £100 on selected games (accept within 48 hrs & wager bonus 10x within 3 days) and 100 Free Spins on selected games (accept within 48hrs & wager winnings 10x within 3 days). Debit cards only. Offer Ends 16.09.26. T&Cs Apply. GamCare.org.uk Comment now