Having been with the BBC team for around 22 years, Alan Hansen decided that 2014 would be the year he called it quits, leaving at the end of a great Premiership season and an exciting World Cup in Brazil. As a pundit he is a divisive character but it is hard to deny that he is not one of the reasons why people will generally go with the BBC when given the choice – as shown by the usual trouncing ITV got in the ratings when they and BBC1 both screened the final at the same time (fewer than 3 million viewers versus BBC's just over 12 million).
Personally I like Hansen; he always played the dour Scot well but has a good sense of humour and dry charm in front of the camera, and of course it helped that often his opinions were mostly close to the mark. It is no surprise then to find that, after so many years, BBC Sport have not produced a documentary that tears into its subject looking to probe and expose. No, instead this is a film that is sitting down in the pub with an old work colleague and having a few laughs (and contemplative sighs) about old times over a slow pint; we will all do it at the end of a job we have been in for some time, the only difference is that Hansen's is on national telly and the pint is with a bunch of famous sportsmen!
The chat with Lineker provides the frame for the film and it is good natured in spirit. It starts with his boyhood, goes through his playing career and ends at the present day. Considering how much ground is covered I was surprised that it didn't feel rushed and it does have time for small personal things as well as big sporting headlines. It doesn't give you detail on anything in particular but the focus on Hansen helps reduce the significance of that since it is about him, not the events he was part of. As such it is nicely paced and affectionate; okay it is a bit sentimental and full of platitudes, but this is a "leaving presentation" just like in any workplace, so you do have to understand why it talks up achievements and nary has a bad word to say about him that isn't played in jest or affection. Watch it for what it is and it is nicely done – but you do need to be aware of what it is.
