WARSAW. Sept 8: England captain. Alan Shearer on Tuesday blasted as "criminal" tfie decision to publish a controver-. sial book by former Football Association chief executive Graham Kelly in the week of England's final European Championship qualifier, reports AFP. . -

’ Shearer was criticised as being 'childish and immature' by Kelly in his book 'Sweet FA' for his reaction after being charged with misconduct for kicking Leicester's Neil Lennon towards the end of the 1997-98 season.

The England captain, who was later cleared of the charge, told a news conference in Poland: "It is criminal that it has been released at this time to cause maximum damage to myself and maximum disruption to an England side which is focusing on such an important game.

"I'm sure everyone, our-, selves, the fans, wants to concentrate 100 percent on the game and getting a good result, which 1 believe we can."

Asked if he had got the row out of his system, the Newcastle striker replied: "It wasn't in my system.

'There might be a time in the future when I tell my side of tl le story but now is not the time.'

At his book launch on Monday, Kelly claimed he had no influence over when his book would hit the streets or be serialised.

He said: "It is entirely outside my control. I signed a contract to do the book six to eight months ago.

"It didn't appear to do Alan Shearer any harm and there are far bigger things that are going to rockthe boat if the boat is going to be rocked.