Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer
	Template:Unverifiedimage
Personal information
Full name	Alan Shearer
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Striker

Alan Shearer OBE (born 13 August 1970 in Gosforth, England) is a retired English footballer. As a 16-year-old schoolboy at Wallsend Boys Club, Shearer was rejected by Newcastle who tried him out in goal and instead signed as an apprentice with Southampton.

Southampton (1986-1992)

He made his debut as a substitute against Chelsea in 1988, before prompting national headlines with his full debut a month later when he scored a hat-trick against Arsenal. At the age of 17 years and eight months, he had broken the record for the youngest player to score a hat-trick in top-flight football, which had been held for more than thirty years by Jimmy Greaves.

Despite this auspicious beginning to his career, Shearer was eased gradually into the first team, and only made ten (goalless) appearances for the club the following season. He did not become truly prolific for Southampton until 1992, when he scored 13 goals in 41 appearances. Having earned a regular place in the England team at under-21 level the previous year, scoring thirteen goals in just eleven matches in the process, this potent spell by Shearer was noticed by Graham Taylor, coach of the senior team, and Shearer made his debut against France in February 1992.

Like his full debut at club level, his full debut in international football was successful. Shearer scored a poacher's goal in the first half as England won 2-0, with the other goal coming from Gary Lineker, who was retiring in the summer after (edit conflict × 92) in Sweden, leaving Taylor with the job of finding a successor.

Blackburn and England (1992-1996)

Taylor selected Shearer for his squad for the finals, but he only featured in one group game - a goalless draw against France - and England were eliminated at an early stage. However, his ability had been noted by Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish who, with vast funds at his disposal from benefactor Jack Walker, offered Southampton a generous £3.6 million for Shearer, which was accepted, and the transfer to Blackburn was complete. He was also offered terms by Manchester United but turned them down - a decision which still sees him criticised by Manchester United supporters to this day.

Shearer became an England regular the following season, scoring his second goal in a 4-0 win over Turkey in a qualifier for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. His first season with Blackburn was mixed - he missed half of it (and more World Cup qualifiers) through injury, snapping his right anterior cruciate ligament against Leeds United on Boxing Day 1992, but scored sixteen goals in the twenty one games in which he did feature. The season ended sourly, however, as England failed to qualify for the World Cup.

At Blackburn, he scored an impressive 31 goals from 40 games in the 1993-94 season as they finished a close second in the table behind Manchester United. He also won the honour of the Footballer of the Year for that season. Shearer added three more goals to his England tally before embarking on his most successful domestic season as a player at that time.

The arrival of Chris Sutton before the start of the 1994 season established a strong attacking partnership at Blackburn, with the duo acquiring the nick name of the SAS - Shearer and Sutton. From forty two games, Shearer scored thirty four goals as Blackburn took the Premiership title on the last day of the 1994-95 season. This remains the only honour as part of a team which Shearer has won in his career, though he quickly followed it up with a personal award, winning the PFA Players' Player of the Year prize for the 1995 campaign. After winning the Premiership a myth arose that Shearer "celebrated" the title by going home and applying creosote to his garden fence.

He scored thirty one goals the next season from thirty five games, though his England strike rate completely dried up, with no goals in eleven games leading up to (edit conflict × 96). England, now managed by Terry Venables, were hosting the event and therefore hadn't needed a qualification campaign. This made Shearer's unproductive spell in front of goal less of a problem, but as the tournament neared he was still expected to score.

In the opening twenty minutes of the inaugural group game against Switzerland at Wembley, Shearer scored to break his goal drought. After that game ended 1-1, a victory against the Scotland in the next game was crucial.

A tight and goalless first half was opened up early on after the break when 21 year old right back Gary Neville - the youngest member of the England first team - swung over a curling cross and Shearer stooped low to head home at the far post. It set England on their way to a 2-0 win, helped by a penalty save from David Seaman and a second goal from Paul Gascoigne. England now needed to avoid defeat against the Netherlands in the final group game to guarantee qualification for the last eight.

Shearer and his strike partner Teddy Sheringham helping England defeat Holland 4-1 with a performance described as "total football" by pundits, ironically against the nation that had coined the phrase more than two decades earlier. Shearer scored the opener from the penalty spot and got the third after a tee-up by Sheringham, who also scored the other two.

In the quarter finals, England were outplayed by Spain but got through to a penalty shootout after a goalless draw. Shearer scored the first England penalty, while the Spaniards failed to score from two of theirs, sending England to the semi finals.

Their opponents were Germany and Shearer gave England the lead when he headed them ahead after three minutes. The Germans quickly equalised and the match went to penalties again. This time, the Germans won from the spot, and though Shearer scored, his team-mate Gareth Southgate missed his kick and England went out. Germany went on to win the final. Shearer's five goals made him the competition's top scorer, and together with team mates David Seaman and Steve McManaman, was listed in the official UEFA Team of the Tournament.

Newcastle and England (1996-2000)

After Euro '96, Shearer was approached by Manchester United with another offer to buy him from Blackburn. However, Shearer ignored the offer and became the world's most expensive footballer when Newcastle United, managed by Shearer's boyhood hero Kevin Keegan, paid £15 million to secure his services. Despite the enormous price tag and the pressure of being the local boy playing for his hometown team, Shearer continued to score goals. He scored 25 goals in 31 games in his first season at St. James' Park, while also scoring five goals in England's steady start to their qualification campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. At the end of his first season at Newcastle, he picked up his second PFA Player Of The Year award.

Glenn Hoddle was now England coach, and he had controversially awarded Shearer the captaincy of his country, even though Tony Adams, captain during the 1996 European Championships was still in the squad and was seen as the more natural leader, not least because he was the long-time captain of his club, whereas Shearer had never been a captain at any of his clubs. Adams later criticised the decision in his autobiography, even though he understood Hoddle's reasons behind the decision. Nevertheless Adams accepted the move at the time without comment.

In the summer of 1997, Shearer suffered a broken ankle in a pre-season game at Goodison Park, an injury which greatly restricted his number of appearances, but he still helped Newcastle United (now managed by his old boss at Blackburn, Kenny Dalglish) to the FA Cup final. However, Arsenal conclusively won the game 2-0, though Shearer hit the post during the match. In the latter part of that season, controversy surrounded Shearer when he kicked Neil Lennon in the head at Leicester City during a Premiership match. FA Chief Executive Graham Kelly later claimed in his autobiography that Shearer threatened to walk out on the World Cup squad if he was punished by The Football Association. Shearer denied this - and also claimed the incident with Lennon was entirely accidental - and he was not punished. That summer he was named as England captain as they went to France for the World Cup.

Shearer scored England's first goal of the tournament as England defeated Tunisia 2-0. He did not score again as England got through the group to face Argentina - like Scotland and Germany, another grudge team - in the second round.

Shearer scored a penalty to make it 1-1 after his teenage strike partner Michael Owen was fouled; then with the game at 2-2 (and England a man short after David Beckham's infamous sending-off), Sol Campbell thought he'd got a late winning goal for England only for the referee to rule it out for a foul by Shearer on the Argentine goalkeeper. The game went to penalties. Shearer scored again, but colleagues Paul Ince and David Batty missed, and England were eliminated.

Hoddle later departed the England job and Shearer's former Newcastle boss, Kevin Keegan, took over, maintaining Shearer's role as captain as England set about their qualifying campaign for Template:Ec2, which had not started well under Hoddle. Newcastle, meanwhile, made the FA Cup final again - this time with Ruud Gullit as manager - and again they were defeated, by Manchester United, 2-0.

In September 1999, Shearer scored his first England hat-trick in a qualifier against Luxembourg but was at the centre of club controversy when Gullit dropped him for the Tyne-Wear derby against Newcastle's rivals Sunderland. Sunderland won the game and Gullit was soon replaced by Bobby Robson. More controversy came when Newcastle directors Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall were covertly recorded by a News Of The World journalist describing Shearer as a "Mary Poppins" figure.

England qualified for the European Championships thanks to a play-off victory over two legs against Scotland. By now, Shearer was approaching his thirtieth birthday and he announced before the tournament that he intended to retire from international football as soon as England's involvement in the competition was over.

Shearer did not score in England's opening 3-2 defeat against Portugal but did so as England defeated Germany 1-0 in Charleroi, giving themselves a chance of qualifying for the last four provided they beat Romania in the final group match. Shearer scored a penalty as England went in at half-time 2-1 up, but Romania ultimately won 3-2. England's tournament, and Shearer's international career, was over. From his 63 caps, he scored 30 goals, level with Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney. He remains joint fifth in the England scorers all-time list.

Later years at Newcastle (2000-2006)

Since his international retirement, Shearer resisted calls from both the England coaching staff and the media for his return to the side. He insisted that the rest of his career would be concentrated on club football.

In 2002, Shearer and Newcastle enjoyed a return to the UEFA Champions League. Newcastle lost their first three matches in the first group stage, but then won the remaining three and managed to qualify to the next group stage, where they were finally eliminated.

After this, Newcastle would have one more chance to enter the Champions League proper in 2003, but were eliminated on penalties by Partizan Belgrade, with Shearer missing his penalty. After this defeat, Shearer continued to score regularly for Newcastle, but the club did not win a trophy during his time there, with their last chance of silverware under Shearer's captaincy disappearing as the team got eliminated from the FA Cup in his last season playing professional football, losing 1-0 away to Premiership champions Chelsea on March 22, 2006.

He was appointed an OBE for services to Association Football in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2001, an honour to go with the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne that was bestowed upon him in March. He was also awarded the Barclaycard Merit Award in 2002 for reaching the landmark of scoring 200 Premiership goals. Shearer had hit his 200th Premiership goal against Charlton at St. James' Park on 20 April 2002.

Shearer announced that he would retire at the end of the 2004-05 season, however he later relented on this decision under the influence of then Newcastle manager Graeme Souness and decided to continue playing for another season in a player-coach role. During this time, he equalled Jackie Milburn's 49-year-old record of 200 goals for Newcastle United in the FA Cup game against Mansfield Town on 7 January 2006 and then broke the record when he netted his 201st strike in a home Premiership fixture against Portsmouth on 4 February 2006 although some media sources have pointed out that, including matches played during the Second World War, Milburn scored 238 goals for the club. Discounting those games and goals, though, Shearer beat the record in five fewer games than that of Milburn.

On April 17, 2006, with three games remaining in his final Premiership season as a player, Shearer suffered a tear to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee after a collision with Julio Arca during the 4 - 1 win over Sunderland. It was later confirmed on April 20 that the injury would cause Shearer to miss the final three games of the season, effectively ending his career prematurely. Shearer's final, 206th, goal for Newcastle came in the same match that he suffered the injury. This goal happened to be a penalty against Newcastle's arch rivals Sunderland, laying to rest his old demon of November 2000 when his last penalty against Sunderland was saved by Thomas Sorensen. On April 22 Shearer confirmed his retirement as a player.[1]

On May 11, 2006, Newcastle United played against Celtic at St. James' Park in Alan Shearer's testimonial game. The game sold out in just a few days of the tickets going on sale. Guest players included Steve Watson, Gary Speed, Robert Lee and Les Ferdinand. Shearer could not play in the testimonial because of injury, but he was able to initiate the kick off and also score a penalty to win the game for Newcastle 3-2. The proceeds from the game all went to North East charities.

The future

There has been much speculation about Alan Shearer's future in the game, with many followers expecting to see him in a management/coaching role at Newcastle, although he has stated he will be taking some time off for himself over the next year or two. Alan has expressed his desire to become a manager, and is currently gaining the required qualifications, but wants to "enjoy life" first.

He is currently working on his UEFA coaching qualifications, which are required to manage a team in European competitions. He occasionally works as a pundit for the BBC, ready for his expected career in the media when he returns from his break. After finishing the 2005-06 season as the Caretaker Assistant Manager of Newcastle United, Newcastle Chairman Freddy Shepherd announced Shearer would be taking up the role of the clubs "Sporting Ambassador" for the 2006-07 season [2]:

"Alan's official title will be Sporting Ambassador for Newcastle United, and it is exactly what it says on the tin and what he will be doing worldwide."

Shepherd also said "Alan Shearer is and always will be remembered as a true great. He is one of the finest English players to have ever graced the football pitch."

Shearer declined to work on England's backroom staff so that he could honour his contract with BBC's Match of The Day ^[1].

Honours

FA Premier League: 1994/95, Runner up 1993/94, 1996/97
FA Cup Runner up: 1998, 1999
Intertoto Cup Runner up: 2001
In the awards to mark 10 seasons of the FA Premier League, Alan Shearer was named as: Overall Player of the Decade, Domestic Player of the Decade, Outstanding Contribution to the FA Premier League and Top Goalscorer.
In recognition of Shearer's contribution to both English domestic and national football he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
Most European Goals for Newcastle United: 30
Most Overall Goals Scored for Newcastle United: 206
Top Scorer for club: 1994/95, 1995/96, 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06
Listed on the FIFA 100 list of "greatest living footballers".

Preceded by Chris Waddle	Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Jürgen Klinsmann
Preceded by Eric Cantona	PFA Players' Player of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Les Ferdinand
Preceded by Les Ferdinand	PFA Players' Player of the Year 1997	Succeeded by Dennis Bergkamp
Preceded by Andy Cole	Premier League top scorer 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97	Succeeded by Chris Sutton Dion Dublin Michael Owen
Preceded by Tony Adams/David Platt	England football captain 1996-2000	Succeeded by David Beckham

References

^ "Shearer rejects role with England". BBC News. Retrieved September 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

[1] "Shearer rejects role with England". BBC News. Retrieved September 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

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