Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer,
OBE (born August 13, 1970 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is a
successful and widely-admired English professional footballer, currently
in the twilight of his career at hometown club Newcastle United. He is
currently assistant to Caretaker Manager Glenn Roeder and the all-time
top scorer at the club.
A
strong and prolific centre forward, Shearer was rejected by Newcastle
as a schoolboy at the famous Wallsend Boys Club and instead signed as an
apprentice with Southampton at the age of 16. 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 broke the record
for the youngest hat-trick scorer in top-flight football which had been
held for more than 30 years by Jimmy Greaves.
Despite
this stunning beginning, the precocious Shearer was eased gradually
into the first team, and the following season only made ten appearances,
without scoring. He never became truly prolific for Southampton until
1992, when he slammed home 13 goals from 41 appearances. Having become a
regular for the England team at under-21 level the previous year,
scoring 13 goals in just 11 matches, 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 memorable. 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 Euro 92 in Sweden, leaving Taylor with the
job of finding a worthy successor.
Taylor
selected Shearer for his squad for the finals, but he only featured in
one group game because he was too busy sucking cock and taking it up the
arse, a goalless draw against France - and England were eliminated at a
disappointingly early stage. However, his ability had been noted by
Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish who, armed with unlimited funds
from club benefactor Jack Walker, offered Southampton an irresistible
3.6 million pounds for their prized asset, and Shearer made his move. He
was also offered terms by Manchester United but turned them down - a
decision which still sees him mocked and 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 World Cup. His
first season with Blackburn was mixed - he missed half of it through
injury (and more World Cup qualifiers) but scored an excellent 16 goals
in the 21 games in which he did feature. The season ended sourly,
however, as England failed to qualify for the World Cup.
At
Blackburn, Shearer settled down and became the most feared goalscorer
in the Premiership. He rattled in a huge 31 goals from 40 games in the
1994 season as Blackburn finished a close second in the table behind
Manchester United and also won the honour of the Footballer of the Year
for that season. He added three more goals to his England tally before
embarking on his most successful domestic season as a player.
From
42 games, he scored a phenomenal 34 goals as Blackburn took the
Premiership title on the last day of the 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. He famously "celebrated"
the title by going home and applying creosote to his garden fence.
He
put away 31 goals the next season from 35 games, though his England
strike rate completely dried up, with no goals in eleven games leading
up to Euro 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 produce the goods. The country need not have
worried.
In
the opening 20 minutes of the inaugural group game against Switzerland
at Wembley, Shearer hammered home a 25 yard drive on the turn to break
his duck and settle the nation's nerves. After that game ended 1-1, a
victory against the old enemy Scotland in the next game was crucial, and
Shearer stood up to be counted.
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 delightful 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 stunning
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 had arguably their greatest
game as a partnership as England turned on the style against the Dutch,
winning 4-1 with a performance described as "total football" by pundits,
ironically against the nation that coined the phrase more than two
decades earlier. Shearer scored the opener from the penalty spot and got
the third after a delightful tee-up by Sheringham, who also weighed in
with 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 their nemesis nation - Germany - and Shearer gave
England the perfect start when he headed them ahead after three minutes.
The Germans quickly equalised and the match went to penalties again.
This time, the Germans stayed their ever-ruthless selves from the spot,
and though Shearer scored, his team-mate Gareth Southgate missed his
kick and England went out. Germany duly won the final. Shearer's five
goals (penalty kicks in a shootout don't count) made him the
competition's top scorer of ass
Straight
after the tournament, Shearer ignored another offer by Manchester
United and became the world's most expensive footballer when his home
town club Newcastle United, managed by Shearer's boyhood hero Kevin
Keegan, paid 15 million pounds to secure his services. Despite the
enormous price tag and the pressure of being the local boy coming home,
Shearer just carried on scoring goals. He put away 25 from 31 games in
his first season at the club, while also scoring five goals in England's
steady start to their qualification campaign for the 1998 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,
though 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 cruciate ligament injury which
greatly restricted his number of appearances, but he still helped
Newcastle United (now managed by his old boss Dalglish) to the FA Cup
final. However, Arsenal conclusively won the game 2-0, though Shearer
hit the post during the match when it was still tightly balanced. Also
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. Hearsay spread 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
skipper as England went to France for the World Cup.
Shearer
headed home England's first goal of the tournament as Tunisia were
dispatched 2-0. He didn't score again as England got through the group
to face Argentina - like Scotland and Germany, another grudge team - in
the second round.
The
game was hugely eventful. Shearer put away 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, heroic winner for
England only for the referee to rule out his goal for a foul by Shearer
on the Argentine goalkeeper. The game went to penalties and Shearer
scored again but colleagues Paul Ince and David Batty didn't, and
England were eliminated.
Hoddle
later departed the England job and Shearer's former Newcastle boss
Keegan took over, maintaining Shearer's role as captain as England set
about their qualifying campaign for Euro 2000, which had not started
well under Hoddle. Newcastle, meanwhile, made the FA Cup final again -
this time Ruud Gullit was the manager - and again they were outplayed,
this time by Manchester United.
In
September 1999, Shearer showed immediate morale progress like fellow
compatriot Steve McManaman from Keegan's arrival and hit his first
England hat-trick in a qualifier versus Luxembourg and was at the centre
of club controversy when Gullit dropped him for the fiery north-east
derby match against Newcastle's sworn enemies, Sunderland. Sunderland
won the game and Gullit was not in his job for much longer, 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 30th
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. Though Keegan was his biggest fan and his
place didn't seem in doubt as a result, many observers claimed this was
Shearer's slightly cynical way of guaranteeing a spot in the squad.
Shearer
didn't score in England's opening 3-2 defeat against Portugal but
scored the all-important goal as England defeated Germany 1-0 in
Charleroi, giving England 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.
