Alan Shearer - The Centre-Forward

He amassed a total of 283 leage goals with 23 coming before the 1992/93 introduction of the Premier League. 

 

With 30 goals in 63 games for England he will be remebered for his outstanding contribution at Euro 96 where his 5 goals saw him grab the Golden Boot with his brace against Holland the stand out performance.  

 

Where it all began

 

Shearer, born in Gosforth Newcastle, made his name at the other end of the country after spending his summers at Southampton after being spotted by Saints scout Jack Hixon while playing for Wallsend Boys Club. 

 

Shearer opted to make a permanent move to Southampton in April 1986 turning down offers from West Brom, Man City and Newcastle United. 

 

Southampton 1986-1992

 

At only 17 years of age after two years in the youth team Shearer announced himself to the footballing world in his full debut firing a hat-trick against Arsenal in a 4-2 win at the Dell for the Saints. 

 

The next two years were frustrating for Shearer after his explosive start and goals were not the major part of his game as his role for Saints was to graft and hold the ball up for Matt Le Tissier with only 7 goals being scored in three seasons.  

 

1991/92 was to be the key year for Shearer who fired 13 goals in 41 appearances after impressing for the England U21's bagging seven goals in four games in the Toulon Tournament. 

 

After his excellent season and with rumours rife of a summer transfer away from the Dell it came as no great surprise when Shearer moved to the North West for £3.3million under the Jack Walker revolution. 

 

Blackburn Years – Title and SAS

 

The Blackburn years were amongst the best in Shearers career with 112 goals in 138 appearances during his four year spell at the club. 

 

An excellent 16 goals in 21 games in the inaugral season of the Premier League kicked off what was then to be three sensational goalscoring seasons.

 

Shearer remains the only player to fire over 30 league goals in three consecutive seasons with 31,34 (a record) & 31 goals. 

 

His 34 league goals in 1994 and his sensational partnership with Chris Sutton saw Blackburn snatch the title from Manchester United on the last day of the season. 

 

SAS as they became known Shearer and Sutton scored 49 goals between them to take the title and Shearer was named PFA Player of the Year for his stunning season. 

 

Back to the Toon

  

Many feel that Shearer's decision to snub Manchester United to return to hometown club Newcastle under Kevin Keegan was a foolish one in terms of him winning more league titles and playing regular Champions League football, but nontheless the striker would become a Newcastle Legend in his ten year stay in the North East. 

 

His first season saw him finish as the leagues top scorer for the third consecutive year with 25 goals in 31 games and take home the PFA Player of the Year award once again. 

 

The highlight of the season was his hatrick in the last 15 minutes of a match against Leicester City with his side trailing 3-1 and going on to win 4-3. 

 

Injury affected the next seven years with three seasons seeing the striker find the net on less than ten occasions but he finished with over 20 in three seasons to increase his Premier League and Newcastle tallies. 

 

The striker hit 148 league goals for Newcastle in ten years to take his Premier League tally to 260 goals a record that remains to this day. 

 

Jackie Milburn's record for Newcastle was also beaten by Shearer who finished his career with 206 Newcastle goals. 

 

International highs and lows

 

Shearer holds the record for most goals scored for the U21's with 13 goals in 11 games which saw him promoted to the full squad in 1992. 

 

With just five goals in 23 games and no goals in the 12 games prior to Euro 96 there was talk that the striker may be replaced ahead of the competition. 

 

Euro 96 was Shearer's defining England moment with five goals seeing him take the golden boot as the Shearer and Sheringham pairing lead England to the semi-finals only to lose out on penalties to Germany. 

 

Shearer enjoyed a productive qualifying campaign firing 5 goals to lead England to World Cup 1998 and captained his side throughout the qualifying and the tournament itself. 

 

Alongside new strike partner Michael Owen he continued to prove his International worth however his side suffered penalty heartache again this time at the hands of Argentina. 

 

Shearer led his country 34 times and scored 30 goals in his 63 caps.