Alan Shearer- England’s Greatest Number 9? | Eisha Acton

Like many other Newcastle United fans, Alan Shearer plays a huge part in my love for the club. This love affair started in 1995 and Shearer’s role in that defining era at the club has a special place in my Magpie heart. I wanted to write an article dedicated to his journey as a footballer and talk about why he’s widely regarded as England’s greatest number 9. I’m going to outline his career timeline; the good, the bad, the ugly! Before I start - make sure you follow me for more football content, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this eventful trip down memory lane…

So where did it all start for Alan? Well, he’s a Geordie through and through! In 1970 he was born in Gosforth, which is in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. His working-class parents were Anne and Alan Shearer Senior- who was a sheet-metal worker. Alan remained in his hometown all throughout his childhood- he attended Gosforth Central Middle School and Gosforth High School. He was always encouraged by his Dad to play football in his youth and played it all throughout school. Interestingly, in his book called “my illustrated career” Alan spoke about playing football on the streets in Gosforth in his younger years and said he originally played in midfield because “it meant [he] could get more involved in the games.” Alan captained his school team and he lead them to win a seven-a-side tournament which was actually played at St James’ Park! This win encouraged him to take his talent and interest a little more seriously and so teenage Alan joined the amateur Wallsend Boys Club. The club have quite the reputation for nuturing and producing footballing talent- such as Steve Bruce, Michael Carrick, Peter Beardsley, Steve Watson, Lee Clark, Steven Taylor and Fraser Forster just to name a few! It was actually at Wallsend where teenage Alan was scouted by Jack Hixon who worked for Southampton FC. That was a pretty defining moment at the start of Alan’s journey because he then went on to train with the club’s youth team during his summers. In his 2007 autobiography he referred to that time as “the making of me”.

It was 1986 when Alan joined the Southampton youth team and just two years later he was promoted to the first team- he made his debut in a game against Chelsea. Two weeks later in his full debut for Southampton he actually made history… Southampton won 4–2 at The Dell against Arsenal thanks to Alan’s hattrick! At 17 years and 240 days old, he became the youngest player in top division football to bag a hattrick. Let’s talk a little more about this dream debut…

Danny Wallace was ruled out of Southampton’s game against Arsenal on match day. As part of ‘The Moments That Made Me’ series with Dreamteam, Alan recalled that defining day of his career and said: “Chris Nicholl, came to me and said you’re in. There was no time for any of my family to come down from Newcastle, and there was no time for me to get nervous.” he then said “I had my pre-match meal which, I’ll always remember, was fillet steak. I’d never had fillet steak before in my life. The only reason why I asked for it was because one of the big hitters, Jimmy Case, had said he wanted it!”. Imagine that being the first time you had steak- unforgettable! That evening Alan then went on to break Jimmy Greaves’ youngest hattrick record. A huge moment for young Al and funnily enough, at the time he was still a £35 a week apprentice at the club so he was called in the very next day to clean the kits and boots! Chris Nicholl, his manager at the time, said he found the apprentice chores a good way to keep the young lads grounded- it included cleaning the toilets, the changing room and the boots. Looking back on that debut, Alan told SunSport that his Mum and dad have still got the video cassette of the match and the matchball in their house. Alan also said he’s also still got all the newspaper cuttings because he was up early the next morning reading every single report before he went in to clean all the boots and the kit!

Just five days after his hat-trick, Alan signed his first professional contract. Although the debut couldn’t have gone better, he didn’t actually make regular first team starts until the following season of 1988/89. Alan spent 5 seasons with the Saints and was at the centre of their attack, his strength allowed him to create opportunities for teammates whilst building on that modest goal tally as their lone striker. He played between wide men, Rod Wallace and Matt Le Tissier. In 1991 the Southampton fans voted Alan their Player of the Year and recently Alan said in an interview “I owe Southampton because they launched my career. They gave me the start.” the Saints obviously have a special place in his heart so how did Alan’s Southampton departure come about?

Just to further establish the buzz Alan has created for himself at just 20 years old let’s talk about 1991. So, it was a pretty pivotal year for Alan, he married his wife Lainya and he was earning an exciting reputation in his international performances. He’d been playing for the England under-21 squad for a year already under Dave Sexton. During his time with the squad, he scored 13 times in 11 games, a record return which, unbelievably, is still unbeaten. The summer of 91 was a particularly inspiring one for Alan as he was a member of the England national under-21’s in the Toulon Tournament, France. He scored seven goals in four games there! Naturally, that 1991/92 season meant Alan was was talk of the town and national interest in him grew by the day as he went on to earn his senior squad call up by England manager Graham Taylor in Feb 1992. He managed to score on debut and England beat France 2–0 in an international friendly.

So come summer of 1992, Alan was embarking on a promising international career… after five seasons with Southampton it’s no surprise he was in demand and rightfully so! Ian Branfoot was the Saints manager at the time and he widely accepted that a sale was inevitable, he claimed that “whatever happens, we are in the driving seat” so he was understandably “the most popular manager in English football”. Leading up to the summer of 92' Alan had been linked in the press with several clubs. The most notable being Manchester United and Liverpool but nothing materialised. It was the first season of the newly formed Premier League, after a number of phone calls from clubs “trying to bargain with players they don’t want plus cash”, Ian Branfoot agreed on a deal to sell Alan to Blackburn Rovers. The fee was £3.6 million, and the deal involved David Speedie making his way to Southampton. By the way, despite Ian Branfoot settling on the final deal, Southampton actually failed to include a “sell-on clause” in the contract! Which of course in this day and age is unheard for a player of that potential. In later years I’m sure they came to regret that, given what was in store for Alan.

After 43 goals in 158 appearances for Southampton Alan was about to make his mark in the Premier League as one of the most prolific goalscorers! His journey gets even more exciting from here…

Alan hit the ground running at Blackburn, he told James Robinson at DreamTeam: “I’d got a call off Southampton to say Blackburn were interested in buying me, and I was more than willing to speak to the great Kenny Dalglish. I went up and I signed, and then we went to Crystal Palace away, where I scored two decent goals from outside the area”. His first home game that followed was against Arsenal- Alan once again, thrived on debut Vs. The Gunners. Thanks to Alan’s 84th minute winning goal, Blackburn Rovers got their Premier League season off to a good start. Alan recalls “I’d peeled off the defenders and nudged Jimmy Carter to the touchline before heading straight for goal, it took a little deflection and then I just saw it going over David Seaman’s head and into the back of the net. The crowd went mad. As any forward will tell you, if you get off to a good start then it doesn’t half help”.

In Alan’s first season at Blackburn he scored 16 goals in the 21 games he featured- he was actually out for half the seaon with an injury he endured in Dec 1992 in a match against Leeds United. Back fully fit for the 93/94 premier league season, there was no stopping him! 31 goals made Alan ‘Player Of The Season’ and Blackburn finished runners up of the Premier League.

On the international front, Alan scored his second goal for England against Turkey in November 1994 in a 4–0 win. However, from Jan to May Alan was out due to injury and England failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals, due to a run of poor form.

Moving on to the 1994/95 premier league season- well, it was a huge one for Blackburn! Chris Sutton arrived from Norwich City on a £5million deal and he and Alan formed an explosive attacking partnership, it resulted in a nickname some of you will be familar with- “SAS”! By the way, this was long before Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suárez borrowed the acronym.

Chris Sutton ended the season with 15 goals and 17 assists; and Alan- 34 goals and 16 assists. Blackburn were evidently thriving in their glory days because of Alan’s impact performances and Chris Sutton’s arrival launched them that little bit further to clench the club’s first domestic title since 1914. As far strike partnerships go, they really did create something special in the mid-nineties, I think out of a handful of powerful duos we saw in that era across all clubs, be it…. Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke at Man United, I think what makes the SAS partnership all the more memorable, and perhaps underrated, was the huge impact that it had on Blackburn’s journey as the champions that season. They remained on top form all throughout that season and in terms of playing style- there wasn’t much that set Alan and Chris part. They both had pace, brilliant aerial game and unmatched precision inside and outside the 18yard box. Chris Sutton’s clinical nature helped him in his hard graft around the pitch and Big Al’s work ethic and energy going foward was a force to be reckoned with.

So, let’s just put into perspective the magnitude of Alan’s individual performance that season- by scoring 34 goals he equaled Andy Cole’s record set the previous year for Newcastle United. This record is still unbeaten- (Ronaldo and Suarez got 31 in their season-long rampages). Once Alan was asked by four four two what his goal scoring secret is, he replied: “Get your head and knee over it to keep the shot down, and strike the ball with your laces to generate power,”. Do you remember what Alan said when asked by press how he was going to celebrate that title win? He said the next day he was going to creosote his fence hahaha one of Alan’s self-confessed hobbies.

So, what followed that wonder season for Blackburn Rovers? Well, despite Alan ending the ‘95/96 season as the Premier League top scorer, Blackburn failed to retain their title and finished seventh in the league.

The summer of 1996 is a standout chapter for Alan. As we discussed, he had made his England debut in 1992 yet he was yet to really make his mark on the international platform. Despite having not scored an England goal in two years, Terry Venables kept faith in Alan and included him in the Euro ‘96 squad. It consisted of the likes of David Seaman, Les Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Gareth Southgate, Teddy Sheringham, Paul Ince, to name a few. I came across a lovely little stats table for England’s Euro’s campaign and I think it really illustrates how Alan helped England progress to the semi-finals at Wembley. So, in the first game against Switzerland Alan scored 22mins in, then against Scotland he scored once again then, Alan and Teddy Sheringham had a cracker of a game against the Netherlands where they both scored twice in a 4–1 win. The quarter finals against Spain ended as a goalless draw so moved on to a nervy penalty shootout- Alan scored the first one, followed by Platt, Pearce and Gascoigne sending England into the semi-final against Germany to be played infront of their own fans at Wembley!

Sadly in the end it wasn’t coming home, this is where the England squad came sooo close to glory and lost on penalties to Germany. When I write the Gareth Southgate article I’ll go into more detail on how that all panned out! So, no Euro ‘96 final for England but Alan’s individual international campaign was outstanding. He was instrumental in the journey to the semi-final, he left the tournament with the Golden Boot. It was a summer that defined football in the nineties and Alan played a HUGE role in it.

Let’s set the scene, summer of ‘96 is over, across four impressive seasons at Balckburn Rovers, Alan scored 112 league goals in 138 games, he led Blackburn to secure their first Premier League title, he was awarded two premier league golden boots, the PFA Players Player of the year AND the ‘Premier League Player Of The Year’. The next stage of Alan’s journey is particularly special to me so I think I’ll enjoy talking about it the most haha let’s get to it.

Understandably, Alan was hot property after the ‘96 summer… Manchester United again were keen to sign Alan. Interestingly, former Manchester United chairman, Martin Edwards, spoke about it fairly recently on Beyond the Page on NBC Sports, and he summarises what happened pretty well. He said: “Shearer had been to Alex Ferguson’s house, spoke to him and assured him he wanted to come. The problem, I think, was with the chairman of Blackburn, Jack Walker, who was not a great fan of Manchester United, (we were) local rivals, both Lancashire clubs. He did not want Alan Shearer to come to Manchester United. Shearer was quite close to Walker, who was like a father figure to him, and I don’t think Alan wanted to upset him by coming to United. And I’m not sure Jack would have let him come anyway, whereas he was happy for Alan to go to Newcastle, I don’t think that was a threat to him”.

So, Alan signed with Manchester United’s title rivals... his boyhood club: Newcastle United! The side was managed by his hero Kevin Keegan at the time and Alan was bought for a WORLD transfer record-breaking £15million pounds (that’s equivalent to around £28 million today). Alan’s time at The Toon means a lot to me, just like many other Newcastle fans I’m sure! I was old enough to understand how it was a defining era for the club and I idolised Alan for his involvement in that.

I’ve always lived down South but because my Dad introduced me to Newcastle from a young age I was able to share that magpie passion. I actually shared my first Newcastle match experience recently on Newcastle Fans TV: I was five years old, my Dad and Uncle took me up to Newcastle for the weekend for the Newcastle v Man City game. It was Sat 16th September ’95 to be precise- and we won 3–1! Les Ferdinand scored twice and I’ve been in love with David Ginola ever since haha. Nothing can prepare you for the magic of St James’s Park. To be part of the most passionate fan-base in the football world really is a special feeling. As young as I was at the time, I recognised the significance of Alan signing in July ‘96 and what it really meant to the club. I guess you could say it was a bitter-sweet summer for Newcastle. Under King Kev’s management, Newcastle had transformed from Division One relegation candidates to Premier League title contenders in just four years! Despite taking English football by storm with their explosive ‘95 campaign, it ended in heartbreak. The Entertainers got PAINFULLY close to clenching the league title just to have Man United come out on top with a four point difference.

By the way, have any of you guys read Kevin Keegan’s book? It’s called ‘My Life In Football’? I don’t mean to go off on a tangent, but it’s a brilliant read! The way King Kev’s journey is told, in his own way, always wearing his heart on his sleeve, re-living all the great memories; it’s definitely a must-read. He’s a true icon and I’m not just saying that as a Newcastle fan. Obviously I’ll be doing a King Kev article soon, in the meantime here are some passages that have relevance to Alan’s signing and how it went about:

“The only reason Alan ever came here is because he wanted to. I went to a little mining house in Pontefract to meet him and his advisor called Tony Stevens.
“He said he is desperately keen to come but he has other options. I said Newcastle must have big pull and he said yeah it does, otherwise I wouldn’t be speaking to you. And I wanted to hit him, but he was probably right in the end. Shearer walked in and said I don’t want any involvement on the financial side of the deal. I just want to know one thing. Can I have the number nine shirt? I said you’ve got it and he said I will see you on Monday. Honestly, the deal was done in no time at all. He wanted to come here, we wanted him to come in.”
So that’s the long and short of it! At just 25years old Alan’s deal even broke Ronaldo’s world transfer record and as the returning hero at St James’s Park, he was welcomed by thousands of bouyant fans for their first home game of the ‘96/97 season. In an interview with James Robinson for Dream11 in Feb this year he recalled that memory:

“it came to my home debut against Wimbledon. I remember the feeling of walking out, it was as though everything I’d ever wanted had come true. I’d stood on those terraces as a kid and now I’m walking out onto the pitch at St James’ Park with the number nine shirt on my back as the world’s most expensive player. It was my club. I just felt extremely proud.”

Of course, Alan scored on debut he said the roof came off. I can’t even imagine the atmosphere at St James’s park in that moment, the jubilation and passion for their new number 9, their local hero showing the fans what he’s come to do for the club. In that same interview, Alan followed on by saying: “The ball was in the back of the net, and then there was that feeling of ‘Wow, this is what I’ve waited for all these years’.

Les Ferdinand was Newcastle’s №9 before Alan’s arrival, and he had inherited the shirt from Andy Cole. After just one season, Les handed it over to Alan but he told Planet Football in an interview that he “never held a grudge” towards Alan for that. Kevin Keegan had anticipated the Alan Shearer/Les Ferdinand partnership could work for the Magpies and what a dream duo they were. They scored 49 goals between them in 1996–97, which is pretty remarkable considering Alan missed three months of the season due to injury and Les Ferdinand missed two! Alan told Planet Football in an interview:
“We were similar, we both loved crosses coming into the box and with the wingers that we had, with Gillespie, Ginola and Peter Beardsley, it was a very attacking team. So to have the both of us who were very similar centre-forwards in the same team worked pretty well.”
Alan scored 25goals in 31 games so for the third consecutive season he finished as the Premier League top scorer. He also won another PFA Player of the Year award.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France was important for Alan for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was to be his only World Cup tournament and secondly, he was appointed to Captain the side by new England manager Glenn Hoddle. England’s successful qualification campaign was largely down to Alan’s consistent goal-scoring form- he scored five goals in total. In the group stages Alan scored England’s first goal of the tournament against Tunisia.

In the last 16, England faced Argentina; an eventful clash to say the least! Alan scored an equaliser in the first half, before things took a turn in the second half when England went down to ten men after David Beckham received a straight red for that controversial kick out at Diego Simeone. In the dying minutes of the game Sol Campbell scored what would have been the winning goal for England, but it was unfortunately disallowed because Alan had elbowed the goalkeeper Carlos Roa. Anyway, it went to penalties- Alan scored AGAIN but England were eliminated after David Batty’s shot was saved. That ended Alan’s first and last World Cup campaign, as disappointing as it ended, Alan’s consistent displays earned him a place in English football history and in interviews he always fondly recalls memories of being able to Captain that dynamic, exciting squad of ‘98.

By the time the Euro 2000 tournament came around Alan was approaching his 30th birthday and he announced he’ll be retiring from international football after the Euros. The Euro 2000 is often named by football writers as one of the greatest international tournaments ever, it was eventful and an exciting time for the competitiveness of European football. I guess Alan wanted to go out with a bang! He bagged a hattrick in the qualifier against Luxembourg. In the final group match he scored a penalty for England to take the lead against Romania but things didn’t end well for England. Under the management of Kevin Keegan, England’s Euro 2000 dreams’ ended as Romania snatched victory with a dramatic late penalty. It was Alan’s final contribution in an England shirt- he had scored thirty goals for England, and in his 63 caps, he wore the Captain’s armband 34 times. although I’m sure he would have wanted to quit international football on a high note, these overall stats are something to be commended.

Back to Alan’s time at Newcastle... he played a huge part in Newcastle’s journey in the nineties- first off, he managed 206 goals for the club! That surpassed all the iconic Geordie number 9’s he grew up idolising. Despite lack of silverware, during Alan’s time at the club:

1. He led them to a second place league finish in 1997
2. Newcastle qualified for the Champions League three times
3. Alan also helped them reach back-to-back FA Cup finals in 1998 and 1999

I could honestly sit here all day and talk about Alan’s heroics in black and white stripes and maybe I should do that- a separate article dedicated to Alan at Newcastle and the players of the nineties era!

I think the most staggering thing about Alan’s fruitful decade with Newcastle is his unmatched talent and how he was able to reach career heights that, quite frankly, will remain almost impossible to achieve by English talent in years to come. I saw a really interesting comparison article in The Chronicle that puts into perspective how Alan really was a cut above the rest:

• Alan scored 260 goals in his Premier League career, his closest rival was Andy Cole who netted 187 times and Thierry Henry with 175
• 58 of Alan’s goals were penalties- his penalty success rate was 84% by the way. He bagged 46 braces and 11 hat-tricks. Unsurprisingly, his record remains unbeaten in the premier league

In 2016 an Alan Shearer statue was erected outside St James Park to “properly recognise” his career. Alan works in sports broadcast nowadays as a TV pundit for the BBC. When I attended the recent FA Cup tie between NUFC and Oxford, Alan’s broadcast box was directly above the away stand haha it was quite a sight! We Magpies sang to him and showed him a lot of love.

Alan Shearer’s achievements in English football will be celebrated for years to come. I’ve honestly enjoyed every single minute of writing this article. I’m not only writing about sports history- I’m focusing on a childhood hero of mine. If you enjoyed reading be sure to share it and follow me for more.