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I’ve always been interested in history, and that interest stems from learning about the club’s history. As a kid, I was engrossed in John Gibson’s book ‘The Newcastle United story’, as well as the video of the club’s history (released in about 1990).
It was a bad time for the club, and I learnt about United’s glory days with a sense of awe, pride and jealousy. If only we were a great team! If only we had players to match the likes of Milburn, Gallacher and Macdonald.
Within a year or two, Keegan came, and things were on the up. But despite the great times and the fantastic players, we still lacked a ‘legend’, a player that had parity with those Newcastle greats. In the summer of 1996, that changed.
I remember the day Shearer signed. I was 17, and on school holidays. I’d woken up, unaware of the news, gone downstairs and checked ceefax (remember that?) for the latest football news. There had been much paper talk about Shearer being on the brink of signing for Man U, so when I saw the headline: SHEARER SIGNS FOR UNITED, my first reaction was that the inevitable had happened and he’d gone to Old Trafford. I looked at the article out of interest, and had to read three or four times before I took it in: Alan Shearer has joined Newcastle United for a world record fee of £15m. Within seconds, I was leaping around the room. My Mam (also a big Newcastle fan) had gone to North Shields, and almost crashed the car on the Coast Road when she heard the news!
The reaction to his signing was euphoric; he was one of the world’s most prolific strikers and a Geordie to boot. But neither of these factors were enough to make him a Newcastle United legend.
The fact that he’s a lifelong Newcastle fan of course gave him a huge helping hand. Shearer himself has said that he seriously considered his future at the club, during Ruud Gullit’s spell in charge. Had it been any other club, than the one he supported, it is almost certain he would have left.
On the pitch, he led by example, always giving his best, with team mates who weren’t, sharp getting an earful! Like most centre forwards, his goals were more bread and butter, but he was more than capable of scoring sublime goals as well (that volley at home to Everton sticks in the mind).
Portsmouth at home on February 4th 2006, saw Shearer eclipse Jackie Milburn to become the club’s all time leading goalscorer. Then, in his final game, away to the Mackems he captained a team that fought back from being 1-0 down, to annihilating Sunderland 4-1, bagging a penalty for himself. Of course, Big Al got injured and missed the last few games of the season, thus bringing a slightly premature end to his career. Somewhat bizarrely, many Mackems took pleasure in this, despite their team getting thumped. But to comfortably beat your deadliest rivals in your final game, and to get on the scoresheet yourself, surely gave Shearer the last laugh. As the man himself said after the final whistle: “It’s a great way to go out.”
Having wondered as a kid, what it must have been like to see the legendary number 9s of Gallacher, Milburn and Macdonald, I feel privileged to have witnessed Alan Shearer’s time at Newcastle first hand. For he has joined those names at the very top of a long and great list of great Newcastle strikers. For the past fifty years, Jackie Milburn stood out above all other Gallowgate legends, but Alan Shearer will go down in history as being Milburn’s equal.
