English Premier League Legends: Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer is considered by many to be one of the greatest English strikers ever to set foot on a football pitch. Shearer, who is now retired from international football, still holds the record for scoring the highest goals in the English Premier League.
Shearer was born in the city of Newcastle in England and his first football club as a professional footballer was Southampton. He made his debut for the club in 1988 and scored a hat-trick in the process. After spending four years with Southampton and making a total of 158 appearances for them, Shearer secured a transfer move to the Blackburn Rovers.
Shearer cemented his place as a top striker in English football soon after, as his 34 goals during the 1994-1995 season helped Blackburn win the English Premier League trophy. Shearer became renowned for his strength on the ball and his ability to score goals.
Shearer also got called up to the England national team during his time with Blackburn. In 1992, Shearer earned his first England cap as he featured for the three lions in a game against their European neighbours France.
Alan Shearer spent a total of four seasons at Blackburn. In his debut season for them, he scored 22 goals in twenty six appearances. In his second season with them, he scored 34 goals in forty eight appearances. In this third season with Blackburn, Shearer scored 37 goals in 49 appearances. He maintained his goal scoring prowess through his last season at the club as well as scoring 37 goals in forty eight matches for Blackburn.
In 1996, Newcastle outbid Manchester United in an attempt to sign the English striker. The final transfer fee which was decided between Blackburn and Newcastle amounted to around 15 million pounds. Shearer was quite pleased that he got to return to his home town in Newcastle. As a result, Blackburn’s management were happy that they cashed in on their prized goal scoring asset.
In Shearer’s first season for Newcastle United, the club manager Kevin Keegan left Newcastle midway through the league campaign. As a consequence, Newcastle United finished runners up in the EPL. However, Shearer did not disappoint. Despite missing seven games during the season through injury, Shearer still managed to finish at the top of the English Premier League’s goal scoring charts and also won the PFA’s Player of the Year Award for the 1996/1997 season.
In the 1997/1998 season, Shearer suffered a serious ankle ligament injury. Due to this injury, Shearer only scored two goals in seventeen games for Newcastle in that season. Newcastle also suffered in their league performances and finished 13th in the English Premier League. In the 1998/1999 season, Ruud Gullit became Newcastle’s manager but the club again failed to impress as they ended up as the 13th placed team in the league for the second season running.
In the 1999/2000 season, Shearer notched up 23 league goals in 37 league appearances for the Tyneside club. During the same season, Ruud Gullit parted ways with Newcastle and he was replaced by Sir Bobby Robson. In the 2000/2001 season, Shearer only scored five league goals in 19 league games as his season was blighted by injury troubles.
In 2001/2002 season, Alan Shearer scored 23 goals in 37 games as Newcastle finished fourth. In the 2002/2003 season, Shearer again broke the 20 goal barrier for the season, as he scored 25 goals for Newcastle in all competitions.
In his next three seasons, Shearer battled with re-occurring knee injury continuously. He scored 28, 19 and 14 goals respectively in the last three seasons for Newcastle. After a medial-collateral ligament injury to his knee, Shearer retired from football altogether. Throughout the history of the Premier League, Alan Shearer has always been seen as a stereotypical English centre forward who can not only score with his head but also with his feet.
English league’s physical approach to football favoured Shearer who literally bullied opposing defenders. Ever since his retirement, Shearer has worked as a television football pundit for British television channels. He also tried his luck at management after he took up the manager’s job at Newcastle for a short period of time.
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