[Archived] Alan Shearer's Testimonial

[Jan]

With 10,000 out of 27,000 fans being Celtic's

[Exiled_Rover]

Celtic fans are clearly muppets. Rent a crowd

[AllRoverAsia]

What a kind hearted lot you are to consider sitting with a bunch of Geordies and Haggis bashers. Personally I think Shearer should have gone straight into retirement after he left Rovers and not spend his twilight years in a backwater winning nothing but scoring the odd penalty. What a waste.

[SouthAussieRover]

Looking increasingly like the end:

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...le_Shearer.html

Shearer you're a bloody legend mate. Good luck in your non playing days.

[S15]

What a sad way for the Premierships' greatest ever centre forward to go out.

It's a horrible thing to say, but it could work in Rovers favour with Newcastle a serious european rival.

[Presty On Tour]

Looking increasingly like the end:

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...le_Shearer.html

Shearer you're a bloody legend mate. Good luck in your non playing days.

400932[/snapback]

he said he's having a few years off football, probably to improve his handicap and just relax.

he said he would like to have a go at management,maybe in a few years when s.a.f retires and hughes takes over at the manks, shearer could be in charge of rovers?

well it's possability

[Perth_Rover]

it seems it is definately over now, http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,...4-23209,00.html

[SAS]

what a damn shame for him

[Gav]

Thank God for that, he's retired, I couldn't take another week of this constant media cr@p about a bloody injury to a guy who's had a fantastic career and is one of the countries richest footballers as a result.

What about the players who don't have a pot to ###### in after finishing early through injury.

Pity he never won anything during his career........

[SouthAussieRover]

Having a bad day Gav?

The Newcastle fans are currently chanting Shearer,Shearer very loudly.

[RevidgeBlue]

Thank God for that, he's retired, I couldn't take another week of this constant media cr@p about a bloody injury to a guy who's had a fantastic career and is one of the countries richest footballers as a result.

What about the players who don't have a pot to ###### in after finishing early through injury.

Pity he never won anything during his career........

401193[/snapback]

An extremely churlish way to remember Blackburn Rovers' greatest ever player Gav.

Sure he won't need to dash off to the pawnbrokers to trade in his Rolex anytime soon but neither did he deserve to have his final few games cut short through injury.

The amount of media attention he's getting is richly deserved as he's arguably the greatest ever English striker let alone our greatest ever player.

The only thing brassing me off this week is the countless people ringing in radio stations berating him for lack of ambition in joining Newcastle and not ManUre but..............

1) In 1996 Newcastle under Keegan were the up and coming team.

2) More to the point it has been recorded many times Uncle Jack wouldn't let Shearer sign for United even though he wanted to.

Thanks for everything big Al.

[philipl]

If he had just been another in the long list of goal scoring centre forwards in the non-achieving Newcastle club he would have been a footnote in history.

But he was the greatest forward in English football in my lifetime and he achieved that greatness wearing the blue and white of Blackburn Rovers.

For that, I will always be grateful to Jack Walker, Kenny Dlaglish and the incomparable player himself, Alan Shearer.

[colin]

An extremely churlish way to remember Blackburn Rovers' greatest ever player

401301[/snapback]

I don't like Alan Shearer either.

I hated the bloke when he jumped ship. I've seen nothing since that endears me to him.

Enjoy your millions Alan, enjoy your testimonial and the more thousands it will bring you.

I really don't like you any more, but you were the best striker we ever had.

And just stop appearing as a pundit on MOTD with your knees about 2 metres apart. You look like an elk in rut.

[Seggie]

17 April 1996 Injury ends Alan Shearers Blackburn Rovers Career

17 April 2006 Injury ends Alan Shearers Newcastle United and football Career.

Freaky

[Exiled_Rover]

I'm proud to say I've never applauded the bloke whilst he has been wearing a Barcodes shirt.

Edited April 23, 2006 by Exiled_Rover

[joey_big_nose]

I'm not sure why everybody is so bitter, we got a decent price for him at the time, he didn't force his way out a la Ferguson, and he has shown integrity and loyalty in regard to Newcastle who were his first footballing love.

He is fantastically dull though, and should never be a tv pundit. I can't really imagine him being a good manager either, but then I suppose I would of said the same of Hughes a decade ago.

[Paul Mellelieu]

In so far as any footballer is likeable these days Shearer appears to be no better or worse than most. By the way Colin I think he's donating his testimonial receipt to charity.

The bitterness seems misplaced to me. Sure I joined in the childish booing like many and really it was stupid. The greatest player I've ever seen in blue and white, by a country mile. For a few short years he put us at the top of the pile, something that will never be repeated.

Shearer! Shearer!

Edited April 23, 2006 by Paul McGarry

[mrsjansen]

Just to add, Shearer pointed out in the press this morning that we didn't know how close he came to signing for Manchester United after us, even to the point where he had agreed things with Sir Alex.

To me that speaks volumes about the man.

He always maintained the reason he left Rovers was because of his hometown club. Guess he had alway s planned to leave.

[Walls]

Just to add, Shearer pointed out in the press this morning that we didn't know how close he came to signing for Manchester United after us, even to the point where he had agreed things with Sir Alex.

To me that speaks volumes about the man.

He always maintained the reason he left Rovers was because of his hometown club. Guess he had alway s planned to leave.

401378[/snapback]

That is exactly the reason so many Rovers fans are bitter towards him. Twas the summer of '96 and before the Euros he said he wouldn't be leaving Rovers. We even gave up on a late surge for a European place so Big Al could have an op and be fit for Euro 96.

As England progressed through the tornament, speculation linking him with a move from Ewood grew stronger and stronger and still he maintained he wasn't interested in leaving Ewood. Eventually all the speculation came to a head and both Man Utd and Newcastle had bids accepted by Rovers after Shearer had turned down Uncles Jack's pleas for him to stay.

When he joined Newcastle he stated that they were the only club he would have left Rovers for but it turned out he actually wanted to join Man Utd but Jack wouldn't let him. Hence the reason why so many Rovers are still bitter towards him...

[RevidgeBlue]

How many times is this old cobblers about Shearer supposedly saying he wanted to stay at Rovers going to be brought up?

For the umpteenth time, he never said anything at all about leaving or staying all summer. (Probably for obvious reasons) The "I'm staying" thing was an LET headline incorrectly attributed to Shearer.

Looking back and even at the time it seemed totally unrealistic that he would stay, with us not even in the UEFA Cup and us slumping alarmingly due to Harford having failed to make the transition from coach to manager. It's a credit to Uncle Jack's enviable powers of persuasion that Shearer was seemingly undecided up to the last minute.

Conversely a couple of seasons later Chris Sutton very publically came out and said that he wasn't leaving Rovers even if we were relegated (not expecting us to be) Of course it was a different kettle of fish when the unthinkable actually happened and Sutton soon changed his mind. Never hear anyone holding that against Sutton in the same way as the thing Shearer never even actually said though!

In any event if Shearer was to be as loyal as some people expected, he would never have left Southampton to join us for bigger and better things in the first place.

[Exiled_Rover]

We got £10m for a very average player in Sutton, one who had been a tw@t for a few months at least....

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

In 1996 Newcastle under Keegan were the up and coming team.

Newcastle were a team in the summer of 1996 who had just blown a 12 point lead in the Premiership - collapsing in the final couple of months due to a combination of inept schoolboy defending, the tactical naivety of Kevin Keegan and the signing of Tino Asprilla, who upset the balance of the team and broke up what was a productive strike partnership of Peter Beardsley and Les Ferdinand.

Newcastle proved they didn't have what it takes to hold onto a big lead. (Or as Tim Flowers might say - the necessary "bottle" to hold their nerve.)

The balance wasn't right in the Newcastle team. Defenders like Darren Peacock and Warren Barton were gifting goals away all too readily and in Kevin Keegan they had a manager, who as I said, was tactically naive.

I've always loathed the Red Scum, but I'd have to say that Man United were very much the up and coming team in 1996. They had just won the League and FA Cup double. Despite Alan Hansen famously saying "You'll never win anything with kids" they won the Double with youngsters in the team like Neville, Scholes and Beckham.

Man United were the team in the ascendancy in 1996 - and in Shearer's first game with Newcastle, Keegan's side were thrashed 4-0 by United in the Charity Shield. Shearer seemed to walk off the Wembley pitch that day with a glazed look that said: "What the bloody hell have I done...."

Man United's double winning team of '96 contained youngsters in the side who were likely to get better and challenge for the European Cup over the coming seasons. Indeed after they lost in the European Cup semi-final in 1997 to Borussia Dortmund and to Monaco in 1998, they went on to win the European Cup (and Treble) in 1999.

In his autobiography, Shearer said that Newcastle were initially his third choice behind Man United and Liverpool. Clearly at the time Shearer wasn't as desperate to play for his hometown club as he said afterwards. I think deep down Shearer feared that the Newcastle team wasn't right, but he allowed himself to be persuaded otherwise by Keegan.

When he was unveiled at St James' Park, Shearer told the media that he was signing for Kevin Keegan and to win trophies. Keegan was gone within six months and of course Shearer hasn't won anything during his ten years at the club.

Shearer seems to have changed his tune slightly. At Newcastle he once said:"All that matters is we win some silverware" and "Winning the FA Cup at Newcastle would mean more to me than the Premiership at Blackburn."

But now that Shearer's career has ended without any medals at St James' Park, he appears to be saying that his lack of silverware at Newcastle doesn't matter. "I've got no regrets. All I ever wanted to do was play for my hometown club."

To be fair, Shearer was never going to come out and say: "Yes, I've got regrets. I shouldn't have joined Newcastle." And so in media interviews now he sticks to the same parrot-like mantra of "Je Ne Regrette Rien".

According to Alex Ferguson though, Shearer was desperate to join Man United, although he was disappointed to be told by Fergie that Eric Cantona would continue to take the penalties - Shearer naturally likes to get on the scoresheet as often as possible and 56 of his 283 Premiership goals have come from the penalty spot (including 10 for Rovers in our title-winning season of 1994-95.)

Do you think if Shearer had joined Man United and won the European Cup together with a string of Premiership medals, he'd be telling TV interviewers: "I've got some regrets. All I ever wanted to do was to play for my hometown club Newcastle." - would he bollax!

In public Shearer will defend his decision to go to St James' Park. In private I suspect deep down he does have some regrets.

In the summer of 1996, I told the presenter of a radio phone-in that I felt Shearer was making a mistake and he wouldn't win any trophies at St James' Park. I was laughed at and accused of bitterness and sour grapes. I was told that with Ginola and Keith Gillespie supplying the crosses for him at Newcastle, Shearer was bound to win trophies at the club.

I think I've been proved right in what I said ten years ago. I said he wouldn't win trophies at Newcastle and that's how it's turned out.

If he had stayed with Rovers, he could at least have added a Worthington Cup medal to his collection....

[tcj_jones]

Good post AESF. Just two hours ago in the pub my friends and I were discussing how respectable Shearer was and that he only left Blackburn for his childhood team. I guess I was rather misinformed. I feel somewhat differently about the man now.

[Tris]

If he had just been another in the long list of goal scoring centre forwards in the non-achieving Newcastle club he would have been a footnote in history.

But he was the greatest forward in English football in my lifetime and he achieved that greatness wearing the blue and white of Blackburn Rovers.

For that, I will always be grateful to Jack Walker, Kenny Dlaglish and the incomparable player himself, Alan Shearer.

401315[/snapback]

Common sense in a thread full of crap.

The day Shearer bailed out is ingrained in my mind as deeply as the day Rovers became champions and the day I sat on the Riverside and accepted relegation.

I don't care what press-fuelled heresay you lot want to spout about his move. The truth is that no-one (still alive) actually knows the details except Shearer himself and maybe Parkes and Kenny, and perhaps John Williams / Tom Finn / David Brown.

I share three attributes with Alan Shearer. We're the same height, we both play up front, and we both love our football clubs to bits. If I'd had the chance to play at the same level as him - and a call came in from Rovers offering top notch wages and the number 9 shirt at Ewood - I'd have quit any team in the world to wear that shirt.

I wish he'd stayed longer, but it wasn't to be. I wish Rovers had got recognition for letting him have an early operation so he'd be fit for Euro 96, but we're used to being ignored.

The long and short is that the best ever player since the new Premier League was formed was our player and had his best times in our blue and white shirt. Nobody can change that, and Alan Shearer will rightly be a fixture in every "best ever" Rovers team until the world implodes.

[blue_and_white]

Common sense in a thread full of crap.

The day Shearer bailed out is ingrained in my mind as deeply as the day Rovers became champions and the day I sat on the Riverside and accepted relegation.

I don't care what press-fuelled heresay you lot want to spout about his move.  The truth is that no-one (still alive) actually knows the details except Shearer himself and maybe Parkes and Kenny, and perhaps John Williams / Tom Finn / David Brown.

I share three attributes with Alan Shearer.  We're the same height, we both play up front, and we both love our football clubs to bits.  If I'd had the chance to play at the same level as him - and a call came in from Rovers offering top notch wages and the number 9 shirt at Ewood - I'd have quit any team in the world to wear that shirt.

I wish he'd stayed longer, but it wasn't to be.  I wish Rovers had got recognition for letting him have an early operation so he'd be fit for Euro 96, but we're used to being ignored.

The long and short is that the best ever player since the new Premier League was formed was our player and had his best times in our blue and white shirt.  Nobody can change that, and Alan Shearer will rightly be a fixture in every "best ever" Rovers team until the world implodes.

401909[/snapback]

Fantastic post, absolutely bang on and almost brought a tear to my eye near the end