Toon legend Shearer wishes Fergie a speedy recovery – and explains why he turned down move to Man U

NEWCASTLE United legend Alan Shearer has urged Sir Alex Ferguson to “keep fighting” after British football’s most-successful manager underwent emergency surgery for a brain haemorrhage.

News filtered through on Saturday that Sir Alex, who won 38 trophies during 26 years at the Manchester United helm, had been rushed in for an operation, and he remains in intensive care at Salford Royal Hospital. In a heartfelt column in The Sun, Shearer wishes Sir Alex a speedy recovery - and also recalls a conversation the pair shared at Augusta National Golf Course ahead of the Masters in April 2016.

Shearer (pictured) explained to Sir Alex in depth for the first time why he turned down the opportunity to join the Scot at Man United; the lure of attempting to lead his boyhood club Newcastle to silverware was simply too strong. “It was in April 2016 at Augusta that I finally had a proper chance to sit and chat with Sir Alex Ferguson,” Shearer writes in The Sun. “Of course, we had spoken 20 years earlier when I was deciding my next move as I prepared to leave Blackburn Rovers.

“But it was the first opportunity since then for me to really explain my decision. I told him about my love for Newcastle, my desire to play for my hometown club. The hopes and dreams I had to lift them up to where Manchester United already were.

“Of course, Newcastle had already come so close the season before