Shear genius
Tribute to Alan Shearer
bother France, Italy, or Brazil who between them went on to win the next three World Cups.
Shearer had an OK World Cup, scoring twice before England were knocked out in the last 16 – on penalties, again. It would be his only appearance on the grandest stage of all, a fact any English football fan will tell you is nothing short of tragedy.
The striker’s international career slumped to a disappointing conclusion at Euro 2000, where Kevin Keegan’s side were an utter shambles. Despite England bowing out at the group stage thanks to an embarrassing defeat inflicted by Romania (no Phil Neville, we’ll never forget that penalty) in the final match, Shearer did at least get to enjoy a winner against arch rivals Germany. Alas, even victory over our fiercest foes couldn’t spare the humiliation and the Three Lions were home before the party had even begun.
At just 30, many believed Shearer’s international retirement to be somewhat premature and it is a common view that the side may have fared better two years later in Japan and Korea had the ex-captain been a part of Sven’s squad. Nobody will ever know what difference his inclusion would have made but the fact remains that England had lost a marksman with a goal ratio of one in every two games and replaced him with Emile Heskey, a man with a record of one in every two years.You do the math.
In my opinion, had Shearer kept hold of the England No 9 shirt he’d have easily gone on to beat Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 strikes. As it is, he quit the international game with 30 goals, which ranks him as the nation’s eighth most prolific scorer.
On the domestic scene, Shearer continued to score relentlessly and by the time he hung up his boots in 2006 had hit an incredible 260 Premier League goals – which remains 72 more than anybody else. Additionally, he is the first player I can remember holding the Premiership trophy while his then world-record £15million transfer to Newcastle is my earliest memory of a media circus surrounding a footballers switch to a new club.
And that one arm raised celebration was easily the most commonly used across school playgrounds throughout the 1990’s.
It could be suggested that the nostalgia surrounding these early exposures to football have skewed my judgement.Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter; nobody could ever question Shearer’s place among the all-time greats of English football. A true legend.
Shearer! Shearer! Shearer!